Update...

For all those who have checked back and not seen an update, here goes: First we stopped in St. Augustine, the oldest settlement in the New World. A great Spanish Fort and some preserved builldings from the earliest time and we saw the first Christmas Lighting of the season. We spent 2 1/2 months in Florida, bounced all over the central area. We saw Disney World, Universal (Hogswart was great), lots of sun and bike riding around the park. We saw a rocket launch from the Space Center (not a shuttle, it was postponed again and again) when we were in Titusville. We saw a wonderful castle created out of recycled stuff by an artist and the Lippizaner Stallions at their winter training facilities. We went to Dade City and saw the Manatees. In between each of those we went back to Orlando in 2 week increments. That took care of November, December (we did both Thanksgiving and Christmas at the Orlando park) and January. We left for the last time from Orlando on February 14. Did you know that Mardi Gras is not just a week and a parade in New Orleans? It actually is a season, from January 6 (Epiphany) to Lent and is celebrated all over the Gulf Coast. In Louisiana the schools are out for a week just before Lent and then again for Easter (0r Spring Break). Everyone has a Krew, and each Krew does it's own parade. The park we stayed at by New Orleans did a parade with golf carts and a small trailer pulled by a lawn tractor with the kids of the employees as the Royal Court. They threw beads everywhere and went around the park until the beads were all gone. We didn't go to a parade in NO, but we did attend one in Lafayette. It was a Rio or Carnaval type of parade and we were seated between 2 Cajun families who took us under their wings and told us how to do a parade the right way. Rural celebrations are very different. While we were in NO, we took a lunch cruise up the Mississippi River on the last true steam driven paddle wheel river boat, had Cafe Au Lait and Beignets at Cafe Du Monde and walked all over the French Quarter. We went on over the Gulf Coast on our way to Rockport, Texas where we spent the month of March. We stopped in the Houston area to see Linda's aunt. We relaxed a lot during the month, but did get to Corpus Christi to see the USS Lexington and Padre Island National Seashore. Now we've moved on west to Arizona. We'll do a little sight seeing this trip, but save most of it for next year. We're looking forward to getting back home for a while to see the family and take care of all the business of Tom hitting Medicare. We probably won't post again until June. Bye for now. L & T