More New Orleans

I'm definitely not a southern gal (even though I do love spending time in a warmer climates) so it's always culture shock when I visit. When we left for New Orleans on Nov 10 trees, grass,  and gardens were  brown and  dead  around here and we've donned long pants and warm jackets. On the bus I spent most of my time reading and talking to the people near me, but sometimes I'd look out the windows at the passing scenery. Highway 55 took us into MO where the trees were still wearing their fall colors. I'm seeing some green vegetation. Mississippi brought some cotton fields with a few stray wisps of cotton remaining to be seen. I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a photo. It was down right fabulous to see flowers blooming and green grass in New Orleans and the rest of our southern stops.

3/4 of our group....I forgot to get a beer

Bonnie, our trip/tour guide, makes the trip so much fun! She's full of energy, patience, and ideas! She's quite short and you could  always see her in her tie-dyed sweatshirt holding her camera above her head and trying to get a photo.  As the senior center supervisor not only does she take us on the trips, she has to raise funds for the senior center. One of the things she did was a 50/50 raffle and one of the gals in our group won the first drawing of $57....not a bad way to start your vacation! She also auctions of 'valuable' and unique items. It's hilarious because someone requests that she does an auctioneer 'dribble' and a few imitation auctioneer calls later everyone is laughing and someone has bought the sought after item.  For instance  my friend bought a refrigerator magnet for $17, she's going to transform it into a Christmas ornament and I purchased a brand new (cheap brand) of toilet paper  ($7) that had an autographed wrapper (by the bus driver and Bonnie). I wanted the autographed wrapper for my scrapbook to remind me of the laughter.

On a bus trip the itinerary is spelled out right down to the minute, but someone goofed with ours and our driver saved us some time in the Chicago area. We were able to make a few unplanned stops and arrived at our hotel early and even got home several hours earlier than expected.  One planned stop was the Rock 'n' Soul museum in Memphis. Everyone was given head phones enabling you to go at your own pace and listen to what you chose. At one point you could play some old rock and roll. At the end of our tour a group of about 8 of us were groovin' to Wooly Bully on our way out.

street artist - can you imagine how hard it must be to stand like that ? 

I caught a brief glimpse of this woman's white face before  she rode off on her bicycle 

posing in Jackson Square

her version of Mona Lisa?

 There are many opportunities for photos.....and for donations to the artists

To be continued.........................