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Very impressive for Merrywalkers.  We had two new walkers and a total of 10 walkers from our club.  Mary Fribley, Lois, Dana, Sharon, Starr, Leslie, Sharon, Kathy, Pam and myself. What a great turnout!  To see more pictures, locate them under the Pictures Tab, Tryon. The weather was fantastic and the company was great.  Remember, the Wednesday walk is at REI at Bridgeport.  We will be having lunch at Macaroni Grill.  See you there.

 
 

Finally I'm at my own computer and I can get this stuff straightened out.  If you have any problems, e-mail.  At the PICTURES tab scroll down to TRIP, click that on and you can find a few individual albums, but if you click on the first album, FLIGHT, that will lead you to another site which says VIEW SHERWOOD GALLERY.  Click that on and you can view any album you would like to see.  The first album, includes the last couple of days.  There's some great stuff in there including a few videos of How to Make the Perfect New Orleans Omelet (look for the picture that has New Orleans Omelet) and click it on and play.  You will also find a video from Jimboux featuring the Stephen Walker Jazz Band.  After that you can view a video on Second Line.  That was a riot.  We ended up dancing the Second Line around this little cafe.  It was priceless.  Thanks for following us while we visited the Dixieland!

 
 


Today we did the plantation tour, sipped on a mint julip, had warm pralines.  We toured the devastation of Katrinia today and saw the trailers they had, the homes that were built by volunteers and can only imagine how horrible it was for the people here. We just got back from our tours, changed, and now we are headed back out for our last night.  we're hoping to find some good bbq and music.  Tomorrow we fly home.  It sure has been a great trip.  The walking we did showed us parts of towns we would have never ever seen on our own.  I feel we have had a really good tour of both Louisiana and Mississippi.  We were able to meet so many people that just added to our wonderful memories.  Today on the tour of the city and cemetaries I was able to meet a young man fixing flowers for his grandmother who had just passed away on Monday.  I  helped him carry water to the tomb and I noticed we  had the same heritage.  After he asked me where I was from.  I said Chicago originally.  He told me a bit about his grandmother and the foods she used to cook.  Eventually I said I had to go and he said "Bye Chicago".  It was nice, just like all of the other people that have left their mark with us.  It was just such a wonderful experience.  See you in Portland on the trails.----Jane, Mary Ann, Carolyn and Angela

 
 

After breakfast we head out to see the plantation that was used in some film, but I can't remember.  This afternoon is the city tour and a guide through the destruction of Katrinia.  It's been so interesting hearing the locals tell their stories about Katrina.   But yesterday was a wonderful walk in the Garden Section of New Orleans.  We took so many pictures of beautiful homes, I think are site will look like a Real Estate brochure.  The walk around the Audobon Zoo was amazing as well as having lunch at Tulane.  Yesterday afternoon I ventured out to visit my daughter's college roommate and have dinner with their family.  I brought back some naval oranges they had on their trees, which were really good.  I didn't get back till around 8:30 p.m., but Mary was still up and dressed, so off we went.  Oh my god, did we have a good time.  We first went to the Quarter and had dinner, tried Bourbon St. and then went to Frenchman's Street where we heard the Stepphen Walker band play jazz.  It was amazing!  We stayed till their set was done and didn't get back till around midnight.  A little blearied eyed, we are dressed and ready for breakfast and our last full day in New Orleans.  What a great trip. 

 
 

We had two beautiful walks yesterday in Louisiana.  Ended up arriving in New Orleans by 5 p.m. and immediately headed over to Pat O'Briens and we ordered 2 hurricanes and we split them.  Feeling a little blitzed, we decided to check in and then take the car back.  Today we are off to do more walks.  I've been having a problem getting the pictures on the site, but if you go to one of the old web albums and click in albums, you should see all of the new pictures there.  Yesterday we had lunch in a little diner in Picyune La.  There we met two lovely woman who told us of their stories about Katrina.  They said the little town tripled in size after the hurricane.  It was unbelievable listening to them.  Getting back to the walks, we did the walk in Ocean Springs along the Gulf Coast and we could see where the trees were sheared off.  We also were able to so so many different birds down here as well.  This morning we do the first of two walks here.  Tonight we party! 

 

 
 

After breakfast we drove across the street and did an audio tour of the Gettsburgh National Park.  A couple from Newberg took our picture at the entrance.  After the tour we went to Jackson and did our walk there and then drove to the capitol and toured the main area.  We had our picture taken at the Agricultural Museum on the largest rocking chair.  For lunch we went to the Hickory Pit for some good BBQ and pie.  Tomorrow we do walks in Picyune and Ocean Springs.  Tomorrow night we will finally arrive for the last leg of our trip, New Orleans.  By the way, I posted pictures of Mary Ann's Home in Hughes Springs, Louisiana State University and their tiger mascot, Mike and some pictures of Jackson

 
 

Shreveport seems to be the gambling capitol of the south.  Casinos flourish, but not much else, including coffee shops.  The one part of the walk we all enjoyed was walking along the Red River and spotting some cardinals.  After the walk we headed over to Hughes Springs Tx. to visit the childhood home of Mary Anne.  What a cute little town with an adorable little park.  We couldn't find her home, but we did find her church and walked down Main Street.  After touring there, we headed out for Vicksburg.  Tomorrow we will try and take in some of the Civil War sights but we need to get to Jacksonville to do the capitol walk there.  Hopefully tomorrow night I'll be able to get more pictures on the web. 

Everyone is doing well, just a little tired today.  We had another fantstic meal tonight: pork medallions and Carolyn and Angela split a rabbit dish.  I think tomorrow they want hamburgers! If you would like to see where we ate last night it's just a click away,  Cedar Grove Mansion.

 
 

We started off bright and early to the Capitol and it was the most beautiful capitol city I've ever seen.  Keeping with tradition, we hit the local Farmer's Market and got ourselves some fresh tomatoes and a piece of pecan pie.  The flowers were spectacular:  hibiscus and oleander, lillies and gardenias, magnolias and crepe myrtle trees. Wildlife, we never expected to see so much. The most unusual geese, and then there was Huey-Duey-Louie the ducks, nutria, lots of egrets, a white pelican turtles and mockingbirds.  After lunch we went to LSU and said hi to "Mike" and toured the campus.  With so many pictures, we will list them in different albums.  After our walks we drove to Shreveport and Saturday night we went to the Crawfish Festival.  It was a combination of the Bite in Portland and the Taste in Chicago, except hot crawfish and a band that had us singing "Walking to New Orleans."  Tomorrow we will do the walk here and then we hit the road.

 
 

We were able to catch a few winks on the plane and finally arrived in the afternoon Friday. We headed over and got the car and drove onto Baton Rouge.  The person that registered us suggested Parrain's for dinner and off we went for oysters, hush puppies, crab and fried alligator.  The dinner was wonderful.  Check out the pictures under Flight and Parrains Restaurant.

 
 

Friday, May 22, Mary Ann, Carolyn Uyemura, Jane and Angela are heading to the Land of Dixie.  Follow us as we post pictures and relate you tales from the South.