Arriving home.....

 30 states and 9,000 miles later we arrived home on Monday, 5/5/12.  Glad to be home, and so thankful for such a wonderful trip!  Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

Here is the trip route.Our timing was perfect. We missed all of  Sandy.  We were sad to see the damage to many of the places in New York we saw earlier in our trip. 

San Antonio and Boerne, TX

Pictures from our San Antonio tour

A picture from the Riverwalk in San Antonio

Can tour the city in a lit. horse drawn carriage

 We had Texas waffles at our hotel, while in Texas!!!

 Remember the tall figurine holding the hot dog when we were in Illinois?  Well here is his brother!

If your Texas Cadillac needs horns why not your building?

We visited the Alamo

The garden outside the Alamo

The Alamo in the foreground

An Alamo tourist.

Tom likes to take flower pictures

 We had the pleasure of visiting the Buchanans in Boerne, TX, just outside of San Antonio!  My how their girls have grown up! Tom lived through a trip down the zip line Buck installed between trees on his land there.

"Nawlins"

Our trip to New Orleans started with visit to Chalmette Battlefield where Andrew Jackson recruited and led an army that defeated the British in 1814. One of Jackson's helpers was Jean Laffite, a pirate that received a pardon after the battle.

Part of the line that was successfully defended by the Americans.

We did so many fun things in "Nawlins"!  We walked down Bourbon Street, heard jazz at Preservation Hall, ate at the Louisiana Bistro where we had our first taste of "boudins".  The next day we went to the Redfish Grill for lunch, then on to the amazing WWII Museum for the afternoon.  On our third day we walked down to Jackson Square, saw the French Market, rode the St. Charles Streetcar, the River Streetcar and sat in an outside cafe, had a Muffalo sandwich and listened to jazz.  It was an action packed few days!

Bourbon St at dusk

Strangely costumed fella on stilts

Andrew jackson with an admirer

Another admirer in Jackson Square with St. Louis Cathedral in the background

Both of us ate beignets, fried dough with powdered sugar.....YUM!

Enjoying coffee and beignets

                                                A beautiful home along St. Charles Avenue

                                                       Betty enjoying Audubon Park

Below are more pics of the park:

St. Charles Streetcar

                                                             Inside the streetcar

                                                                   WW II Museum

                                                A display of figurines on our brave soldiers

Having a very "nice " time in Niceville!

We had a great three day stay with cousins Tony and Marilyn Mefford in Niceville, Florida. Tony and Marilyn walk out of their home to the dock where their boat is moored. It is a rough life. We watched the sun set from their fishing boat on the Sarahann bayou, toured several other bayous and Tom enjoyed his plane ride. The four of us visited the Hurlbert Air Force Base and then drove to a resort town Destin, right on the Gulf of Mexico, to walk on the beach and see the results of a month-long fishing derby.

Tom and Tony go for a ride in "Dimples" Tony"s 6 place Piper plane. Tony calls the plane Dimples because it was caught in a hail storm. 

Plane taking off.

Off into the wild blue yonder

Captain Tony and First Mate Marilyn conducting bayou tours.

Two happy passengers

The four of us toured a special ops base during an open house

On the table is a sniper's rifle that has a range of more than a mile

Touring a C130 gun ship. 

On the beach at Destin.

Destin city/harbor view

Two WWII vintage planes on a fly by

Having a beer at a Destin bar watching the fishing rodeo. Largest fish caught was 90 lb.

Photo taken from Dimples.

Looking for alligators in the bayou we saw this tree. 

Savannah Wildlife Refuge and some Savannah sightings!

Today, we walked through the Savannah Wildlife Refuge which was the site of plantation and slave rice farming during the 1700 and 1800's.  It is now a preserve and has gone back to a natural state.  It is about 10 miles or so outside of Savannah, Georgia, but is actually in South Carolina.  Below are some pretty pics we took while touring the Refuge.

After exploring the Refuge we had a few fun Savannah sightings!

Found new fauna in the marsh.

                              Anybody ready to shoot full automatic machine guns for fun? It was fun!

Many of you know that Parker is my maiden name.......cigarettes on billboards is not politically correct in California!

                      Crossing over the Savannah River on the Talmadge Memorial Bridge.