Lafayette, LA - Cajun country

18380


2.32



On our way west.



All of us have colds, didn't bother to unhook the trailer from the truck at the campground and explore any where. All too tired right now.




Watched Federer lose at the US open and SD and NE come from behind on opening MNF while monitoring Kes's temp. Pretty campground. Zoe feed the ducks couscous and banana
pancakes and they wanted more!



Westward Ho!

New Orleans

odometer: 18455



gas: 2.35


FYI - yes, I got my hair cut - at Walmart; trailer life baby.

So this city flooded with a category 4 hurricane - no kidding. I'm surprised it doesn't flood every Mardi Gras with all of the urinals flushing considering all of the surrounding water is higher than the city is!

The place is pretty fun though.

We were only here about 2.5 days - and it was a tropical storm for about 2 of them, but we did get in some sight seeing. Walked around the French Quarter for an hour before the skies opened up again - it was right before the Saints home opener against Detroit. For some reason I thought the open containers were only allowed during Mardi Gras, nope, any time you want. We were walking around by 10am and every bar had cocktails and beers to buy and keep on walking with - and quite a few were already doing so - reminding me of the good old game days in Berkeley a little, just even more brazen.

Anyway, saw a tone of that district including Bourbon st until the skies opened again - I had to jog back and get the car to pick up the other 3 because it was raining so hard that an umbrella was useless.

After we were all safe in the car, we did a little car sight seeing in the rain - then both munchkins fell asleep. Missy and I read in the parking lot of our next destination until Zoe woke up again - then we went into:

Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World - this is a company started in the 50's and the owner is credited with really getting the floats to go over the top in New Orleans. The guy studied in France how to make all of the elaborate floats/characters/costumes and then brought it over here. Mr Disney tried to hire him, but he stayed in New Orleans.

The company now has offices in LA, FL and Spain. They make floats for Universal, Disney, and all of the Mardi Gras "rex".

They even make large characters for commercials and billboards - they had a bunch of almost complete cows that are heading out soon for Chick-fill-le's new ad campaign.

Very interesting to see all of the art work, floats, and history of the Mardi Gras evolution.

Zoe made her usual friends at the campground after being there only 15 minutes, the KOA was nice, but in the middle of a neighborhood - a new one for us to see. Wasn't the greatest, but with the weather, it really didn't matter, at least it had cable to get most of the college football games. :)

We were able to try on some of the costumes - Zoe finally warmed up to me in a fiberglass head.

Every float actually has a little porta-potty on it, some even have two. The people in the parades can be on the floats for up to 6 hours at a time - and plenty of ETOH is consumed during that time as well.

This float cost over 500K - it has 54K fiber optic lights on it. It took over a year to build.

The early parts of a crawdad.
They start by sculpting Styrofoam and then cover it in their version of paper mache.

The Mississippi just south of Orleans Parish.

Navarre beach

Odometer: 18167

Gas: 2.38

Navarre beach - large air force base here - where they make the munitions as well. Adam worked there for a while, but they didn't acknowledge our request for VIP status. One annoying fact is that they test the bombs every night from about 8pm until 1am or so - and even though we were quite a ways away, it was quite loud and would sometimes shake the trailer - even louder than Disney fireworks.
The place is about 20 miles east of Pensacola.

Nice beach, very clean, but our weather was not so hot. We did get a few hours on the beach but the surf was dangerous so we didn't go in the water. All of these beaches are starting to look the same at this point - it was funny to have the water to our south for the first time though.


If you look closely at the front of the trailer you will see tons of black dots - those are dead bugs and that is after I hosed and brushed the front of it off. Crazy how many people were scrubbing their windshields at the gas stations to try and see.Zoe actually asked what happened to the trailer and pointed at the dead bugs.

Kesler is now the worlds loudest Tillner - the kid is talking constantly while awake - really quite entertaining because he doesn't say NO yet. :)

We didn't stay too long due to the poor weather, but if sunny, this would be a nice place to hang out - just like every other beach I guess.

Tallahhaassee

Odometer:17944

Gas: 2.55


The capital of FL and where FL state Univ is.
The panhandle at its best. The GPS put us on a little detour and we took in some "cracker houses" and saw the rampant poverty. Nothing impressive here, in fact we didn't even take any pics.
There were actually some hills along the 10 and the trees were definitely more like Georgia than the stereotype of palms like we usually associate with FL.
The KOA was very rustic/dirty - Zoe wouldn't even get in the pool - which was fine by me because it was actually quite cold.
The place was run by a group of grandmother types though who were quite nice - there was even free baked goods and waffles in the morning.
The main registration of the KOA actually had a nice "living room" - Zoe read books while I was able to jump online and watch some of the US open on direct tv.
Anyway, we saw it, probably won't be back any time soon.

Disney Universe!!!

Odometer: 17670
Gas: 2.49 - on Disneyworld campus

OK - we did 10 days at Disneyworld with 8 of them at a park - Missy and I should get an award or something. I like the place better than most 30 something year old guys, at least the straight ones, but by the end, I was willing to pay extra to go home.
That aside, we had an absolutely great time!!
This post is obviously picture heavy - but we had about 600 to pick through!!
This post will mostly be just describing the pictures here.

Zoe absolutely loved meeting with all of the different characters, we had to find Minnie at least once a day.

Dad and Zoe waiting for the roller coaster - although she ended up not wanting to ride it when we sat down - she did ride it earlier in the week with Missy.

We are pretty sure Zoe liked the monorail as much as the rides in the park. Here she is with Space mountain in the background.

Gigi was able to come and visit/help for two days. It was so great to have her there and it gave Missy and I to actually sit at the restaurant and eat and see the late fireworks one night.

Zoe made sure he had his stuffed animal from Gigi while he slept.

About 25 yards behind our campsite was the outdoor theatre. Every night at 7:30 cowboy Mark and Chip and Dale had a scripted sing along. Every night we were home at that time, Zoe had to go see Chip and Dale, although she was scared of them the first couple of nights. Me, I'm done with cowboy Mark.

They also showed a disney movie on the screen each night - cute, but thank goodness quiet time started at 10pm and the movie rarely went over that.

While Gigi watched Kes, we had a nice pic with one of the little buggers - Dale. He has the reddish nose, unlike Chips black nose - like a chocolate chip.

Mandatory daily carousel ride - this one with great grandma Gigi.

The pools at the campground - small kiddie pool closest, larger pool with slide behind it. There was also a waterpark for kids under 4 feet tall - Zoe loved it, and it was just on the other side of the theater from our campsite.

Donald's ride in the animal kingdom parade, my personal favorite - he was also towing a boat with it.






Unfortunately the animal kingdom parade was only at 3:45 so this was Zoe passed out during it.













The disney campground is large and amazingly immaculate. The only downside is there is no car parking anywhere except your site - so everyone drives around in golf carts - which disney would be happy to rent to you.

Feeding the ducks at the campsite beach. We made sandcastles but you aren't allowed to swim in the lake??

Climbing the web at the Hollywood studios playground.

Florida=Frogs

Missy left her running shoes out one night and didn't do a frog check before putting them on - she ran the whole time with one under her foot - his poor carcass on her sock is what she noticed when she was done. Zoe was very worried about the frog. :)





Fantasmic show at Hollywood studios and Zoe's new friend from Mississippi - they shared cotton candy until the show started.

Hula hoop action on main street until the afternoon parade started. Zoe pretty much ran up and down the street dancing for everyone lined up - we think she actually thinks they were lined up to watch her.

More cowboy Mark and Chip and Dale.

Zoe's friend from the Hoopdi do review that we bumped into at Epcot a few days later.

Look a little closer Zoe, your penny is down there some where.

Yummy, Disney lollipop and perfomring on the stage in Itlay, Epcot.

She liked the convertable Saab on display at the end of Test Drive ride at Epcot.

The Hoopdy do Review - very similar to the Golden Horseshoe review at Disneyland in the 80s - except now it is a whole lot more expensive, you need reservations days in advance, but you get all you can eat food and bud light. Very entertaining, Kes liked it too - only problem was it was absolutley pooring rain when finished so I got very soaked getting home and driving back to get everyone - then parking illegally in the bus zone to load everyone up.

Official, Princess Zoe. I'm sure there is a pic of Missy like this somewhere too from a few years back.

Car stunt show at Hollywood studios.

Animal Kingdom safarri - very well done disney style.

Zoe rocking the bongos and the Tree of Life.

Zoe checking out Mickey's bedroom.

Making tea in Minnie's kitchen

Zoe's first convertable

Waiting for the boat to the Magic Kingdom park.