now for the latest news. We went to New Orleans over the weekend to meet up and hang out with Margaret’s Mom and sister. This was our first visit to the state of Lousianna…check one more off the list. My impressions of New Orleans are as follows: the french quarter night life could give a person (especially a married wierdo like me) a big headache. The food is very good, but you wouldn’t want to eat it very often. The buildings are interesting, and the city has a very foreign country feel to it, except for it’s also very american. The cemetaries look fascinating, and I’d like to check those out more on the next visit.
Regarding the whole swamp business…I understand that the location had strategic value in days of old, but they really should start moving people to somewhere else before global warming goes much further or their going to have some serious troubles. We took a swamp tour. Saw many alligators and held a baby one.

More about the cruise: We started in Puerto Rico, then went to St. Croix, then St. Lucia, then Barbados, then Antigua, then St. Thomas, then back to Puerto Rico. We didn’t see much of P.R., so I can’t really make a judgement about it. I do want to go back and check it out for real. Our favorite island out of the others was Antigua. Amazing scenery. The locals didn’t seem as desperate as on other islands, and the place seemed to be doing fairly well while still holding on to a culture of its own. We snorkled over a large reef there. I have more notes, which I’ll probably post later on.
St. Lucia was also very nice. Friendly people, tons of fruit (mostly banana) trees. We were abandoned by a cab driver who took us to the beach and said he would wait, but it turned out to be a blessing in discuise (I know, I need an editor for my web log) because we got a cab driver who actually talked to us and we learned a great deal…including how to say “cow’s penis” in the local language (a french creole). Apparently, it’s an insult.
The virgin islands that we visited (St. Croix and St. Thomas) we’re mostly nothing special.
Barbados has the largest city of any of the islands (save P.R.), Bridgetown. Seems interesting, but roving gangs of taxi drivers are a nuisance and the city’s infrastructure looks like it’s seen better days.
That’s my report for now. I’m just trying to get caught up here on what’s turning out to be a pretty hectic spring!