Fun and Games Dept

I had my palm read while visiting Jackson Square in New Orleans. The woman was sitting at a card table on the square, dimly lit by the sparse number of street lights and ambient lights from nearby building. Everything was purple: the cushions on the chairs, her head wrap, her robe. I had a choice of having my palm read or a tarot card reading and I chose the former. She dove right in.

As she told me what she was seeing on my hand I couldn’t help but notice the mystical vibe she had going on with her eyes. While she couldn’t really be categorized as having cleanliness as a life priority, her eyes spoke and conveyed just as much as her friendly, confident sounding voice did. I did notice she wasn’t really interested in dental care either.

As she made her way around my hand I was surprised at how accurate she was with my personality traits and the like. Apparently I am going to live a long time and “keep all my marbles” along the way. She gave me numbers and I liked them. I like the sound of her interpretation of what lies ahead.

At the end of the reading she wondered if I had any questions and we spoke briefly around that sort of thing. Her fee was at scale with my satisfaction of the experience and I paid her what I thought my experience was worth. She wishes me a pleasant evening.

It was a very interesting experience. Hearing her beliefs of who I am made me a bit introspective and amped up some of my determination again.

I’d do it again.

We are aboard United flight 1174 to O’Hare after a wonderful weekend in New Orleans. According to Captain Catherine we are cruising at FL380 and the air is smooth.

We will be served dinner shortly. I think the flight attendant said something about chicken. She was speaking softly. I’m thinking it may be one of her first flights in the front cabin as she seems to be struggling a bit in the galley and the hot towel was actually sopping wet to the point where my pants are currently quite wet. I don’t mind, everyone has to learn and most of us learn on the job.

We spent quite a bit of time at the brand new KMSY New Orleans International Airport terminal today. From what I read on Wikipedia, the new terminal opened just last month. It has that “so fresh” feel to it. I remember the old terminal being a bit rundown; they were probably due a refresh.

We are currently flying about the clouds so there’s no much to look at out the window. However, courtesy of ForeFlight, here’s our route.

I’m amused by the fact the heating ovens in the galley making whirring noises like a jet engine spooling down. However, we are not losing altitude so all is well.

They say, “What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas”. Las Vegas has nothing on The Big Easy. My husband and I have been in all 50 states. The most debauchery we’ve ever encountered is in New Orleans. People let loose in New Orleans and there’s nothing wrong with that. Anyone and everyone, no matter the color, no matter the gender, shape, size, whatever, needs to do that from time to time. We are at our best when we are honest and allow ourselves to be who we are. New Orleans is an amazing city. There’s music in the air, drinks flowing everywhere, and all sorts of other things that would make a mother blush. But in addition to all of this, the city generates a lot of garbage. All over the streets. People try but there’s no room in the garbage cans. It’ll be cleaned up by tomorrow morning, and we thank the city of New Orleans for that. In the meanwhile, we take a photo next to a hitching post. And eat pizza. And everyone in earshot knows I’m a pilot because, well, I fly airplanes (but not for at least eight hours from this moment).

Pizza with potato chips. I say “has anyone told you you’re awesome”? She blew me a kiss. I did the same. Last time I had pizza here was 2012. I had a full beard and it ended up my breakfast. I don’t understand it either.

As seen from Amtrak headed toward New Orleans.

We are making progress on our Amtrak ride to New Orleans. According to Apple Maps we have about 185 miles to go.

We both had a decent night’s sleep and feel pretty good. Sharlene in the dining car has been very nice and we enjoyed a very good breakfast sandwich this morning. I also had “coffee, black”.

As we were in Memphis at sunrise and now we’re keeping it low key as we make our way down through Mississippi. I’ve never been the length of Mississippi before, the scenery and small towns are giving me a better perspective of the state. I’m happy for the experience.

Earl and I are on our way to New Orleans for an extended weekend. About an hour ago our Amtrak train, appropriately named “City of New Orleans” left Union Station Chicago. We are in an upper level Roomette on a sleeper car. We just enjoyed dinner in the Dining Car.

The roomette is quite quaint. It’s like having two first class seats on a B777 facing each other with the option of popping up a table between the seats or dropping a bed from the ceiling. I’ll be sleeping on the top bunk tonight.

The train ride in just shy of 20 hours long. I’m enjoying watching the scenery go by at 70-80 MPH, even if it’s currently 9:00 PM at night. I’m comfortable and content.

This Amtrak ride is a test to see if we’ll enjoy riding across 2/3 of the country in a similar configuration, either to or from Los Angeles from or to Chicago. I look forward to that trek across the desert.

This will be our third trip to New Orleans in 23 years; and my fourth time total. It should be a fun little vacation.

I am thankful to have all kinds of family. I hope anyone reading this in the United States has a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you’re elsewhere, happy Thursday!

We scored some tickets to Cher’s “Here We Go Again” show tonight at the United Center. We were delighted to find we were in row six.

The show was very enjoyable. I was very impressed by her stamina and performance. Her voice is still top notch, both with and without electronic augmentation. She auto-tunes for effect, not to mask a lack of talent.

She performed several ABBA numbers, including “Watertloo”, “S.O.S.”, and “Fernando”.

All in all a great show. A wonderful experience.

IDS Center in 2013.

I’ve been reading old blog posts this evening. My husband has patiently listened as I read him prose I find particularly witty; he has the patience of a saint.

While going through old blog posts I found a bunch of entries from 2013 when I went on a solo long-weekend vacation in Minneapolis. The trip marked a couple of firsts; it was my first time in Minneapolis, it was my first time flying in first class, and the trip marked the first time I would stop in a random town in Minnesota and cheer a homecoming parade along with natives I didn’t know.

The folks in the midwest are very friendly. I’ve always known that.

The blog entries from the aforementioned trip can be found starting here.

When I read blog entries from a few years ago I always find myself remarking about how I used to write longer blog entries instead of just belching out a few paragraphs. Things have decidedly change with the full-tilt ramp up of Social Media; I guess I should be happy that I’m still writing in a blog at all. 95% of the bloggers I used to follow gave up long ago. The few that still write in their blogs on a regular basis are always a welcome relief from the bits and burps of 280 characters.

My biggest takeaway from the trip to Minneapolis was the flight back home to Syracuse (our home airport at the time). The Delta Connection flight had to do go-arounds in high winds to land on runway 15, which is one of the crosswind runways. As others were tense and nervous during the go around procedures I was loving every minute of it and it was at that moment I decided that I had waited long enough to become a private pilot. I contacted the local flight school within a week and before the end of that month I had my first lesson in a 1966 Piper Cherokee 140.

I’ll probably blog about that experience again on the anniversary of the actual lesson.

I’ve been in a particularly pensive and introspective mood over the past couple of days; feeling much like I did in the days leading up to that solo vacation in 2013. Earl and I have a vacation planned for next week and I’m feeling like it’s going to be a great little adventure for us.

We’re never too old to seek new experiences, push our boundaries, and try something new. And we’re never too old to stop writing about it.

Here’s the blog entry where I talk about the landing.