We arrived in New Orleans after a 2.5 day trip of dry, open roads the entire way from the Buffalo, New York area.

I managed to get food poisoning the second day out and was sick all night at the motel room. It could have been worse and been sick in the car. You all know the story.... going at both ends. Not the recommended way to lose a couple of pounds.

We are staying at a lovely home we rented for the next 4 weeks and having found it online, are not the least bit disappointed.

We were off exploring the French Quarter yesterday and it is an awesome, overwhelming place with so much history (starting in 1700s) and proud of it. I feel like I am in another world all together and really cannot get my head around it, yet. For those of you who live in the south, I envy you. I think the stork delivered me to the wrong zip code.

I think we could go to the City every single day and not see everything. The way of life is radically different from ours...

When I read all the info I have been gathering, I feel like this is where I would have liked to live. I think we will come again next year eventhough we still have nearly a month to be here. So much to do... so little time.

Today we are exploring the little towns on the north side of Lake Ponchartrain across from New Orleans by bycicle. Should be fun, exciting, great exercise and will qualify as a negator of any rich food we may encounter.

Speaking of rich food.... my DH gave me a book once called, "French Women Do Not Get Fat" about how they eat a taste of everything but not a lot of anything..... I now understand how that is done. The French food is so rich, that you simply (if we are Sparking etc we all understand the little bite/ taste theory) CANNOT do it. Your stomach rebells, your taste buds are satisfied and that is that. I feel I can taste all the wonderful food here and be ok. I have a fridge of leftovers already to prove it and no temptation to nibble. The PLAN works.


I will eventually have pics to post.

Soooo eventhough I am not online too much right now, I am thinking of my Spark Friends and cheering you on.

PS Oh yeah, I just heard "home" is supposed to get a snow storm tonight. The last one was Jan 1 so I guess there should be no complaints and we are grateful we "got out of Dodge " just in time.