Return To Louisiana

As I wrote about last year, I had the opportunity to help my brother and his family move to Louisiana. At the time, I wasn't too impressed with the place. But since I was only there for one full day, I couldn't really reserve the right to judge. This year I was able to go back to Louisiana to visit at the end of October. I was very excited to see my brother and his family and to to get away from the monotony of day-to-day life, but I didn't hold out much hope for liking the South. However, after my vacation was over, I must say I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I liked it down there. Maybe it was because the weather was much more mild in October than it was in August when I was there before. Or maybe it was because I didn't have to help move furniture up two flights of stairs in sweltering heat. Or maybe I just had more time to get a feel for the place. But I would now rate Louisiana as one of my favorite places to visit and I hope to return there to visit again soon.

What is a vacation without pictures? Even though pictures never do a place justice, I took as many as I could just for a small reminder of what it was like. I will now share said pictures with the blogging world.

On the first day I was there my brother, David, took me on a walk around the lake on the Louisiana State University campus. This is the lake and the houses surrounding the lake. It was beautiful if not a bit hot that day. Many of the houses were decorated for Halloween, and boy do they go all out with the Halloween decor. We also saw a huge flock of pelicans out on the lake. If you look closely at the first picture, that white line behind the tree is all pelicans. We also saw quite a few turtles, although David said there weren't as many out as there usually are.

After the lake walk, David took me out to lunch at a burger place that had the most amazing duck-fat-fried french fries. The burgers were also very tasty.

Here is a cute little fountain at an outdoor mall in Baton Rouge.

My brother lives in Baton Rouge, so for one of the days I was there we drove down to New Orleans which is about an hour away. We visited an old above-ground cemetery and then walked around the houses in the Garden District. Once again, notice the amazing Halloween decorations. I was also fascinated by the architecture. I could spend days just wandering around looking at houses. Then it was over to Bourbon Street to explore the shops. There is a real sense of history there, and I feel inspired to learn more about New Orleans. Please ignore my fingers in a few of the shots. I obviously need practice using my camera phone.

We ate lunch in the French Quarter and I had a very delicious jambalaya wrap. (Most of the food I had in Louisiana was very good.) This is David and his beautiful wife, Stephanie.

Stephanie teaches at LSU, and one day she walked me around the campus. I even got to sit in on a couple of her classes. I was very impressed by all of her studies, if not a little humbled by my own ignorance. Here are pictures of Stephanie in here office, the LSU stadium, and the live tiger who is the mascot.

The last day I was there we went to the state capital building. It was more impressive than I thought it would be. Very large and important looking. We rode the elevator up to the top where you could have a very nice view of Baton Rouge.

So those are the highlights of my trip. I miss being there already, and I hope I can return again soon and bring Mike along with me.

Make Way For Emotions

Tomorrow is my birthday! I don't generally get too excited about my birthday anymore, but it is nice to have day where people wish you well and think of you. And then, of course, there is my wonderful husband who always manages to make me feel very special and loved on my birthday.

Shortly after my birthday I will be leaving for the land of the south to visit my brother and his family. I am looking forward to getting a break from the craziness of work and experiencing new things. But there are always challenges that come along with travel. The logistics never seem to work out like you think they will, and, at least for me, emotions can run high from so many changes to schedule and strange surroundings.

Speaking of emotions, I have been contemplating how big a role emotions play in human life. I think we like to think that we are rational creatures most of the time. But I think, more often than not, we let our emotions get the better of us. That can be fine sometimes, but it is not always a good thing. Think of a time when you got in a heated argument and you got so mad that you said hurtful things. Or a time when you just had to have that new item only to get it home and regret spending your money a few days later. Maybe you were having a bad day and you were rude to someone at work only to find out later that the person you were rude to is your new boss. Perhaps you hold onto objects that remind you of special people or experiences, just to have your present life ruined by overwhelming clutter. You could be so sad about the death of your dog that you forget about your other dog who still needs your love and attention.

There are many ways we can let emotions get the better of us, and usually it doesn't do too much damage. But just like anything in life, an excess can be detrimental. Let the clutter build up and you have an unsafe and unhealthy living environment. Buy too many useless items and you run out of money to do the things you really want to do. Neglect your living pet and you run the risk of having them taken away. Say too many hurtful things and you might damage a relationship beyond repair.

There is nothing wrong with being an emotional person. But unless you learn to control them a bit, you may end up with some big problems on your hands. I am definitely not immune to emotional damage. I just tend to hide it better because of my introverted personality. However, I have found that it helps to step away from the situation, if possible, and let the emotions dissipate some. Take the time to set the emotions aside and think rationally about a situation, and you may just save yourself a lot of heartache.