How 'bout a Ride

I love to climb on the back of such a strong and beautiful animal.  To feel the power that they posses and the movement underneath me is a rush.  I'll have to admit that when I climb on the back of a horse I just feel at peace and confident in myself.

I took out my dad's horse, Elena, on Saturday and at first was a little nervous.  It has been almost 2 years since the last time I rode.  I went for a ride close to home, which usually always brings problems, but it was a nice refresher course I suppose.  She almost lost me off the back when some pheasants or chuckers flew up from nowhere and frightened both of us, but I stayed on and the rest of our ride was...well... a lot more lively.

Then on Wednesday I convinced Dad to come with me and we moved some cows to another pasture,

(well the lame one at least).  Then I switched Horses with my dad, Prancer is the calm one, and took Big T for a ride.  Of course we went riding on one of the coldest days so far, but the sun helped.  I bundled Big T all up and he resembled the little boy in "The Christmas Story."  He enjoyed it, well he was talking and wasn't crying so I take that as enjoyment!

N'awlins

I was able to go to New Orleans, or N'awlins as the locals call it, to meet up with Coach before he left the states.  I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go, I mean I wanted to see him, but the cost of everything was something I didn't want to have to pay out for.  Deep down I knew it would be worth it and everything would work out financially, which I believe it has for the most part. 
I loved seeing Coach.  I felt like a giddy school girl waiting to go on a date with the ever so handsome jock while I was waiting for Coach to show up at the hotel.  Of course it was better than a school girl date because he got to stay the night ;-) !! 
Coach looked great, he lost most of his love handle he was packing around, and he just looked good.  Maybe it was because I hadn't seen him in awhile.   Just imagine how good he will look to me after 8ish months...hehe.
Anywho, I was also not sure if we would have any fun in N'awlins or if I'd like it there, but I had a blast.  The people were super friendly the food was great and I enjoyed seeing the cemeteries and the French Quarter was fun. Yes on Bourbon street there was "sex" and bars every where, but it pretty much was all confined to that one street, and it didn't show up as much until the night ( probably because of all the neon signs that shone much brighter in the dark).  We did walk the street once at night, and that was the night Coach brushed shoulders with David Hasselhof.  I thought he seemed much shorter and Coach thought he seemed taller than on TV, he did have a cool pinstripe suit on, very high class attire.  It was so crazy cuz tons of limos would come and drop off really high class people on Bourbon Street and the atmosphere there seems more for "trashy" people.  We did eat at a great restaurant on that street, we basically waited 2 hours to be seated, and that was still after someone gave us there ticket which was like 10 ahead of ours, ( we walked around) but it was worth it, the food was amazing. It was called the Red Fish, in case anyone needs a good place to eat in New Orleans.

We managed to leave our room every once in awhile and go to some cool places.  We went to the zoo there, they were having a "Swamp Fest" going on, so live bands were constantly playing while we walked around and people were even dancing.  I wanted Coach to dance with me, but he came up with all kinds of excuses not to.  We still had a good time. We also visited the WWII museum and ate at some great restaurants...we ate alot!  I tried alligator while I was in N'awlins, it was yummy!  It probably had to do with the breading, but yum.

(tons of photos below)

                                           "Squirrel!!"

Here are some zoo pictures...

Tough Guy

 The French Quarter....

The iron work is awesome

St

ST. Louis Cathedral (apparently the 2nd oldest Cathedral in the US)

St Louis Cemetery #1.... This was one of my favorite sites we visited. It was just so unique.

A Tomb Shrine

And then of Course the Aquarium....(Everywhere Coach and I have traveled to, we always seem to go to the Aquarium..guess we like fish!!)

Petting the Stingrays!!!

This Fish is my Favorite!!!!

I think Jelly Fish are cool

One thing I learned from this Trip...Coach and I need to take more photos of the two of us, more fun photos!!!   

I truly had a blast in N'awlins and maybe next time (if we go back) we can see the Bayou! We didn't make it there :-(