Ghost Children of San Antonio

THE LEGEND:
"Back in the 1930s a school bus full of children was making its way down the road and towards an intersection when it stalled on the railroad tracks. A speeding train smashed into the bus, killing 10 of the children and the bus driver. Since that dreadful accident many years ago, any car stopped near the railroad tracks will be pushed by unseen hands across the tracks to safety. It is the spirits of the children, they say, who push the cars, uphill, across the tracks to prevent a tragedy and fate like their own. The second half of this legend is that if a light powder - like talcum or baby powder - is sprinkled over the car's trunk and rear bumper, tiny fingerprints and handprints will appear - the prints of the ghost children pushing the car. Many who have tried it swear that indeed they can see the evidence of small children's handprints in the powder."

THE TEST:
Hey, we had an afternoon to kill (no pun intended). We found the small country road and parked 30 yards from the tracks on an uphill. Since our car had not been washed for a month I didn't see any use in sprinkling powder on the back bumper, there was plenty of road dust. Sure enough the car began to roll uphill gaining speed across the tracks.



We turned back onto the road to find another car had stopped, and was just sitting there. He rolled down the window and asked "how do you do this, I'm in neutral and nothing is happening". The car was a large sedan and I guessed that perhaps his car weighed too much, but just then, an equally large car pulled up behind him waiting it's turn. He pulled over and sure enough the other car began to roll.
The driver of the first sedan then decided that the "ghost children" needed some help. He got out of his car and began to push. When he had up a good head of steam, he jumped back in, but the car slowed to a stop well short of the tracks.



I suggested that the ghost children were none too fond of him and he drove away frustrated.

By the way... there were no tiny hand prints in the dust on the rear of the car. I guess now I'll have to wash it.

Westward Ho, Ho, Ho....(holiday humor)

Now that Christmas is over we have begun heading west....yes, I know, we've been heading west since we left Florida but now we're heading back "into" the west.

First stop, San Antonio. Let's see.... where did we go there??? Ah, yes I remember...The Alamo.



and of course lunch on The River Walk...



At first the city seemed overly crowded with tourist. We then found out that tomorrow is the Alamo Bowl. Thousands of Penn State and Texas A and M fans have made the trek. I think most of them picked the same day as us to tour the Alamo. A long line of Aggies and Nittany Lions wrapped around the building. Happily a second battle didn't ensue.

a Paws in our travels..

We want to wish everyone happy holidays while we visit with family in Texas.

Our adventures will continue soon.

Naw-lins

Since Donna has not been to New Orleans , we did all the touristy stuff: hurricanes at Pat Obrien's, catfish po boys, a walk along the Mississippi, a stroll to the garden district, clubbing down Bourbon Street, and of course morning coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde.



Yes that's Donna eating fried dough and powdered sugar! (She only went there for me and since tomorrow is my birthday, the big 50, she couldn't possibly turn down the request...that's her story and she's sticking to it).

The tourist haven't quite returned in droves to the city. In past walks down Bourbon Street it was hard to get from one side to the other. This time there were only scattered groups of people and this was after a Saints football game in which they won.

I would say that only a third of the businesses are back in full swing. Another third are still being repaired and the final third have packed up and gone elsewhere. Good timing for us, I guess, as we have not had to wait in any lines.

Here's a final picture, the Royal Sonesta decorated for the holidays.

Swim'n with da fishes...uh..manatees

Our Manatee Tour began at 5:30 in the morning. It was cold. It was foggy. It was....well...DARK. After a one hour boat ride up river, it was still cold and foggy but at least it was daybreak. Apparently the manatees are most active in the early morning and the alligators are not, or so claimed our captain. After a little searching one was found lounging on the bottom but even after being warned and watching the required video, the two kids on board splashed noisily into the water scaring it away. I suggested we steam on and leave them there (to test the alligator theory) but the parents objected. Another manatee was located and this time we all quietly slipped into the water. All in all a fun experience. I wish I had a better manatee picture to post but we only had an inexpensive, disposable, underwater camera and it was...well...DARK!

What is this...Rocket Science???

We have been waiting for the space shuttle to launch since Thursday. Finally at 3pm today NASA announced that the launch would take place at 3:20pm tomorrow (Sunday). I rushed over to the office and extended our stay by one day only to get back and find that in the 15 minutes I was gone the launch is now "tentative" again!

We can send a man to the moon... BUT.... well you know the rest.

If the shuttle doesn't launch tomorrow we will have to leave as we have reservations to swim with the manatees at 5:30am on Tuesday on the other side of Florida. I hope the manatees are more reliable than our space program.

Coincidence....I think not!

We decided to take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center a day before the scheduled shuttle launch. Security was high, including a metal detector and search of carried bags. Those bringing in cameras, which we both had, were required to turn them on. When Donna went to turn hers off she hit the button to take a picture by mistake causing the flash to go off. Security was immediately scrambled and they stood next to her to make sure she deleted the "out of focus" picture of the floor. BUT NOW we find that the shuttle mission has been scrubbed for today. Obviously a closer security check has turned up something in her background. Oh well, we built in one extra day here just in case but after that we will have to watch it on TV.