I just grabbed this picture from Bamabeachcams.com.  It's a webcam from Sea-n-Suds right on the beach in Gulf Shores, AL.  The oil is splashing up on the beach with winds from that hurricane near southern Texas.  It's pretty dirty but I have to say I've seen beaches in other places that were as dirty in normal times.  The heartbreak has to do with the fact that the sand there is usually the color of sugar.  Very white.

Like this.  This was taken last January.

I love LA. Parts of it, at least.

It's been a while, but New Orleans is still in my veins.

Here's some proof that we actually went out of town, specifically to the French Quarter. Our travel plans changed when Amtrak called the day before our planned departure to say that no trains could get through the 8' snow drifts in Iowa. We booked a rental (a Nice! Nissan Altima) and drove. This was the closest we came to meandering that we have come on any of our vacations. It was so nice to be out on the plains and drive through east Texas. We got acquainted with New Orleans and since we weren't mugged, we plan to go back sometime and do some more exploring.

We're getting read to ride on the City of New Orleans again, this time all the way from top to bottom. It's that time of year to saturate ourselves with the Deep South. Looking forward to the humidity, the smell of the pine trees and the Gulf Of Mexico. Maybe we'll find some fried dill pickles along the way.

photo from Trainweb.org

I love riding on trains. Since I have the Amtrak credit card, I have a round trip Sleeper sized trip waiting for me to take it. The dilemma is that if I pay for a trip on May 9th, I'll get quadruple points which is Amtrak Point heaven for me.  I just noticed that Amtrak has partnered with 
Zipcar in the points program which is cool except that there isn't a program nearby.
I know the economy is bad but there really are some good deals now. We just found a little pickup truck for exactly the price we wanted and in better shape than we expected.   It doesn't hurt to have some savings on hand for times like this. 

I was in downtown Denver the other day and during the lunch break I walked past this thing. It caught my attention as a novel idea for car travel. The inside looked a little uncomfortable, but functional.

That night on the news and during the next few days I saw all sorts of stories about this Solar Taxi. Makes sense - the car was parked behind the Fox station which is near KUSA and KMGH. This kind of ingenuity makes me happy.

Most of my Amtrak trips have meant getting up at 4am to catch a 6am bus, then traveling for 4 hours for the connection.  This time, though, I'll be boarding at 8pm.  What a luxury.  Bye, bye - back in a couple of weeks.