"May is the month of expectation, the month of wishes, the month of hope." ---Emily Bronte
And travel. Recapping the last month of spring, May was a time of journey - from the ridiculous to the sublime. The month began with a long-planned trip to Disney World where we stayed at Fort Wilderness in the Silver Belle (our shiny 2023 Airstream, which as my dear friend Mary from South Carolina calls hers, our "runabout"). More importantly, we met our daughter, son-in-law, and precious grandson who were sojourning at the Wilderness Lodge. We know -- at one and a half, Lukas was a bit young for the magic, but the four grown-ups were mesmerized, experiencing the world of Disney through the eyes of a toddler. Much like the Energizer Bunny, he never stopped. Consequently, neither did we.
Day after day, we made multiple trips to the Magic Kingdom where It's a Small World and Dumbo topped the chart as Lukas's absolute favorites. He may have been too little to really tell us, but we recognized the cues. Contrast that with his reaction to the Mad Tea Party, a ride which we did not try twice. But the Disney characters at the Crystal Palace where we took Betsy, Erik, and Lukas for lunch more than made up for it. Lukas was enthralled with Piglet and Winnie the Pooh. Who isn't?
And the Green family - Betsy, Erik, and Lukas - took a ride on the Jungle Cruise which is where my better half believes Lana Manning may have worked, once upon a time. That must have been very exciting! Perhaps her nametag read Franklinton, Louisiana. It's always interesting to read the cast members' name tags and see their hometowns. Erik told me that the lady who served us lunch - I was preoccupied - was from Meridian, Mississippi.
With each day more exhausting than the last, Pappy and I kept Lukas in the evening while his parents attended various pulmonology events -- our daughter was in town for a pulmonology conference, the purpose of the trip. Rodney and I had forgotten how difficult it is for a little one to wind down after a long, exciting day at Disney. Lukas could best be described as a jack-in-the-box, popping out of his crib on repeat for one more rendition of "Good Night Moon," which had also been our daughter's favorite. Erik tried to get me to divulge how many times we read the bedtime story. The number was in the double digits. But we lived to tell about it.
And we loved every minute of it. The weather was picture perfect though definitely hot and humid even by Louisiana standards. Accustomed to dripping, sweltering heat, we were undeterred. Rodney and I took late night boat rides on the lake to watch the fireworks, and we putted around Fort Wilderness in our golf cart. Enough of Disney, we've all been. But suffice to say, it was an indelible experience to be with our eldest grandson, on his first trip - but surely not his, or our, last - to Disney.
Parting ways the following week, Rodney and I proceeded to our porch on the Cumberland Plateau where it rained cats and dogs the majority of Memorial Day weekend. The deluge did not stop us from gathering in the evening with good friends, but it did make us glad to head south toward home. It was there that I thought the adventures would cease, at least for the time being. I could not have been more wrong.
The following weekend, Rodney and I wound up at Louisiana's Old State Capitol, a glorious, historic building, in Baton Rouge. It was there that we enjoyed the "Bought for a Song" exhibit which featured the French exchange copy of the Convention (on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.), which outlined debt terms and payment, of the Louisiana Purchase and which was signed by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France. A magnificent land deal if there ever was one - a mere $15 million for 828,000 square miles, which translates to around 4 cents an acre. Ergo, the quote from General Horatio Gates on July 18, 1803, to President Thomas Jefferson, "Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a Song." Even in today's dollars, it would only amount to $438 million, which would be $1.17 an acre. "You got a deal!" as greedy Al exclaimed in Toy Story 2. It's pretty obvious that this grandmother had just come from Disney World.
Then on Sunday, the last day of May, we landed on the docks at the riverfront in New Orleans where we joined Rodney's Pierre Georges Rousseau Chapter of the Louisiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for a VIP tour of the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, which is the only square-rigged vessel that remains active in U.S. service, serving as a training ship for the Coast Guard. It is also the most massive tall ship - it is known as "America's Tall Ship" - flying the Stars and Stripes. As luck would have it, Rodney's friend Rear Admiral Joel Whitehead US Coast Guard, retired, who paved the way for his admission to SAR, knew the Captain of the Eagle. And this is how we wound up on the historic vessel for a special tour, one that included the Officers' Quarters, during Sail 250 (part of America250). It brought the flotilla of twelve impressive ships (seven tall ships and five military) from around the world - the "Parade of Sail" to the port of New Orleans, in celebration of our nation's 250th year. The Eagle was, in fact, the lead ship. Hopefully many of you enjoyed the event; I do not recall a more patriotic moment. From New Orleans, which was one of five host ports, they sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, New York, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, where coincidentally our grandsons were born.
God bless America this Veterans Day, from Disney to the docks of New Orleans.
