I had a great time celebrating my 50th with family and friends!
“So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.” – Carl

We had a fun weekend in Little Rock attending Murray’s Dinner Theater and Hamilton at The Rep. Both theater shows were fun in their own right. I would happily return to Murray’s, the acting was very entertaining. A fun night! The dinner was adequate; but the show was really entertaining. And of course, Hamilton is a fantastic show! We saw it first in Houston, but we agreed this show was good, too. And they had the same king in both performances, whom we really found to be excellent! Of course, all the performers are so very talented in Hamilton, as they would have to be to take on these roles. So happy to have had the opportunity to see it again…and with good friends.

Murray’s Dinner Theater https://murrysdp.com/
Hamilton https://hamiltonmusical.com/new-york/home/
The Rep https://www.therep.org/

We had a bucket list night. Elton John concert!!! He was fantastic.
In addition, we stayed at The Capital Hotel. The last time we stayed there was on our honeymoon.
What a night!

Elton John https://www.eltonjohn.com/
The Capital Hotel https://www.capitalhotel.com/

We traveled to Santa Fe, NM for our spring break trip this year. It was a neat town to visit…lots of neat art, museums, and nice places to eat and shop. It was quite arid in climate and we enjoyed a snowfall, complete with a mini snowball fight in the parking lot! Lots of the buildings around the square are made of adobe, as seen in the photo above. It’s neat that they preserve these buildings. Favorite moments: Meow Wolf, looking around the square, drinks with Rudy at La Fonda to celebrate our anniversary, the contemporary art museum, the galleries on Canyon Road (be sure to eat at the Greek restaurant there; it was good!), and of course the Georgia O’Keefe museum. We even popped over to Los Alamos for the day. It was neat to see that museum.

Not gonna lie. Meow Wolf was the highlight of the trip. An avant-garde museum in which you walk into a two story house inside a building, and then the house is topsy-turvy with secret passages in places like the fireplace, bookcases, the washing machine, the refrigerator and more taking you to another world full of creative rooms and spaces.

Santa Fe Airport https://flysantafe.com/airport/about-us/
Meow Wolf https://meowwolf.com/visit/santa-fe
Canyon Road https://www.visitcanyonroad.com/
Gerald Peters Gallery https://gpgallery.com/
Karen LaMonte at the Gerald Peters Gallery https://www.karenlamonte.com/
Caffe Greco https://caffegrecosantafe.com/
El Farol https://www.elfarolsantafe.com/
Los Alamos – Bradbury Science Museum https://visitlosalamos.org/science-museum
Georgia O’Keefe Museum https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/

We had a good traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner at the club.
We all wore green and no one got pinched.

El Dorado Golf & Country Club https://www.eldocountryclub.com/

March 2022
Greenwood, MS
We had a really nice trip driving up through Mississippi stopping in Greenwood, MS and staying at the Alluvian Hotel. That evening we peeked in the windows of the Viking Cooking school, as we are thinking of coming over for the weekend and attending someday. The town is sleepy, but we still found some fun. We walked across the street to the package store and visited with the gal who was running the store and her beau. We sampled various wines and ended up buying some bottles, one was a Presquile wine that we did not know existed. This vineyard is owned by some people from our town of El Dorado, so we like to support local. And it was a quite nice bottle. Confession moment: I drank it on a random Tuesday night by myself. I apologize publicly to Rudy; however I admit I enjoyed hoarding it. I digress. It was a nice night. The hotel is in renovations, which is to note. But, I loved seeing the light snow that occurred that night. It was so lovely to see over the courtyard.
Memphis, TN
Rudy really surprised me by booking the night at the Peabody Hotel. I have loved this hotel since my youth. I had never gotten to stay there before this weekend. However, I had been numerous times to see the Peabody Ducks march out to the lobby fountain in the morning and march back from the fountain to the elevator in the evening on numerous occasions. We were quite fortunate to see the return march to the classical marching music in the evening, sitting in the lobby sipping on signature cocktails. We arrived early which worked perfectly, as they rope off the lobby about 30 minutes before the marching of the ducks as many people attend to see this tradition. Oh it was a delight! Then that evening we went to the Orpheum Theater to see comedian Leanne Morgan, a personal favorite. This was Rudy’s Christmas gift to me, seeing Leanne Morgan and Elton John. I was quite excited. I hadn’t been to the Orpheum since my youth. And I love Leanne Morgan. I encouraged Rudy to not listen to her before we attended. He didn’t, so he just loved her set, as did I. It was a great trip.

Greenwood, MS https://www.visitgreenwood.com/
The Alluvian https://www.thealluvian.com/
Wine store, I think The Winery at Williams Landing
Leanne Morgan https://www.leannemorgan.com/
The Orpheum Theater https://www.orpheum-theater.com/orpheum_theater_memphis.php
The Peabody https://www.peabodymemphis.com/
The Peabody Ducks https://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks

Anytime that your mom visits, it’s a good time! We were happy that mom came and visited this past March. We just took it easy. These pics are from when Dean and Rudy went out for a quick 9 holes of golf. Mom and I went out to watch them on the 14th hole which is right by our house. Mom tried to swing the club; the first time in over 50 years she said. She did great! A nice time.

We love our neighborhood!!! We had a fantastic night celebrating Fat Tuesday at Melinda and Michael Verdesca’s house. Rudy, Dean and I joined the Verdesca’s, Lori and John Johnson, and Ann and Larkin Wilson for a good Fat Tuesday meal. Good times and Good friends! It doesn’t get any better!

Gambino’s King Cakes https://gambinos.com/shop/king-cakes
Hurricane Cocktail Recipe https://www.neworleans.com/drink/cocktails/hurricane/