Bruce's Travels

 Just got back from an overnight outing, complete with dinner at Ishnala, gambling at Ho-Chunk, overnight at the Ho-Chunk motel, and breakfast at Paul Bunyan's in the Dells. First, dinner at Ishnala: Arrived there about 5:00. Place was packed. (Sister) Dawn and I had to wait 1.5 hours for a table. Had a couple of Old Fashioned cocktails to pass the time and sat outside on one of the decks overlooking Mirror Lake. For dinner, I had twin lobster tails, wedge salad, and baked potato. For dessert, key lime pie. Dawn had a beef filet with deep fried shrimp and au gratin potato. All delicious. Service was superb. Neither of us had been to Ishnala in years. Our dad, Howard, used to occasionally tend bar there when it was owned by the Hoffman brothers, whose photos are still up on wall just inside the entrance.  Next stop, Ho-Chunk Casino, where I played blackjack at a $10 table with live dealer. Wanted to take a break from the blackjack machine. They say the odds are the same, but I ...

 Panama Canal cruise with sis-in-law Julie ended when we docked in New Orleans. By this time, I was sicker than a dog. We had a reservation at a Hamption Inn in the French Quarter. We had arranged some activities, including a tour of the new WWII museum which was quite interesting. There was a display of artifacts from the Enola Gay bombing expedition, including Paul Tibbets' wristwatch. Actually it was only one of the wristwatches that Tibbets owned (Bulova), and I doubt it was the one he wore during the bombing run. We walked around the French Quarter, and I limped along as best I could, not wishing to burden Julie. At night, back at the hotel, I asked Julie to pick up some soup for me. The next morning, I sent Julie on her way to the airport, and I set out to find an urgent care center. There, they set me up with an albuterol inhaler to ease my breathing and did some tests, and the news came back: I had pneumonia. They gave me some prescriptions which I obtained from a Walgreens...