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CURRENTLY VISITING HAWAII!!

Hawaii

Hawaii
Akaka Falls

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!



You have a standing reservation to see it all!

Feb 17, 2012

Voodoo Queen

This is the tomb of the most famous voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. Who is buried in New Orleans. She "reigned" from 1830 for about 40 years and people attributed incredible powers to her. I can't help but like her. She was a smart, if completely unethical, business woman. Voodoo was highly frowned upon and parts actually illegal--so she used as much Christian symbolism as she could to make it acceptable with surprising success. I'm surprised anyway--she was famous for dancing in Congo square with a giant snake. Then she found out the secrets of wealthy white people through their servants and then pretended to read minds or reveal "truths" which turned out to really be true. White people often came to her for potions and advice--she charged them a fortune and then she blackmailed them too. Serves the slave owners right!

Even now she has a mystique about her. This tomb is a major tourist stop in New Orleans. People will draw 3 x's on the tomb so her spirit will grant them a wish.
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