New Orleans can be done in 2 days, but one last thing that must occur when you are in the deep South is a trip into the Bayou. So, we got up, had breakfast, and headed east, just shy of the Mississippi border. We had a small boat tour of the East Pearl River and associated sloughs and bayou. It did not disappoint. It’s amazing how much life there is tucked into the grasses, bald cypress, water, and mud. From crawfish, to honeybees, to ducks, to pigs, racoons, alligators, and fish, there is a lot to see. It is a much different way of life than we are used to in super dry Colorado. Houses flood routinely, hurricanes threaten occasionally, and the humidity and heat never relent. It seems a distant world from the filth of New Orleans. It was fun to be in a different form of nature than we are used to in the mountains. There were lots more bugs and tons more water. The thought of our family living in a little cabin on the bayou makes me laugh. We wouldn’t last long.  
 
After the tour, we headed back to the city. On our way, we grabbed some po’ boys and our culinary trip to the south was complete. We went back over bridges and water to the city and our hotel. Thank goodness for nice hotels. Driving into the entryway is like arriving through the gates of the castle. It is a refuge from the world just outside in the streets. We rested a bit, then headed back to the airport for our evening flight. Then it was back to Colorado, reality, and the life we know. 

Written by Mike
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​Sunday arrived with a trip to church. The Brady family, who clearly was a big piece of this ward, decided to move to California and this was their farewell Sunday. It was an entertaining sacrament meeting and very much more diverse than anything we have attended in Colorado. After church, it was back to the WWII museum for the Pacific campaign and the planes. It was interesting to see the boys talk about their knowledge of Japan, the pacific, and relate it to the events of WWII.  I think that they could really feel the misery of jungle warfare, the tenacity of the Japanese, and the unforgiving nature of Naval Warfare from their experiences living in Japan and being a part of 7th fleet.  
 
After the museum, it was time for a New Orleans Sunday brunch. So, it was back to the French Quarter and off to Broussard’s where the boys had oysters for the first time, chicken and waffles, and I had Josephine Benedict.  The service was stellar and the food good. The boys really enjoyed their chicken and waffles.  
 
Sufficiently stuffed, the boys headed back to the hotel for a nap and refuge from the heat. I wandered around the shopping areas of New Orleans for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. New Orleans and the WWII museum are a fitting mix. The WWII Museum shows the very best of mankind right beside the very worst of mankind. The depravity, vile disregard for life, lust for money and power that ushered the world into the misery of WWII brought out the heroism, charity, selfless sacrifice, and courage of so many. It is both a tribute to and a rebuke of humanity.  A reminder that we must strive for the best, extoll the good, and prevent the evil. New Orleans is much the same. There is no place on earth that exhibits the depravity and worst of humanity than Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. If sin has a smell, then it is the fetid odor that stifles the air of Bourbon Street. It is truly horrific. The sights, sounds, and smells remind you that humans will resort to their bassist most animalistic natures for what they perceive is a good time. But in the end, they are only trading their birthright for a mess of pottage. It is sobering to witness. The musical, culinary, and architectural delights are almost no match for the sewage which swills around it. It endures, but only if people chose the good and not the bad.  
 
On the other side, there is the Garden District and Commander’s Palace. It may seem a bit much to take an eighteen and a twenty-year-old to such an establishment, but it embodies Haute Cuisine and fine service. You would think eating at 8:45 pm was late, but the restaurant was packed with people. The immediate thing that you notice is the service. The service is impeccable. Everything about it is refined, thoughtful, and done in a way that dignifies the gust and does not demean them.    The second thing you notice are the happy faces of people enjoying wonderful food. No one is sitting around miserable, waiting, wondering, or wishing. Everyone is enjoying themselves. And what’s not to enjoy? The food is exemplary. Peter had turtle soup and Andrew and I had the gumbo.  For main courses we all had quail (you get a quail, you get a quail, you get a quail!). Peter said it was the best thing he had ever eaten. It was quite good. For dessert, Peter the bread pudding souffle, which is divine. I had the peaches and cream, and Andrew had the cookies n’ cream. Good food brings out good conversation and the evening was awesome. I am grateful that we could be together and enjoy an evening of laughs, tasty food, and excellent service. You can’t help but feel great after such an evening.

Written by Mike
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Getting up early to fly somewhere is always so painful, but when you have a limited schedule, sometimes, it’s all you can do. Before the boys went off to college, I decided to do a quick trip somewhere. But where to go? The boys are really into WW2 history and have lived in and studied both the major enemy countries. They are really into Jazz, Peter playing trumpet and Andrew playing trombone. They are really into good food. So, we decided on New Orleans, home of Jazz, the WWII museum, and tasty southern cuisine.  
 
Of course, we headed off on Frontier airlines, which was a little painful and certainly a little eye opening. It was the people’s flight. Lots and lots of unique, loud, and voluminous people. Once off the plane, we got our bag and then got on the rental car bus, which takes you on a 30-minute tour around the airport, to the old airport parking garage. It was not very glorious or efficient. The rental car folks still had printers from 1987, so that was interesting too. It’s like they took the entire airport and made it new and nice, except for the car rental people. They left them to perish by themselves. As if one day they are just going to open a new rental car place by the new airport and not tell anybody at the old place.  
 
Once in our California Camry, we headed directly to the WWII museum, parked, and then left for our first taste of goodness. The Cochon Butcher.  Just a couple blocks from the museum, the meats are delicious, the mac and cheese divine, and the Bavarian pretzels other worldly. A tasty way to start the day since we didn’t have breakfast in Denver. After lunch, we headed back to the museum and indulged ourselves in history. The WWII Museum is so well done, it’s just amazing.  It’s probably one of the best museums in the world in my opinion. There is so much information, so many interactive displays that you could spend hours pouring through all of it. It really is worth the journey. As a parent, taking kids to museums, they just kind of look around at some stuff and then ask when they can have ice-cream. Now, the boys were content to watch every video, read every placard, explore every nook and exhibit in the museum. It was a lot of fun. What was even more fun were the discussions that we had at dinner that night and later in the day as they drew comparisons to the lessons of WWII and current events. Fascinating.
 
After the museum, we hustled over to the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and then headed to Preservation Hall where we were entreated to Shannon Hall and the Preservation Hall All-Star band. Trumpet, Trombone, Drums, Bass, and Piano. So close. So good. So inspiring. To see musicians who have mastered the craft up close was a gift to the senses. The pianist’s forearm muscles were like the strings of a bass bounding and pulsating in a way that made his fingers resurrect music from the worn ivory keys of the upright. The trombonist smooth and powerful while the trumpet led everyone higher and higher with unapologetic grandeur. The drums and bass provided direction and confidence to the endeavor and for an hour we were reminded that somethings in life are best enjoyed in the moment.  
 
After the performance, we grabbed some Beignets at Café Du Monde and headed back to our hotel for dinner and more jazz. The boys had gumbo, truffle oil fries, Crawfish Fet toast, and shrimp and grits. Dessert was peach bread pudding and a smore’s board. After that, the only thing one could do is go to bed.  

​Written by Mike

​JUNE 3
On Thursday night, the boys and I hoped on a plane to go check out Peter’s (and possibly Andrew’s) new school, the University of Utah and get the boy’s their new Utah licenses as they transition to being Utahns. As a BYU alumnus, some part of me still hurts that they picked the U, but it turns out this trip would sway my opinion. We arrived in Salt Lake City, and it was HOT. In fact, the whole west is hot these days, and dry, but it seemed brutally hot as we got in our pick-up truck and headed to the Marriott on the University of Utah campus. One nice thing about Salt Lake is that the airport isn’t 700 miles away from the city like it is in Denver, its actually quite accessible. The new airport in Salt Lake is also quite nice. It was fun to see the changes and we had some food before grabbing our car and heading to the hotel.
 
JUNE 4
Getting things done! Today was all about getting Peter and Andrew through the DMV process.  I have never been so prepared for anything in my life. Forms were printed out, double checked, triple checked. All the necessary paperwork from the VA, utilities, banks, etc was filled out and neatly bundled. We arrived at the DMV by the fairgrounds and got in line, got our number, and Andrew went first. Flawless. Everything went well and he took his test, passed, and got his photo taken. Peter came next. Paperwork was flawless. Forms filled to the line. Then came the vision test.  Peter didn’t have his glasses. He couldn’t pass the vision screen. Not at all. The guy behind the counter was dismayed at how bad he did. Failure! No license for you! What are we supposed to do now at eight o’clock in the morning at the Utah fairgrounds? Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and we went to a glasses shop in downtown Salt Lake. Right as it opened at nine o’clock the incredibly nice lady heard our situation and graciously gave Peter some sample contact lenses that were his prescription. Rushing back to the DMV, getting stuck behind a train, navigating the mystery back streets by the freeway, we were able to get back and Peter was able to pass the eye exam. He then took 6 months on the written portion because he was so scared to fail, but in the end, he passed. Mission accomplished.  
 
From there, we went back to the University of Utah and toured around. Wow!  What a cool campus. Lots of great buildings, resources, things to do! All close to downtown Salt Lake and nestled against the mountains. It was cool to see and experience. I had never been on the campus before, and it was a lot cooler than I thought. A lot of money and resources have been poured into that school over the last five years and it really shows.  
 
After that, we had to partake of some of the indulgences of Utah. We went to a soda shop, where we imbibed enough sugar for a year. Sugared up, we headed to the gun range and shot handguns, Ar-15s, and the boys even got to shoot a fully automatic rifle. We then went ax throwing, which was a lot of fun. I was the master of the one-handed throw and Peter the two-handed master.  After ax throwing, we had dinner at a cool little restaurant in the city where Andrew remarked that the salad was amazing. First time I have ever heard that!
 
Worn out from a day of fun and food and touring, we headed back to the hotel. Peter and I went running (well I ran, he hiked) up the Living Room to watch the sun set. The trail is right next to his dorm, and it was a great little hike. The view over the city was amazing and the breeze welcomed.  It was a great way to end the day.  
 
JUNE 5
On Saturday, we got up and headed for breakfast at a little breakfast shop in town. We then did one more quick tour of the University campus and got some stuff at the store. From there, we went to the zoo and enjoyed the sites of the zoo, the unusual people at the zoo, and even enjoyed a little train ride. Not the biggest zoo in the world, but still pretty cool. The highlight for Peter was getting to pet and feed a Rhino. It was staggering to see him next to such a large animal.  After the zoo, we grabbed some lunch and then headed up the canyon for a drive. It was a beautiful drive up the canyon and nice just to be out in the mountains. It’s amazing how close everything is in Utah. In Colorado, it would take 2 hours to get up somewhere in the mountains, but everything is more accessible here. From the canyon, we drove to the airport and headed home. A quick flight to Denver and then a long slog back to Colorado Springs.  A great trip.  Peter even got new contacts.  
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COVID be darned! Protests be darned! Sometimes, you just gotta get out with the boys and enjoy a little bit of life. So, one afternoon, we drove up to the Denver airport and took a little hop to Seattle. Just the boys. Just the highlights. Just because. The best part of traveling during this crazy time is the lack of anyone anywhere. No one in the airports. No tourists. Just wish we lived in Europe so we could go travel about without hoards of people in the way. Anyway, we landed at the airport, grabbed our car and headed straight to Ivars for some tasty fish n' chips. We also got the awesome experience of seeing Elder Holtom who was supposed to be in Hong Kong, but got reassigned to Seattle. It was the perfect evening. Warm weather, great sunset, great food, and great people. Ivars has played a part of Wilhelm family meals for generations (starting with Grandpa Floyd), so there were a lot of stories to share. Once we had our fill and watched the sunset, we headed down to our hotel for our fishing trip the next day. However, we did have to stop really quick in Dupont. Andrew still has PTSD from going to Chloe Clark Elementary, so it was time for him to confront his demons. It was funny to hear what he remembered about going to school there, the things that were fun, and the things that were awful. After that, we headed to Safeway in Lacey, grabbed some food, and then headed to our hotel in Aberdeen.

Written by Mike