I heard that when ya bought any Lucas product--there was a printed warning, it told the installer to make sure that all connections were covered fully with tape, so as to not let the smoke out! Also, if you intended to go someplace where you couldn't make it back home before dark-- arrange to stay overnight, at a motel/hotel.

Again, for those who might be going up to Mendo, we can heartily recommend the B&B we stayed at. The Agate Cove Inn is located on Lansing Rd., right by the ocean, about 1 mile just north of the town of Mendocino. It was far and away the best place we stayed during our long trip! They are duplex cabins, all with patios, full baths with jetted tubs, comfortable beds, nice little breakfast in the morning, extremely quiet and peaceful. We stayed in Zircon but really liked all of them - we were the only ones staying on a Sunday so hosts Roger and Lorraine gave us their master key so we could go into all the cottages to check them out. Emerald and Obsidian are the biggest and most luxe; Garnet has an extra twin bed for those who are traveling with a small child. As mentioned above, all of them have gas-fired stoves or fireplaces for heat, very easy to work (unlike some we've encountered) and the cabins are extremely well insulated and toasty-warm. The view from their front lawn, where they have two separate patios with lots of lawn furniture, is stunning. Bundle up, though, weather can be wildly changeable up there. The winds can be icy-cold one hour then warm up again the next! We made good use of Agate's blankets when sitting outside, even though we were all bundled up in Polarfleece, gloves, and hats, LOL. Here is a link that might be useful: Agate Cove Inn's website

I'm going to be in NOLA that week also, this will be our second trip. After the first trip in early 2010 I told hubby I wanted to go back 'some day' to see the city all decked out for Christmas. I turned 40 this year, and this trip is what I 'asked for' as a gift. :) NO is one city where I absolutely enjoyed the walking tours. There is so much to see in NO, and I found these tours showed you the best & important stuff in a reasonable time. I think they lasted 2 - 2.5 hours. Last time we did three - French Quarter, Garden District and Cemeteries. I would recommend any of them. The tour guides we had absolutely knew their stuff and we SO interesting. The Garden District guy was especially good. This time we're planning to do the 'cocktail tour' which should be fun. We also enjoyed a river cruise on the Steamboat Natchez... and we took one day and rented a car to drive upriver & visited Oak Alley and Laura plantations. That was one of our best days, we really enjoyed it, so I'd definitely recommend doing that if time permits. There are so many great restaurants to try.... we're going to brunch at Commander's Palace this time (had dinner there in 2010), and I really enjoyed Mr. B's Bistro in the French Quarter. Not sure how many 'repeat' restaurants we'll do this trip, but I do want to go back to Mr. B's. When your DD is there, in City Park there is an event called "Celebration in the Oaks" which I don't know much about... it's a Christmas themed event with lots of lights, etc. I think we'll check it out because we've never been to City Park. Also, if they're still there on the 18th there is a 'tour of homes' in the FQ and caroling in Jackson Square, along with a Christmas concert in the Cathedral. Someone recommended on Tripadvisor to ride the St. Charles Ave. streetcar at dusk to see all the lights & beautiful houses decorated for Christmas. Bourbon Street IMO is a bit of a sewer.... we walked down it once, and then pretty much stayed away. I'd like to spend more time on Frenchmen Street this trip. There are great museums... I can't think of all the ones we visited right off-hand. There is one in the Cabildo building on Jackson Square, I think, that we really enjoyed. I'm so excited to go..., if you can't tell. :) I know NO is a city with warts - but what city doesn't have it's issues & dark side. Some better, some worse of course... but we used common sense and good judgement in NO (same as I would in any city) and never felt unsafe. I'm sure it's cliche, but I developed my initial interest in NO reading Anne Rice books as a teenager. I'm much older & over all the 'vampire' stuff now, but I still fell in love with the City. I love the mix of so many cultures & the history. I'm from eastern Canada and although I'm not French, the Acadian influence in LA is very interesting to me also. I hope your DD enjoys it as much as I did!!

Thanks for that personal data, Deedles. I'm 65 in a few weeks. There was a real change in lifestyle in those roughly 15 yrs of our childhoods, wasn't there? My parents' house was built immediately after WWII in a new suburb of St. Paul; one grandmother lived in old 1880s house in decaying neighborhood of St. Paul and one in 1915 [new] house in town outside St. Paul. We all washed dishes but only the grandmother downtown did the scald routine. It was the rural grandma who had the big farm kitchen but the room was awful, much like the one that the kitchen planning film was trying to replace. Mostly because of lighting and lack of decorating taste. I was dating DH whose parents built a mod house by the U. of M. in 1963 with all the Midcentury Modern features that ecologists now hate. The house fascinated me. They had a skylight, a massive open fireplace, lots of glass windows, and a dishwasher! Two ovens! waterless cookware! A garbage grinder! but a dinky dining room and a one-cook kitchen. And vinyl floor even in dining area and countertops of white shiny Formica with flecks of gold. One thing that we don't see anymore and good riddance is the early plastic tablecloths that were literally tacky--they attracted things to stick to them yet the rural people loved them--cut down on laundry I suppose. We had to struggle to remove a plastic tablecloth from another family table in abt 1970 when we visited the bachelor uncle in Iowa--it adhered to the table.