Flat Stanley visited from CA

April 6, 2015

Dear Annika,

We enjoyed having flat Stanley come to visit.  We shared many adventures with Stanley while he was here.  First Stanley spent a few days with us in Houston and then went on a family vacation to Louisiana.  While in Houston we took Stanly with us to pick strawberries at Froberg farm.

Let me tell you about Houston, Texas.  Houston is the most populated city in Texas. That means it has the most people of any city in Texas.  There are about 5 ½ million people in the Houston area.  There are many people in Houston from all over the world.  Stanly got scared and wanted his seatbelt on while driving in Houston because of the terrible traffic!   In spring we see a lot of Texas Bluebonnets, which is the Texas state flower.   

In school this year we learned the Texas pledge of allegiance and the Texas state song.

The Texas state pledge is:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Texas is the second largest state in the United States. (The largest state is Alaska).

Now, let me tell you about our trip to Louisiana.   In Slidell, LA we went on a swamp tour. We saw one alligator.   The reason we didn't see more alligators is because they hibernate when it is cold.  There are about 3 million alligators in the state of Louisiana.  On our swamp tour we also saw wild hogs, a raccoon, some snakes, some birds.  The pigs and raccoons love to eat marshmallows which our tour guide fed them. The alligators love to eat hot dogs!

Flat Stanley came with us to New Orleans. However, he was running around and being crazy so he didn't make it into our pictures.  We went to the French Quarter and walked around. We ate Beignets which are like doughnuts but taste better and are sprinkled with powdered sugar. We saw the beautiful church, St. Lukes cathedral in Jackson Square.

In New Orleans we saw many cemeteries. The grave stones were really big.  We  noticed the graves were above ground. Some people call the cemeteries cities of the dead, because it looks like a city with streets.  The reason the graves are above ground instead of in the ground is because New Orleans has  a high water table and if you try to dig deep to bury people you will reach water before you get dep enough.  Also, New Orleans floods often.

We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed having Flat Stanley travel with us.  We spent many hours in the car and while we were bored we watched movies on the tablet or played on the Nintendo DS.  He was very quiet in the car and did not disturb anybody. We would be happy to have Stanley come with us on another family trip.

Sincerely,

Clare