New Orleans

 Saturday 4th February 2023

We drove into New Orleans on the causeway. What a great experience and it only cost $5. 

We had a brilliant time walking around the city but did not realize the distances between the districts we wanted to visit and we ended up walking eight miles. If we had not had Morgan with us we could have hopped on the tram to cover more area. We had wished to visit two times but the bad weather the previous weekend messed with our plans so we felt under pressure to see as much as we could in one day. We were unsure if Morgan would be ok with the noise and crowds of the city, but she was great.

Superdome

French Quarter

Banana Foster Beignet

St Louis Cathedral

Jackson Square

I had done some prior research and found a vegan/vegetarian dog friendly restaurant to have lunch! It was a nice treat to sit outside in February. 

Kathi Roll. Street food originating from Kolkata, West Bengal.

Thursday would have been John's Dad's 100th birthday, we raised a glass for him.

One of the things I love about wandering around a city is the places or events you see unplanned - like some people down an alley near the Lower Garden District performing a ritual or celebration (?) with rhythmic drums and movements. 

We were walking towards the Garden District but it was too far away in the opposite direction to the truck and at this point we were tired so we decided to head back. We did see some pretty homes and gardens.

Lighthouse on Camp Street

St Patrick's Catholic Church

Benjamin Franklin, Lafayette Square

We passed lots of people building bleachers on St Charles Street on the Mardi Gras route and saw homes and businesses with metal fencing erected to protect them from the crazy time that Mardi Gras is. This year it will be 21st February. In England it is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. We will have to watch the parade on tv now that we have seen where it is.

Muddy walks

 Sunday 29th January

A massive storm system passed through very slowly. The day was very dark and wet so our plans to visit New Orleans had to be postponed.

The campsite quickly turned into lakes

There were some hiking trails at the park I was keen to explore but after the heavy rains I knew they would not be easily accessible so I walked on the Tammany Trace instead. I knew this would be a long hike so I left Morgan at home - which turned out to be a good idea as very surprisingly no dogs are allowed on the 31 mile trail. I walked to the nearby town of Mandeville and enjoyed seeing the old homes and businesses in the historic area before walking home, covering over 10 miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Trace

Very misty morning

Vegetable garden outside the foodbank 

Decorated for Mardi Gras

Book n Bean, shame it was closed I would have enjoyed a coffee and a new book.

Could not see the lake it was so foggy.

On Tuesday I decided to try the trails though I quickly regretted it. It was 4.5 miles of mud and lakes which covered the track and in places the only way through was to get wet. Morgan needed a wash when we returned.

Fontainbleau State Park

 Arrived in Louisiana mid afternoon so once we got set up we had time to walk down to Lake Pontchartrain which is an estuary covering 630 square miles and looks more like an ocean as you stand on the small area of beach. 

There is a causeway composed of two parallel bridges crossing the lake 23.83 miles. It is the longest bridge in the United States and the longest in the world to run continuously over water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain_Causeway

The campsite is very big with around 200 sites though only a number have water and electric.

The park was badly damaged by Hurricane Ida in 2021 and was closed for some time.

The ruins of a sugar mill that was built in 1829 by Bernard de Margny de Mandeville who developed the area as a sugar plantation until 1852. The plantation income supported his lavish lifestyle. He named his large landholding Fontainebleau after the beautiful forest near Paris.

Onwards to Louisiana

28 January 2023

We left Alabama and it felt so good to be on the road again. We drove through Mississippi seeing signs for Biloxi. Fun fact, mine and John's first date almost 35 years ago was to the cinema to see Biloxi Blues with Matthew Broderick. Who knew sometime way in the future we would drive by it. And before you comment, yes the movie was in color and yes they were talking!

We only drove 180 miles but the landscape changed rapidly as we made our way west.

My Birthday and last week in Alabama

 21 again! Though the kids said maybe I need to increase my age slightly since they are in their  late 20's so I will be 32, nice number.

John returned in the early hours of my birthday after a nightmare 29 hours of travel and delays. He took the afternoon off and we enjoyed a bit of shopping then went for a drink to Tacky Jacks a bar restaurant that is covered in duct tape that people write their names on and stick where they want! Cool idea.

Birthday girl with new sunglasses

We enjoyed a couple more sunsets, one at the beach as this will be the last time at the ocean as we head inland. Wonder where we will be when we next see Mr Sea?

We enjoyed Alabama it was a nice area to visit and liked Doc's RV Park where we stayed for six weeks. It was an old traditional camp site that was full of snowbirds most of them from Wisconsin. I talked to a lovely 91 year old lady who had spent the last 26 years wintering there. Lots of the older people store their rigs there Spring Summer to save hauling them, kind of using the rv's as a holiday apartment.

https://www.docsrvpark.com/