Friday in Florida

Back on the internet here at Carrabelle Beach, Florida.
From New Orleans we went to visit Destrehan Plantation. This old plantation was saved from being torn down by a dedicated historical society. Marathon Oil which owned most of the plantation land in the 50's was implicated in the destruction of more than one old plantation house. If you have saved one, why do you need more?A docent dressed in period costume lead the tour through the house which is furnished in regency furniture.After the tour another docent gave a talk about sugar making on the plantation. This was the copper kettle where the syrup boiling process was started.This plantation was also part of the 1811 slave revolt. The overseers house had an exhibit on the revolt that was inspired by the revolt in Haiti. The live oak in the front yard is 200 years old.
We traveled on miles of causeway over swampland.
We spent the night in Big Lagoon State park in Florida. Our stay was marred by some sort of short in our power supply. Our first clue was when our lights got very dim and the low voltage alarm started up. We were forced to go to bed early as there was enough power to keep the low voltage alarm from chirping like a high pitched cricket only if we turned out all the lights.
Observation tower at Big Lagoon.



We took scenic 98 to Carrabelle. That was mostly a good idea except for all the stoplights that were coordinated so that you had to stop at most every one. Panama City was the worst. They just need a bypass.
Pretty beach at Carrabelle, complete with sand fleas.

Last day in New Orleans

Crash! Boom! Bright flashes of lightning. Huge booming jolts of thunder and rain so heavy it was like being under a gushing faucet. The rain let off after a bit more than 1/2 hour but we were sitting in a lake. I put on my shower shoes to wade to the bathroom. We were going to town today and had to be ready at 9. I waded out barefoot and put my shoes on in the laundry room. Others were at least 7 inches deep around their RV's. The tents had it rough as the tent area became a huge lake. They were still drying their bedding on the fence when we came home this evening.
We were the only ones going in because of the storm.
We began and ended our day at the Riverpark, a nice promenade next to the mighty Mississippi. William posed for me next the the statue of immigrants.
I had heard a lot about the Aquarium of the Americas, but I think Monterey spoils you for any other Aquarium. They did have some good exhibits about the Mississippi and the Caribbean. I took a few good pictures of a penguin and a clown fish.
I thought they could have had a bigger exhibit on wetland restoration. But then the oil companies that pay for most of the exhibits would have had to pay for this and I am sure wetland restoration is not high on their agenda. There was already a bit of revisionism in evidence in the downplaying of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. According to the exhibit it caught fire and sank on the 22 of April, end of story. There was also an interesting exhibit on pirates. No mention of Somali pirates when they mentioned present day pirates.
After the aquarium we had lunch at the Red Fish Grill. Excellent 2 course lunch.
After lunch we took the Canal Street street car to the end of the line and looked around in an old cemetery. Greenwood Cemetery.After wandering in the cemetery for a while we headed back to Riverwalk just in time to hear the steam calliope on the river boat Natchez.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Today is the last day of Mardi Gras and the last two parades are in the morning and we miss the sign up for the shuttle. But a couple near us were going to take their truck in and offered us a ride. We met him as he was taking out their trash. He was wearing surgical gloves and shook hands with us with them on. That was weird. We were to take off at 9 AM, but they were late and we got off after 930.

He was driving wearing surgical gloves. We decide he has some skin disease. They are possibly younger than us, hard to tell. But he drives like someone 95.

He was born and grew up in New Orleans. They lived here in the Garden District until a few years ago when they moved to Florida to be close to her elder parents. They just have her mom, 89, left. Mom is very clingy and they bring her along everywhere. Today they left her in the RV with the dog.

Our driver is having a constant conversation with himself about where he should turn and what off ramp to take and he misses his off ramp. I am quietly semi cracking up in the back seat as we have to cross over the Mississippi bridge away from the city and turn around to come back and pay $1 toll. I thought he was going to miss the turn off again, but he made it. He dropped us off at the old mint where we were used to getting off the shuttle bus. He dropped his wife there also along with her chair and 2 canes. He was going to get the truck parked and come back and help her to Jackson Square where she just sat and people watched. He was in costume and planned to go to a party. Takes all kinds.

We walked over toward the parade routes. Although it was morning we decided to walk down Bourbon street.

We ran across the street parade group Mondo Kayo.

Mondo Kayo, to be sure, has an aesthetic all its own. Compared to mainstream parades, which tend to be highly organized and prepackaged, Mondo Kayo is footloose and rambunctious -- a tribal free-for-all. Their (mostly homemade) regalia is generally tropically themed, but in the spirit of do-it-yourself performance art, individual participants are free to decide for themselves what may please the Tiki gods. And the fact that the krewe operates on the fanciful premise that New Orleans is the northernmost banana republic -- backward by some standards yet blessed with tropical abundance -- seems to encourage a gonzo mentality whereby participants gleefully embrace “primitive” Bacchanalian impulses. That, and copious quantities of early-morning beer.

I got the quote from a cached page by Chuck Busch one of the founders back in 1982.
Their emphasis is obscure African and Caribbean music.


Bourbon Street is the home of colorful characters like the tit lady.
The doom and gloom prophets were out in force. There are 4 campers full of them here. They have fluorescent lettering on the sides predicting the end of the world May 21,2012. Even though we thought we were too late for the Zulu parade we really missed only the first few floats. the Zulu Social aid and Pleasure club has been in existence as a Mardi Gras Krewe since 1909. Their membership is mostly black and they parade in black face.You can tell we were down at ground level and far back in the crowd today.I made friends with Gregory, 5, and his sister Jay Cee, 10. Jay Cee says that she is going to get to ride on a float next year though she doesn't know what parade.
After the Zulu Parade William and I went to Remoulade. William had "Taste of Louisiana" and I had Crawfish pies. All very tasty. We wandered back to Canal Street to watch the Rex parade. Very fancy floats with a literary theme.
After Rex came the truck parade. These are neighborhood floats pulled by semis. All the other parades have their floats pulled by tractors. We watch a few of these, but it is after 3 and we have to walk back to the mint as our ride wanted to leave at 4. No more walking down Bourbon Street. Way too crowded. We chose a less crowded route and found another street parade from Preservation Hall.
Out of the dragon's mouth and back home to the RV.

A Long Revelry Filled Sunday

The weather dawned crisp and not quite clear, but with no rain in sight. We took the shuttle into town and after a coffee began a stroll through the French Quarter toward the Uptown parade route. Five huge parades were on the agenda today, Okeanos, Mid City, Thoth, Bacchus, and Endymion.
We happened upon the Bacchus Krewe members loading themselves and their throws onto regular city horse/mule drawn carriages that they had reserved. From the line, it looked like they had all the carriages.
We decided to pay for the viewing stand at Serio's again as it gave you good views of the parades and access to bathrooms. Though one time when I went up the long flight of stone steps to use the facilities a number of women had staged a takeover of the men's room. The Women's had one working and one broken stall, none with doors. The men's had two working stalls with doors and a trough style urinal. The women's line usually was at least 10 deep. I usually lined up anytime I thought I might have to go and didn't drink much. I think the takeover was staged because a number of beer filled younger women did not want to wait.

The Parades of Okeanos and Mid City were kid themed.

But even though the floats were kid centric and the children loved the throws. Throws are dangerous, though the injuries I incurred and saw happen to others were minor. I caught a large packaged throw containing a heavy medallion on the end of my thumb and broke the nail badly about 1/2 way down. I kept it wrapped in a handkerchief the rest of the day. I also jammed the fingers on my right hand and was hit a couple of times with full bags of beads I did not see coming as it got darker. I saw others complain of finger jams and saw a guy wiping blood from his face after a throw hit him in the forehead. Next to us a young woman was sitting down with her youngest who had fallen asleep when he was hit with a bag of beads.
The Thoth parade had much fancier floats with a theme of university departments after their Thoth Egyptian style floats. The floats were interspersed between bands and marching,dancing, or equestrian units.
There was supposed to be a few hours break between the morning parades and the evening parades, but the morning parades were delayed and took longer and stretched into dusk. We wound up grazing on shared bits of Serio food throughout the day. The night was cooler and I was already wary of the throws, so I had been spending more time resting down in Serio's. As a consequence, I missed the first float of Bacchus with their parade celebrity, Anderson Cooper. But Bill was there and made eye contact with Anderson and was tossed a plastic cup with Anderson Cooper's visage on it. He was pretty thrilled. The Bacchus floats with their main theme of honoring our armed forces were very impressive. They had a lot of vintage vehicles including a real Sherman Tank.

The only touch of irreverence I noted was in this float labeled The Greatest Generation which was covered with clowns. Did they mean to imply that The Greatest Generation were a pack of clowns?
Endymion's light filled floats were fabulous, but we were both weary and left at midnight. Our goal was to walk to an area where we could call a cab company that would take us to the KOA for a flat rate. But New Orleans was in total gridlock with the intersections filled and unmoving in all directions and of course everyone was honking. We walked and walked and successive policemen encouraged us to head to the Amtrak/Greyhound Station where we might find a cab. The station was closed and locked for the night. Will open at 5AM was posted on the front. We joined a few others stranded there and called for a cab. After 3 calls and 40 minutes a cab pulled up. A black woman immediately rushed up to it and claimed it even though she admitted that she had not called. So we said we were OK with sharing the cab and he could take her home first since she was nearby. So we drove on into the projects and dropped her where she wanted. The driver asked us if we were frightened to be driven into the projects and I said we were too old to be afraid and that it looked like the projects were all asleep anyway. I did say I wouldn't walk around in them. He said that you would never see those who would find you. He made it sound like a jungle and I guess in a sense it is, although we have been told that in renovating the project area New Orleans has tried to make it a more mixed housing and mixed income area. We arrived home exhausted after 2AM.
We slept in today and did little besides some house cleaning and laundry.

More New Orleans

Today was parades, rain and the Insectarium.

We rode the street car from the French Market to Canal Street, just to ride. We paid full fare and then read on the side of the fare box that seniors get a much reduced rate. Nothing said about being a resident of Louisiana either. We walked down St. Charles a block or two until we came to some viewing stands built over the street. We went in to Sergio's Po-Boy Deli and were told that you buy your way on and that also gives you access to the bathroom. So, why not. The parade was a long parade by the Tucks Krewe associated with Loyola. Some of the bigger floats did have the edginess that we had hoped for. There were floats making fun of Farmville, Viagra, breast enhancement, Twitter, Match.com, etc.None of the floats were any where near as elaborate as the ones that we saw in Viareggio. The Viareggio floats were as elaborate as those in the Rose Parade, but with very edgy themes. No goody, goody stuff.
By now it was pouring rain and it was hard to take pictures from under an umbrella while trying to keep the camera dry and still shout for beads and prizes. By the end of the parade I looked as if I had been thrown in the river and fished back out. But we had about 20 lbs. of beads and prizes.
We went back down into Sergio's to get fresh beers, dry off, and finish the one Muffuletta Sandwich with Olive Salad we had bought there earlier. That is one big sandwich.
After we were semi recovered, we went a block back down to Canal St. to the Insectarium, a neat museum all about insects. We finished up the day with a drink while waiting for the shuttle bus.

New Orleans

We took the shuttle bus in from KOA West New Orleans to get a taste of the city today. We started out at Cafe Du Monde for beignets. Richard had a box of beignet mix one time I was visiting and I tried my hand. My effort was not any where near the original.

Our walking tour next took us to the St Louis Cathedral Basilica, the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It was lovely, but the cathedrals of Europe have spoiled us for anything in the USA.

Next we went to the Louisiana State history museum. Did I mention it was raining? Off and on rain and wind, but the temperature was mild. I got tired in the history museum and began to just read bits. But it was impressive how the Louisiana territories bounced back and forth between France and Spain a number of times before being sold to the US 16 days after Spain had given the territory back to France. Napoleon wanted the money more than the territory and the US wanted to secure the Mississippi trade route. I was also impressed with the disease in this city in a swamp.
We rested with a leisurely lunch at The French Market. I had fried catfish on sweet potato fries with hush puppies and William had jambalaya. The meal was delicious.

More walking tour then back to the State Museum for the Katrina exhibit. Very powerful and so sad.
More walking and a drink before heading back to the old US Mint for the shuttle home.

Day Eleven: Louisiana

We took it easy getting off today and then spent a leisurely day getting lost on back roads in South Louisiana. Road signs or lack thereof do leave something to be desired. We found the highest rated restaurant in Houma, LA purely by accident.

William: I'm turning here. I want to find downtown. Me: But that says No Outlet. William: Look this is a restaurant. It looks busy, so it must be good.

And it was good. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-18180033R-abears_restaurant-i

We both had the lunch special. Fried shrimp patty, white beans on rice and potato salad. None left for dinner and no room for their special desserts.

A Bear's Cafe est 1963