SIGHTSEEING AROUND NEW ORLEANS

Sunday, May 23 - L-O-N-G day for sightseeing. We started out by driving about an hour west to the Old Oak Plantation. Oak Alley Plantation has been called the "Grande Dame of the Great River Road". The design of the mansion combined several styles, the most notable being the 28 classic columns surrounding the house. The columns measure 8 feet in circumference and are solid brick.

Front

Back

It costs $15 each for the tour, but since we are staying at a Louisiana State Park, we had a ticket for FREE ADMISSION. Awesome! We really enjoyed this tour. After the initial introduction, pictures were not permitted inside the house.

Beautiful lighting in the living room. Here is a great link to see pictures of the inside.

 

The tour guides were all dressed in period clothing....a nice touch.

The house tour was amazing and the grounds were unbelievable. The old Oak Trees are simply fantastic. The quarter-mile canopy of giant live oak trees, believed to be nearly 300 years old, forms an impressive avenue leading to the classic Greek-revival style antebellum home. This is really a MUST SEE TOUR that we highly recommend.

These oaks are only 150 years old. They call them the “young” oaks.

Looking out on the upper porch.

Marsha loved the trees.

This bell was used to call the slaves to work, meals, and end of day.

Before they built the huge levy, the house had an awesome view of the Mississippi. Boats going by the house used it as a landmark for their travels.

This is an original kettle that was used to make syrup from the sugar cane that was grown on the plantation.

More pictures of the Old Oak Plantation.

After our visit, we drove to the New Orleans City Park. Another outstanding experience and another highly recommended MUST SEE. The park has all the typical parts plus more: tennis, basketball, ball fields, shelter houses, walking and running paths, lakes, a train, playgrounds, swings, an amusement park with a roller coaster, Storyland, plus a tremendous Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. This was really cool! The works of art were done by famous artists and installed by prominent citizens. Each sculpture has a plaque describing the artwork and crediting the installer. Really something special.

Love,  Red Blue. This is a Pop icon…even on a U. S. postage stamp.

This one is Paul’s favorite, Travelin’ Light. It represents a formally dressed man, hanging by his bare feet, a powerful but dignified reference to torture and abandonment. The figure is a bell. Marsha pulled the the chain in the back. The sound is a mournful sound.

The next two is really one. We both wanted to get into the art. This is called Three Figures and Four Benches.

What is his hand doing on that guy’s leg?

This one cracked us up. Can you guess the name?….The Safety Pin.

This is Marsha’s favorite. It is very famous. The three Cajun werewolves are really one sculpture. The three sides are all connected  back-to-back. It is called We Stand together.

To see more sculptures, click here.

Then it was back to the campground for a walk with Bella and a couple of phone calls. Marsha talked to one of her girl friends from her former work, and then we talked to Kelly, our oldest daughter for over an hour. She was driving home from Houston, so we kept her company for some of her drive home. She spent the weekend with her sister, Carrie, doing some apartment hunting. Kelly has a new teaching position in the Katy Independent School district in Houston. She will be teaching at  Mayde Creek High School. There are 32 elementary schools, 12 junior high schools and 9 high schools in the district. She will also be the assistant volleyball and softball coach.

Enough for now. Y’all come back soon.