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.

NEW ORLEANS, MS

Saturday, May 22 – The drive to Bayou Segnette State Park, New Orleans, LA had lots of scenery. Of course, 75% of the drive was over the marsh lands.

This is a wonderful state park. We stay for half-price with my America the Beautiful Senior Pass (one of the few good reasons to be 62). We are in site #68. Along with the discount, we also get free admission into one of the LA State Historical Sights (at least a $30 value), free laundry, free WiFI, free TV..loving it! We're practically staying free. $54 for 5 days minus the free admission....about $24.....WOW!

You can see by the pictures below how much room we have. Bella is loving this site. They even have a place to put up our bird feeder.

Our first stop was the fish market. I've been hungry for shrimp ever since we came to the Gulf area.

We stopped in at Market Wego. We told the owners that we really enjoyed their place, and we were going to put them on our blog. They said they were in the process of making a website and would we please put their address up…sure! So it is 100 Westbank Exp. Westwego, LA 70094. If you are in the area, this is one of the places that has great food.

What a neat place. They had EVERYTHING imaginable…as far as seafood goes. The market had crawfish, crab, oysters, shrimp (four sizes) and cat fish. All fresh off the boat. Even bonelss stuff chicken with cornbread and crabmeat…YUM.

So we got the shrimp plate with fried Orca and French fries. We shared the plate and it was all we could eat....fresh and soooooo good. We don’t normally eat fried food or take pictures of our food, but this was so good.

We then drove into New Orleans. Nice to drive around the city with little traffic.

We visited St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. a historical grave yard. Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 is located at the corner of St. Louis Street and Basin Street in New Orleans, Louisiana (Orleans Parish). St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 was founded in 1789, and it is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. The above-ground tombs in the cemeteries of New Orleans are often referred to as "cities of the dead." The rows of tombs resemble streets. New Orleans burial plots quickly became known as "Cites of the Dead." Burial is above ground because in New Orleans because the water table is high. There are two we wanted to see but just about the time we were finishing walking through the first we heard the watchman announcing the cemetery is closing. The other had already closed, so we'll go back another day.

Here is a question for you -- how can you bury more than one family member in each vault? How can a tomb hold all of those coffins? According to a local ordinance, as long as the previously deceased family member has been dead for at least two years, the remains of that person is moved to a specially made burial bag and put to the side or back of the vault. That coffin is then destroyed and the vault is now ready for the newly deceased family member. What happens if a family member dies within that two year time restriction? Generally, local cemeteries are equipped with temporary holding vaults and the newly deceased family member is moved into their final resting place when the time restriction is met.

This were the Italian immigrates were buried. In other words, Marsha’s family on her mom’s side would be buried here…LOL.

We drove past Tulane University. Jeesh....glad our girls didn't go to this school. Right smack in the middle of downtown....not a very nice area either.

We then drove along River Road which runs along the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, you couldn't see the river because of the levy. We're below the waterline! A paved bike bath runs along the top of the levy. We may ride there later in the week.

We walked up to the top of the levy. The Mighty Mississippi.

After returning to the campground, Marsha took Bella for a walk. First grassy area, with trees, and all kinds of good animal smells, that she's been in for quite a while. She loves it!

We spent the rest of the evening planning our visit to New Orleans.

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back again.

GOOD BYE BAY ST. LOUIS, MS

Friday, May 21 – Last day for the beach :-( I'm getting pretty burned so maybe that's a good thing.

Our last beach sunrise.

Talked to a local fisherman staying here in the park. We asked how the fishing. He said, “We limited out (15 fish) in two hours.” He's fishing for Red Fish but caught all Trout. Nice size too!

Well, we certainly got our entertainment for the day. The weekend campers have landed. WOW! The stuff they set up. Awnings, flags, signs, patio rugs, tents, umbrellas, coolers, fans, lights, the list goes on and on. Three trailers came in together. Party tonight!!! Supposedly the campground is sold out for the weekend.

This is what the campground looked like before the weekenders came.

After the weekenders come.

Hit the casino again tonight. Band wasn't very good either and neither were the slots...uck! Oh well, off to New Orleans.

See you in New Orleans!