New Orleans and Home

We drove to Pensacola, Fl. and stayed at the Elks # 2108.  It   We arrived right before the heavy rains. It’s a big lodge, they have 1200 members.  We didn’t unhook the car.  We stayed in and watched the election results.  It rained on and off with some thunder and lightning in the early evening.  We woke up around 2am and it was pouring cats and dogs.  Just pounding the RV.  We woke again at 5am and it was thunder and lightning for over 90 minutes.  They reported 9’ of rain that night.  Never have seen so much.

Elks lot after 9 inches of rain in jujst a few hours

We left in the morning and headed to Biloxi MS.  We stayed at the Elks.  Its just across the street from the beach.

Check out the Confederate Flag

Beautiful Beaches in Biloxi

 Really quiet neighbors and long white sandy beach.  We saw 12 people out on the long beach cleaning up or looking for oil.  For lunch we tried some Gumbo and a deep fried soft shelled crab sandwich.. 

We found out Debbie and Al were just down the street from us so we all went to the casino together and had dinner.  The appetizer was deep fried crab claws.  We are in the deep south.  We all won a few dollars and went home early.

Our Quit Neighbors next to the Elks

I took a walk out on the beach.  Put my toe in the Gulf of Mexico.  The tied was out and it was really shallow.

Clear Water-No Oil

 Lots of the homes across from the beach were destroyed from Katrina.  There were many empty lots with for sale signs.  It had been cleaned up and just empty lots and some new buildings going up.  Some of the damaged trees had been carved by local artist.

Very Creative

From there we traveled to New Orleans. What an experience New Orleans is. The campground and our campsite site in New Orleans was right on the Mississippi River.  It was interesting seeing all the tug boats move the barges up and down the river.  They were moving sand and soil which is a commodity in the flat land in this area.  It wasn’t so interesting when they woke us up at night. 

We went down to Bourbon St. and had lunch at “Pat O’Brian’s”.  We had a Muffuleta sandwich.  We had deep fried Alligator for an appetizer and yes it tasted like chicken. We have had fried everything in the south.  I was surprised that I liked the deep fried pickles and hush puppies.   We enjoyed the famous Hurricane drinks.  You can put your drinks in plastic to go cups and walk the streets drinking and we did.  The bars and clubs are open 24-7 and serve liquor.  What a party town.

Lunch with the Rizottos at Pat O'Briens

Drinks Served and Consumed 24-7

French Quarter is Just Beautiful

Later we met with Tony and Joleta at “Delmonico’s” for dinner.  It’s one of Emeril’s restaurants.  It was beautiful a restored mansion.  The food was fantastic and the service excellent.  We would recommend it.

We took the city tour and then the swamp tour.  We went to the cemetery.  All bodies are buried above ground since New Orleans is below sea level.  Entire families are in one tomb.  You are placed in there for 1 year and 1 day.  They then open the tomb and because of the heat all that is left are bones.  They push you to the back and then there is room for the next family member. We saw one tomb that had 12 family members in it.

We went through the Garden District.  Elegant historic district.  Some homes were once part of a plantation.  Most were built in the 1800.  Sandra Bullock has a home as does: John Goodman, Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt, Ann Rice, the Author, and the Manning family of pro football fame. 

Where the Manning Boys Were Raised

We saw the house that they filmed the Curious case of Benjamin Button.  This is a beautiful area.

The French Quarter has many weird shops, great restaurants, and clubs.  Great looking area.  One big party town.  Lots of great music.

The 9^th ward was a big eye opener.  Most homes have just stayed the same.  The tour guide said the new Mayor was going to do something about the urban blight.  He seemed optimistic about it.  What a contrast as Mississippi has cleaned things up.  We did see 100 homes built by Habitat for Humanity.  They were given to Musicians in the area.  This was because they wanted the French Quarters up and running to bring the tourist back for city revenue.  You have to put in 350 hours of sweat equity and have good credit to be eligible for these homes. All the new homes  have to be built on blocks 2 feet off the ground.  This is to protect them from future flooding.  The sad part is that they put bad sheet rock in them from China . The new homes all have to be redone. Occupants will have to move out while all the sheetrock is replaced.

Narrow Houses

Habitat for Humanity Houses

Nice Colors???

Loved the swamp tour.  It was quiet and peaceful.  We saw Alligators, nutria, turtles, herons, raccoons, and egrets.  A nice boat ride and a great guide.

New Orleans a one of a kind city.  Who Dat!  A great place for a  vacation. We will be back

Turtles Sunning Themselves

Aligator Sunning Himself

The End

We drove for 9 hours the next day and stayed in San Antonio, TX.  A long day but made better by some good books on tape.  We stayed at a Walmart and walked across the St for some Texas Barbeque

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Another 9 hours of driving and we arrived in Las Cruces at the Elks lodge.  We went out for some good Mexican food.  We have tried all kinds of regional food. It’s been fun seeing how different parts of the country eat.  We will stay two nights here and clean the RV, do laundry and relax.  Tomorrow we head to the Phoenix area to see some of our Grandkids, can’t wait.  Then we move on to Palm Springs and stay a few days at our lot.  Then we head home.  We are looking forward to seeing the family and good friends in the bay area.  We have missed them.    We have been gone 2 and a half months and only seen a fraction of this great country.  None the less we have had a trip of a life time!

This is our final post. Thanks for letting us share our great Fall Colors trip with you all and THANKS to Ralph & Doris for doing this trip for us all. It has been GREAT. And thanks to Al & Debbie Rizotto and Tony & Joleta Fernandes for being such great traveling companions for almost 2 1/2 months.

Savannah

We arrived at the State Park in Savannah, GA.  The campground is beautiful.  Lots of big oak trees with moss hanging down.  It’s 75* and wonderful.

Live Oak Trees with Hanging Moss

Savannah is Georgia’s first city.  The colony was established in 1733.  The city was laid out with broad streets, lots and public squares.  All the squares in a perfect pattern.  It’s a model city.  21 of the original 24 squares survive today.  Savannah is on a bluff 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina. 

One of the Squares

Savannah’s historic district has been designated a national historic landmark.

We walked along the restored waterfront.  The river walk had cobblestone streets.  We watched small and large ships coming into the harbor.  We had a nice lunch over looking the river.  There were nice shops, we enjoyed walking around in the city.

The city has extraordinary architecture.  There is lots of ornate wrought iron on the homes.  This was a sign of wealth.  Trees line the streets with moss hanging down.  The historical district isn’t large but, it really has southern charm.

Old Town Charmers

We had dinner at Paula Deen’s  restaurant “Lady and Sons”.  We would rate it fair.  Expensive for what you get. 

Joining us for dinner was a couple that we met earlier in the day at the campground, They were from............ Livermore.

Paula Deens

Dinner at Paulas

Tom Being "Carded" at Paulas

Savannah is a very beautiful city and well worth a visit. Come back ya all.

We drove to Jacksonville, Florida and we stayed at the Elks Lodge 2065.  They have 269 members.  We went in and had a drink.  Jeff, the Tiler/ Bartender was nice and gave us a tour.  He is 30 years old and really seemed like a nice young man.  They have a huge cell tower on their property.  It has 3 phone companies on the tower.  He couldn’t tell us how much they made on it but, he did say they could close the doors and still pay all there expenses with that income.

We decided to stay one more day.  Debbie and Al and Tony and Joleta have moved on in their different directions, but we all should all meet up again in New Orleans on Thursday 

Today we took a drive and got to put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was much warmer than the Pacific Ocean.  When you walked into the water you could'nt tell because the water was so warm. The sand was so soft and fine..  The beach was white and long and lots of people out enjoying the wonderful 80* weather.  Florida is pretty with palm trees and other tropical plants.

Sheryl in the WARM Atlantic Ocean

Beautiful Beaches

Buddy "Hanging" Out



Washington DC

We were pleasantly surprised to see our friends Ralph and Doris when we arrived at Cherry Hill RV Park .in Washington DC.  Its fun getting to spend more time with our good friends.  The campground was lovely, lots of amenities and fabulous fall foliage in late October.  

The Colors are still with us 

 WOW

We went to Gettysburg National  Military Park .  The largest battle ever fought on US soil, 51,000 men were killed, captured or injured during this 3 day battle.  The confederate army suffered the greatest loses and this was a turning point in the civil war.  We watched a film and then went into the Cyclorama Theater.  20 artists worked on this in 1883-1884. It’s 42 foot tall painting and depicts battles in the Civil War in the round.  It’s been restored and it has light affects and sounds of guns and canons. .It’s really done well.  We then boarded a bus for a tour of the battlefield.  It covers 25 square miles. We had a great guide.  You felt you could see the battle taking place before your eyes.  They also have a museum with over 1 million historic artifacts. A very good day site seeing.    

 Gettysburg

We also saw the National Memorial for Fallen Fire Fighters.

 Fireman Al
 at National Memorial for Fallen Fire Fighters

We had a full day{ 8-5}of touring Washington DC. We took a trolley tour of DC.  We saw the White House, US Capitol, and Supreme Court.  The Washington Monument divides the National mall.  On one side is the Capitol and 10 Smithsonian Museums.  On the other side is the Korean War Memorial, Vietnam, World War II and the Lincoln Memorial with a reflecting pool. 

Sheryl and her Buddy Abe

White House

Our Capital

The Washington  Memorial was started in 1848.  They ran out of money and finished it in 1884.  Its two different colors because they couldn’t match the stone.  It’s 555 feet tall and is surrounded by 50 flags.

Washington Monument

 The Lincoln Memorial is aligned with the Washington Monument and the US Capitol.  It has 36 colums one for each state in existence at Lincolns death.  The statue was done by Daniel Chester French.  We visited his home and studio when we were in Vermont.  The monument is so impressive The Vietnam, Korean and World War II were all very moving.

Lincoln Memorial

We went to the Ford theater where Lincoln was fatally shot.  Its been renovated and now contains a nice museum with many historical artifacts..  Well worth a visit.

Where Lincoln Was Shot

We rode down Embassy row then into Georgetown.  Both were very nice areas.  Georgetown had some cute shops, restaurants, and is home to Georgetown University..

The National Cathedral is the 6^th largest in the world.  It took 83 years of construction and was completed in 1990.

National Cathedral

Arlington National Cemetery was touching.  440,000 people are buried here.

Arlington National Cemetery

 We saw the eternal flame that lights up President Kennedy’s gravesite.

Kennedys Eternal Flame

We saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  They guard  the tomb 24 hours a day.

Changing of the Guards

The last day in DC we needed a day off.  We did laundry, cleaned the RV and worked on the blog.  It rained most of the day.  We had thunder and lightning and had the air conditioner on because it was so warm.. 

We drove through Virginia and N. Carolina and still had some beautiful foliage and nice highways.  The center medium was nicely landscaped with flowers and trees. 

Beautiful Settings

We spent the night at the Fayetteville, NC Elks Lodge # 104.  They had s nice campground with 4 hookup sites.  We got our first drink for free and a free lodge pin.  They have 170 members.  There were 6 guys at the bar all very friendly.

Another long day on the road.  We drove thru South Carolina and into Georgia.  We stopped at Pearl Fryar’s Topiary garden.  He was featured on the travel channel.  With no topiary experience he started on his garden.

 South Carolina had more billboards along the highway than any state I have ever seen, some up 40 feet tall.  When we entered into Georgia I loved the sign.  “Welcome to Georgia thank you for having Georgia on your mind.”