The morning at Spanish Fort dawned bright and clear with puddles everywhere. We packed up the trailer and started out for New Orleans via the coastal route. We hopped on I-10 heading west toward New Orleans. I exited the freeway a little early, so we had a nice tour of Mobile and surrounding area. We crossed over the Mobile River on the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge and came down into an old neighborhood with massive oak trees forming a canopy over the road. Pretty cool, huh?


The drive along the Alabama coast was beautiful and serene. But it wasn't too long before we were crossing over into Mississippi. The drive from Mobile had been inland, but when we reached Pascagoula, MI, we were back on the coast. While the countryside in both Alabama and Mississippi was very nice, we were glad to be back on the coast.

We crossed the Biloxi Bay Bridge and came into the beachfront cities of Biloxi and Gulfport, which are adjacent cities. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was so devastating to both cities, much of the cities were swept away in the 18 hours of excessive winds (sometimes up to 150 mph) and flooding up to 28 feet in some areas. Still today, as we drove through the two cities along the beachfront, empty lot after empty lot stand with "For Sale" signs posted. It was sad to see. We stopped at one of the few restored mansions on the beach highway. This one had been turned into a visitors' center.


As we followed U.S. Highway 90, right before it joined I-10, we crossed over the Pearl River and entered Louisiana. I-10 drops south into the city of New Orleans. We had reservations at a state park on the south side of the city, so we crossed the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans via the Huey P. Long Bridge.
When we arrived at the State Park, the ranger claimed that they had not received our reservation and that all campground spaces were booked. We pulled out of the park, stopped and called around. We were able to find a place to camp at the Pelican RV Campground on the east side of the city. Let me just say here it was horrible (as far as area). The owner was very nice and accommodating so we decided to spend two nights here while sightseeing in New Orleans.

The next morning, we got ready and headed down into New Orleans to have breakfast at Cafe Du Monde. Since it was Saturday morning, the line to get into the cafe was huge. We decided to go across the street to Monty's on Jackson Square to have breakfast. I tried the Jambalaya omelette ~ it was delicious!
Our first stop on our sightseeing tour was Jackson Square. Andrew Jackson is quite a hero in New Orleans. Engraved on the base of the statute is "The Union must and shall be preserved." Directly behind the statute on the Square is the Cathedral of St. Louis King of France and is designated as a "minor basilica" behind the Basilica in Rome.


After visiting the Cathedral, Sharon and I walked around the French Quarter. The architecture was great; however, we saw many buildings that looked great, but were not kept up like a historic area that this is. We were surprised by the number of "voodoo" and "spiritualist" shops there were. There were many "palm readers" around the Jackson Square, as well as artists of every conceivable art form. We wound up on the banks of the Mississippi. I was surprised how muddy the waters looked ~ but guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is how the Louisiana Delta has been built over millennia. We loved watching the paddle wheel boats go by and tugs pushing large barges containing coal or wheat (or other grains) for export out of New Orleans.


We drove out to the "Garden District" where there was going to be a guided tour of the Garden District and a Cemetery. We met our guide outside a bookstore with about a dozen other tourists. She was a delightful and extremely interesting guide. First we walked to a cemetery that was kitty-corner to the bookstore.


We took a lot of pictures in the cemetery as we walked through the gates of "Lafayette Cemetery No. 1". Our guide explained why and how they bury the dead above ground. In case you are not familiar with the "why", it is because the water table is only 12 inches from the top of the ground. If they could dig a grave at all, during heavy rains or hurricanes, the wooden coffins would pop up out of the ground. So, they have practiced burying people in above-ground vaults for several centuries now. In one picture, you will notice a small cement vase-shaped container on top of a vault. This indicates that a child is buried here.
The inside of a vault have at least 2 layers with a "basement". The first person buried is placed on the top shelf of the tomb. When another family member dies, the first person is placed on the bottom shelf and the second dead family member is put on the first shelf. When the third person dies, a graveyard worker (mostly Irish immigrants) would come in open the coffin on the bottom shelf. There is usually only a skeleton left. The bones would be broken up and put in the "basement" and the coffin either reused or discarded. The top shelf coffin goes to the bottom shelf and the newly departed family member is placed on the top shelf. On and on it goes for several generations. How morbid, huh?



After the cemetery tour, our guide took us for a tour of homes in the garden district. The Garden District has a council which watches over this part of the city with hawk-eyes. Nothing can be done to the homes without their consent. They even approve what type of stores that can open in the district. They attempt to keep the Garden District as "original" as possible. We were shown homes that were owned by some Hollywood stars like Sandra Bullock and Nicolas Cage. The houses were wonderfully preserved with massive oak trees shading the neighborhoods. Here are a few examples of homes with columns supporting a portico and also wrought iron work and leaded doors.

After the tour, we were ready to head home to download pictures, eat dinner and get some rest. On the way home, we drove on the freeway past the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.


The next morning, we got up early and headed back down to the French Quarter in hopes of being able to have coffee and hot beignets at Cafe du Monde. Low and behold, we were able to park on the street and enjoy hot coffee and hot beignets. Talk about a sugar high! The beignets were covered with powdered sugar! Using Splenda in my coffee seemed pointless, so I dumped some of the powdered sugar into my coffee! After relaxing, talking for a while, we decided to proceed to the New Orleans World War II Museum just east of the downtown area. Walking to the truck, we saw a golden statute of Joan of Arc, which was a gift to the city of New Orleans by France.


We arrived early at the WWII museum to make sure that we could get street parking (which is free on Sundays). This is a fantastic museum ~ if you ever have a chance to visit, you should. With the paid admission, we were given a "dog tag" which is a plastic card which has embedded information about a soldier, sailor or airman. In the various exhibits of the Atlantic or Pacific war theater, we could tap the "dog tag" on a spot in the display to hear stories in the voice of that sailor, soldier or airman as they experienced the war. It was very moving indeed.



The first story of the museum was dedicated to the European-African War Theater. First there was a display of the Merchant Marine and their vital roll in both theaters. The "Liberty" class ships were a mass produced ship ~ building 2,710 ships during the war. They transported men and supplied throughout the globe where needed. The men who manned the ship were not military men per se, but were members of a forced called the "Merchant Mariners".



There was an introduction of the Allied Leaders and commanders, as well as the Axis Leaders and commanders. It is quite sobering to see how much of Europe fell to the Hitler/Mussolini war machine. I can imagine the British were feeling pretty helpless with much of Europe over-run by the Nazis. As you remember from your 7th grade history classes, the U.S. was drawn into the war by the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. President Roosevelt summed up our involvement in WWII as a fight for all nations to be free and living in peace, which would never come to pass under Hitler.



The second floor of the museum was dedicated to the war in the Pacific Theater. The Allied leaders were Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-Shek of the Republic of China. The only Axis leader in the Pacific was Emperor Hirohito. The Japanese had a war machine that could not be stopped as they proceeded to take the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Mainland China, Korea, Indonesia.



The Japanese influence was felt all over the Pacific region and into the subcontinent of India. Each of the major battles that the Allied Forces and the Japanese Forces fought were described and where available, pictures of the devastation. The two battles that tipped the war into the Allied forces favor was the Battle of Coral Sea, which stopped the Japanese movement towards Australia and the Battle at Midway Island ended their movement everywhere else.

There was an IMAX presentation called, "Beyond All Boundaries", narrated by Tom Hanks, that we viewed. It was a 30 minute view of the war from the start where the U.S. Army had more horses than tanks to the industrial U.S. machinery to crank out ships, tanks, weapons and ammunitions to support the war effort, to the horrors of wars and the nearly 65 million people who died during the war in both theaters of action. Very sobering indeed to think of the cost in the toll of lives. We got a taste of what our parents had to go through and give up in their lifetime that we could live free.


As we exited the museum, the walkway is paved with bricks with the names of families who dedicated a brick in the name of a loved one who served in World War II. To see the length of the sidewalk was just a small reminder of how many Americans served and gave their lives.

We returned to our campground and prepared to move the trailer to a state park on the other side of town for our final night in New Orleans. As we worked to prepare moving, I was thankful that although Japan, Germany and Italy had been former adversaries, the nations now live in peace. One-on-one relationships with friends from these nations and our travels to these nations are now peaceful and free.