GULF COAST 4/1/2011

We left our spot located off I-10 exit 24 on Menge Ave and headed south to Hwy 90 so we could drive along the coast.  Inland there were many beautiful homes.

 Then when we got to the beach we were amazed at the beautiful while sand beaches that were virtually empty.  We stopped at one pull off and in the 80+ degree weather we sat and had lunch and absorbed the beauty all around us.

 But, as we looked closer we saw the remnants of the last few hurricanes that left devastation and despair.

 Though there were hundreds of sites where the storms had left nothing but cement pads where homes had once stood overlooking the bay, there were also a few signs of new beginnings.

 Hope of a bright future of basking in the life of warm beach air and beautiful views.

 Where hundreds of beautiful, hundred-year-old, majestic oaks had stood, now there are a few beautifully sculpted designs.  There were new oaks being planted everywhere.

 As we cruised along Hwy 90 through Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, D'Iberville and Gulf Hills, Mississippi, we were astounded at the beauty of the beach on the south side of the road and the hundreds of remnants of once beautiful homes on the north side.  Below, the next few pictures show what was left of one once beautiful mansion, just across the road from the bay.

 The oak shaded brick circle driveway....

 ... the front porch on the left and the brick carport in the center....

 The back patio, yard, fountain and tennis court...

 ...the steps leading up to the huge tennis court....

As we walked across the cement and tile floors of the bottom story of what had once been an obviously lavish place, we were saddened by the lives that had been changed by nature's fury.  Out front, across the street was one lone palm tree. 

But, life goes on and we drove on too.  We headed up Hwy 609 to our next place to stop for a few days, Martin Lake Resort.  We will stay here until Monday 4/4, giving us the opportunity to watch all of General Conference at a local Stake Center about 2 miles from our park.

By the way, the people we have dealt with in several situations here in Mississippi have been overly friendly and there seems to be a less negative atmosphere.  We like it here.

NASA 3/31/2011

The next morning after touring New Orleans we headed east towards Pass Christian, Mississippi.

Shortly after crossing the border we found a beautiful visitors center rest area and to our surprise the head quarters for touring Nasa's Rocket Test Center. We decided to take a tour. So we boarded a bus and were shuttled to the facility several miles away. It was thrilling to be on NASA land and see their facilities.

Seeing as how this is the test facility for all unmanned and manned and manned space exploration rockets, there were plenty of old rockets and engines around to see up close.

 This is one of 4 test sites in this several thousand acre site.  They were not testing rockets this day.  Bummer!!

They also had a museum/educational center that had tons of neat displays, including this mock up of the zero gravity shower used on the International Space Lab being constructed in Earth Orbit.

Also a capsule from the pre-moon exploration period.  It was pretty burned from re-entry friction!

Ann went into outer space and did a little moon exploration while we were there.  People always look taller on the moon!

This is a Saturn Rocket Engine.  There were usually 4-5 of these huge things on each Saturn Booster, depending on the pay load.  These were the rockets that were used to send our men to the moon.

Behind us is a rocket from the Mercury program that took several astronauts into pre orbit flights as well as putting John Glenn up for his historic 3 passes around the Earth.

It was amazing how small the Mercury rockets were.  Here is the one you saw behind us, only closer up.  There is a replica, up top, of the first satellite we put up, using this type rocket.

This was a lunar landing module trainer used for the astronauts to practice in while here on earth.

 

A fascinating day long tour that put us finally arriving in Pass Christian late in the afternoon.  We stayed here one night.  Beautiful park called TLC Wolf River Park.

NEW ORLEANS 3/30/2011

 We decided to stay an extra day in the Jellystone Preserve in order to spend a day in New Orleans.  The heavy rain, lightning and thunder had cleared off and it looked to only be a sprinkling type day, so off we went.  Traveling south on I-55 we drove across about 20 miles of elevated freeway above bayou or swampland.  It was amazing!  There were the dwellings that you see in movies of people living on the swamp. 

Then we arrived in the big city of New Orleans.  We were able to drive past the places we saw in the news during the hurricane devastation that took place here a couple years ago.  It was amazing at how many places we recognized from the TV coverage we had watched.  Amazingly too was that there was so little evidence of the damage we had seen then.  There was some, but very little evidence.

 We parked our truck in the Hilton parking lot and then walked and took a trolly to The French Quarter and French Open Market and spent our day there.  It was full of all the sights and sounds one would expect from this area.

We found the streets much narrower than we thought they were, but then this area was established in the 1700's.

We were lucky that we were there during a slow day.  I guess the drizzle kept people away.

 We had fun just walking the streets, meeting the people, looking in the hundreds of tourist shops and taking in the sights.

It was hard to imagine the bands and floats coming down these streets as we have seen in films about Madi Gras.  They were very narrow!

 We were also surprised that a section called bourbon Street was so vulgar.  There were porn shops, scantly clad and almost naked dancers in the doors to the bars.  It was worse than Las Vegas on the strip.  We did not take pictures here or linger longer.  There were other places to see.

This was the nearest Wayne could find to a man hole cover that said New Orleans... New Orleans Public Sewer District???

We ate lunch at The Gumbo Shop, a well recommended place by the people on the street.  We were actually guided there by a delivery man for another restaurant.  It was quaint.  Ann had a Cajun Sampler with Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Red Beans and Rice.  Wayne had a bowl of Sea Food and Okra Gumbo.  All good, but much milder than we thought Cajun food would be.  This was Wayne's second bowl of Gumbo here in the south and he has decided it is not his favorite.  The Shrimp Creole was mild and bland.  The Jambalaya was thick, like Spanish Rice and very mild.  The Rice and Beans was delicious!  We decided that we liked the Jambalaya that Wayne made several months ago much better.  It was soupier.

We were amazed that The French Quarter was a gathering place for run away teenagers attempting to find themselves, older individuals that still hadn't found themselves yet, street people, pan handlers and musicians that were playing for tips.  It was sad, the apparent lives some of these people lived.

But there were some that were vibrant locals that were hustling for tips.  These two innovative young men had tops of tin cans attached to their tennis shoes and were vigorously tap dancing for tips.  We stayed and watched awhile.  They were good, but it was more interesting watching the crowds that gathered to watch and visit with these two polite and well tipped youth.  This one in the black reminded me so much of your mother, Chip.  Her face, hand gestures, voice, mannerisms and such were so like your Mom.  I watched her for awhile just absorbing the memory of special times I had spent with Peggy over the years.  She was so interested in the boys and especially in their welfare.  She tipped generously.
I was amazed at myself later as I realized I did not go visit with the lady.  I usually do with people that look like someone I know.  I now wish I would have.

Tried to visit with this famous butcher, but found him stone silent.  Had a rather brassy personality.

Toward late afternoon we stopped for some beignets in this open air coffee shop.  The waitress that served us was a teenage high school student from Belgium that was here on a foreign exchange program for her summer break.  She was beautiful and very fun to visit with.

She took our picture for us.

As we explored the streets, there were many historical plaques attached to the outside walls of the buildings.  Essentially, this was a French neighborhood of houses, stores and such built in the mid 1700's  Each plaque described the history of the particular house.  This place, was a shocker to Wayne.  Think Eric Burden and the Animals.  Think 1964. There's the song  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk  Below is the actual House of the Rising Sun, as told by a local horse and buggy tour guide.  There was no plaque on the building and in looking it up on Wikipedia, there is no confirmation of the place.  Who knows???

We also took the ferry across the Mississippi River and back so we could have a view of the skyline of the city.

New Orleans!!

 It actually was a wonderfully educational day.  Long and tiring, but fun too.  Got home to the trailer at Robert LA about 10:30 PM and went to bed soon after. Tomorrow, we leave for further easterly travels.

FRIENDS AT LAST!! 3/26-31/2011

Deciding to leave Baton Rouge was easy for Wayne, as he had had a couple run ins with less than mannerly individuals of this town.  But it left a bad taste in his mouth that unfortunately he had decided to challenge at a later date if he were met with the same type of rudeness by the same type of people.  We chose a peaceful route out of town through some beautiful old oaks and stately homes.

 As we drove, Ann was actively trying to plan a route towards our next destination that would be pretty and not near big cities.

But, the best route was along I-10.  Fortunately, it was beautiful and not very busy.

We were headed in a good direction, but the temperature was getting higher and so was the humidity.  We love our air conditioner!!!

Happily, we arrived at our next destination, a Coast to Coast campground dedicated to Yogi Bear and friends.   This is a very popular place and we arrived on a Saturday.  The place was hoppin'!!!!  We were assigned a spot right in amongst 4-5 families that had lots of kids and all were busy.  Reminded us of our Loab years.  We holed up in our trailer some and soaked up the air conditioning.

Even with the business, we felt right at home and well welcomed by the owner....

 

....and all his staff.

 

Wayne felt right at home and much pressure was relieved as Ann did laundry and Wayne played.

By Monday, after going to church and most of the people leaving, we were well relaxed.

We had the place to ourselves.

But then stuff happened.  We had some major electrical problems with wires shorting out and burning.  We were majorly blessed that there was no fire.  It was the same kind of shorting out that burned our house down in 1991.  Fortunately we were looked over by Heavenly Father, a repairman was called and repairs done.
The other stuff was that when we were in town, Wayne had another experience with reverse prejudice.  He had decided in Baton Rouge that if it happened again, he was going to stand his ground and challenge it.  Lucky for Wayne, the two guys backed down.  But Wayne was still extremely bothered by the situation we were finding here in the south.  Later, as he talked it over with the electrician that came to fix his trailer, he realized he must have been extremely lucky.  He was told that there is a lot of anger brewing and Wayne was lucky he was not followed out to his car and shot.  That seems to be the pattern here lately.
This is really disturbing to us, these carried over thoughts that they are owed something and that the white race is keeping them down.
Later, we went to a Raising Cane's Restaurant and Wayne struck up a conversation with three people and was greatly relieved that they were mannerly and conversant.  Good people.  We find that the educated people seem to be doing something to improve themselves and are normal people, but the uneducated seem to be the angry ones and have an ax to grind.  It is a frightening situation, but we are gratified as we converse with many and find most are as friendly as we are.
We are hoping to go into New Orleans tomorrow, but fear the city.  We shall see.  Tonight (29th) it is raining.