last Houray ! Dernier Houra!

None of us had camped in a COE campground before. So before we settled at Paradise Oaks for the winter we spent our last night on the road in Georgia off I10. The beautiful and spacey sites are set on the edge of the biggest lake (manmade lake) in Florida at the Georgia/Florida line. In fact our clocks were going from Eastern Time to Central Time depending where we were standing in the camp. 

Campground view on the shore. Picture taken from the Dam. 

Unhooked our bikes and paddled along the water to the bottom of the dam where we found some fishermen and women. THis guy is using a net. Not sure it is legal but....

However this lady fished the right way and caught a nice looking bass. Nice dinner tonight.

After checking the dam, we were curious to discover further down the quiet road. It led us to historical markers that we all read: remnants of Sacred Native American Mounds (Chattahoochee group) which were "residential mounds not burial or ceremonial mounds' along the river. 

We all love to understand what happened in each site we chose to visit.

One of the Mound (not a good picture- sorry)

The site also has remnants of steam boats. (below)

As you can see we were thinking of finishing our trip on bikes. How many hours do you think it would take us?

Never mind that thought. We voted to get back to our rigs and toast our travels (with new neighbors who happened to be friendly!! ah ah everyone is friendly in our camping world!!). Got up this morning; took a last picture of the area; and.... dumped!! (this is just the right thing to do to remind ourselves: we are camping not just glamping!! 

Cheers to all who followed us. Hope we have encouraged you to stay adventurous and not be afraid to hit the road. There is so much to see but be aware there are many miles to cover. 

Thanks for your encouragements to start this blog. The long hours on the road, sitting next to my reliable chauffeur, were shortened when, with my computer on my lap and my phone handy I was posting our daily adventures.  It has been fun to share the sites, the history and whatever interesting things we came up to. Our group is sad to see it ends but...there is talks about more to come. 

                                                                            Cheers to all! 

 

Au revoir Nola and hello Mobile, Alabama

Last evening found an excellent local restaurant right next door to our State Park: 

on a commence avec Cajun Board.( Allez sur leur site: Segnette Landing pour voir leur menu.) 

We started with : Cajun Board. (Go to Segnette Landing to see their menu.) 

                                                                    Crawfish pie.

                                                                Gumbo on rice.

Creole White Beans and Rice 

Some had Crab Cakes- Tim had the spicy crawfish Etouffee. 

                    I had a shrimp Po'Boy. Every one laughed at the huge dish in front of me!!

                                                Dernier repas a la Nouvelle Orleans. Last meal in New Orleans!

On our way out of New Orleans going by the Saints Stadium: Caesars Superdome. 

En sortant de la Nouvelle Orleans, on est passe devant le Caesars Super Dome. Equipe de football americain Des Saints

Typical Cemetery. They all close early so were not able to stroll through them this time. 

Cimetiere typique de la ville (mais pas des Francais). On n'a pas pu s'y promener car ils ferment les grilles tot dans l'aprem

On the road again. Leaving New Orleans to drive to Mobile. Crossed over lake Pontchartrain out of Nola. Long bridge then on to I 10. 

En voiture (en camion) de nouveau. Direction Mobile en Alabama. On a traverse le lac Pontchartrain juste au nord des portes de la ville. Ensuite on reprend la route I 10 (que l'on suit depuis Tucson Arizona).

Camping 2 nuits a Mobile. On savait que les parents de Bobby Herrera habitaient dans le coin. On a donc contacte Judson pour avoir les coordonees d'un de ces copains de CGA. On a tout de suite repris notre amitie d'il y a 18 ans. Roberto et Mary sont toujours aussi charmants. Les Coasties (garde de cotes) sont tres lies; leurs familles aussi. 

.Camped 2 nights in Mobile. We knew that Bobby Herrera's folks lived around here. So we contacted Judson to give us a way to contact his Academy friend's parents. Had a wonderful time with Roberto and Mary we had not visited with for 18 years. Coasties are a close knit group but their parents too. 

This Mobile section of our trip had another goal: play golf together at Magnolia country club which is on the Robert Trent Jones trail. Had a wonderful day. Never mind my score, it's all about good time with good friends. 

Cette etape avait aussi pour but de faire une partie de golf a Magnolia Country Club qui fait partie des golfs: Robert Trent Jones Trail. (pour les specialistes du golf). Nos scores n'etaient pas importants seulement le fait d'etre en amis et d'avoir "du bon temps" (comme on dit a la Nouvelle Orleans). 

Next day, decided to leave early. No sense to stay when storm and probable tornadoes could hit the area. So here we are again on the road. As I am writing this, we have reach Florida. We will have one more stop before the end of our voyage. None of us has ever camped in an COE (corps of Engineer) campground. This will be our last stop together. 

Le jour suivant avons decide de partir plutot que prevu a cause de la meteo qui annonce: orages et peut-etre tornade. Nous voila donc sur I10, passe la ligne de la Floride. On va s'arreter ce soir a un COE (corps of engineer- responsable des voix  d'eau/ lacs et barrages) Ce sera notre dernier arret avant de se reinstaller a Bushnell FL pour l'hiver. 

Planning to come back to Mobile so  we can visit Roberto and Mary again and we will also visit the USS Alabama WWII battle ship as well as USS Drum, WWII submarine built in Portsmouth Naval shipyard in NH. Drove by it on our way out of the city.

On aimerait revenir a Mobile pour y revoir Roberto et Mary et visiter le USS Alabama, navire de bataille de la 2ieme Guerre Mondiale ainsi que le sous-marin: US Drum qui a ete construit a Porstmouth NH. On est passe devant en sortant de la ville. 

PS: picnic at a rest area on I10 today where I ate my left over Po'Boy. Boy! was it good! 

Pique nique a un arret sur l'autoroute I10. Fini mon Po'Boy. Super bon

Hier on est passe a une epicerie: Rouses pour y acheter du cafe de la marque: Cafe du Monde special a la Nouvelle Orleans, ainsi que des epices creoles et du Boudin - ce n'est pas le boudin de la France. C"est fait avec des parties differentes du porc avec epices et haricots blancs etc. Tres bons. J'en ai meme achete farcies d'ecrevisses. 

Yesterday we stopped in a Rouses grocery store to buy Nola local "Cafe du Monde" Coffee, creole spices and boudin. (Boudin in France are blood sausages but here they are a bit different but as good- nice and spicy). Some were crawfish filled boudin. We will give it a try!.

WWWWWII museum/ Musee de la Deuxieme Guerre Mondiale

The WWII museum is must see. We thought 2 or 3 hours would be plenty of time to spend there. Well it was not enough. We got there at 10:30 AM and left at 5PM and ...still... there was another building we did not go into. It is absolutely well done. Every aspect of the war was covered through videos, panels, pictures, oral testimony by former WWII participants, and actual news footages. It was captivating to all of us. Let's not forget!!

It looks like I did not take many pictures. The content presented to us was so well done it took all our attention. So go to New Orleans and go there. Plenty of parkings (make sure you get the museum discount- so read the different options to pay for the parking you drove in- not obvious)

Nola, On arrive. New Orleans

Tim's confident look and attitude all along the way. Laissons les Bons Temps rouler. 
 

             Leaving Houston after a nice afternoon on the beach. Drove by LSU stadium in Baton Rouge. 

Meeting with Curt and Charlene. They are joining our group for the rest of the trip to FL

. 

Definitely French culture here. Even De Gaule has made it to Louisiana. 

Mardi Gras World is first on our list. They create, make and decorate floats for all the parades. "Only" 80 just to celebrate Mardi Gras. 

Artists design, draw, cut, shape and paint the different parts. Floats are recycled from one year to the next and take a different aspect. 

After that visit the group is impatient to shuttle to the French Quarter. Bourbon street is as crazy as we remember: lots of noise, music (not as jazzy as we wish) and people. 

A stroll along the Mississippi on the River Walk, up and down the stairs to Jackson Square to end the day with Cajun food.

Gumbo, po'boys and beignets for dessert. Yummy!

Next day revisit downtown but this time we are taking the ferry from Algiers. A bit of difficulties with the pay machine. It takes all of our husbands to figure it out. 

You can see St Louis's cathedral in the background. Short but plaisant ride on the Mississippi. 

Once we disembark we stroll on Canal street: direction Garden District for lunch via the Streetcars. Tight, bumpy, noisy ride full of tourists having a great time. Apparently Tom is manning the back doors. Maybe a new retiree job for him!!!

Off at St Charles street, short walk to Magazine Street for another search of local food. We found just the right place on the lower Garden District.

Love this building. Reminds me of the Durrells in Corfu. These below are walking distance to Judson and Carrie's former home. 

Then we reach the Upper Garden District with its gorgeous mansions.  This house below is a great example. Sold 1year 1/2 ago for over $13,000,000.00.!!! 

Can't leave Nola without a sample of an Hurricane and drinking it in the street. Perfect time to go on to our next adventures.