Our goal now is for Madeline to reach all 50 states before she turns 50. Luckily, three of them could be captured in a single trip to New Orleans. We spent two nights in that city to knock off Louisiana, then spent two nights in Gulfport to knock off Mississippi and also Alabama. With absolutely nothing planned as far as what we’d do in the three states, we ended up really enjoying this mini-trip.

11/5/11-11/9/11—The Deep South

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After the swamp tour, we had lunch and then went on a city tour, which included a visit to St. Louis Cemetery #3 (one of the many interesting cemeteries in the city), as well as some of the Hurricane Katrina damage.

 

 

We landed mid-morning on a Saturday and went to our hotel, then walked over to Bourbon Street, where we tried some of our first Cajun food… muffuletta and fried pickles.

After lunch, we strolled through the French Quarter, enjoying St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square

We took the streetcar the Riverwalk and Spanish Plaza, where we found our name on a ceramic wall

Text Box: After checking into our hotel, we had dinner on Bourbon Street. That night, LSU, the #1 team in the nation played football against Alabama, the #2 team. When LSU won, Bourbon Street became a playground of interesting people, flashers, painted women, and bead throwers. For the most part, it was just harmless fun… even if the place is a bit tawdry.

On Sunday morning, we decided to do a swamp tour, where we saw a bit of wildlife and a whole different way of living.

Although the Saints won, Bourbon Street wasn’t as interesting, although I did find a couple of fascinating characters

We loved driving along the coast, and when we hit the Mississippi beaches, we just had to get out and check out the beautiful sand

Monday morning we checked out of our New Orleans hotel and drove down to the Mississippi Delta, then we drove on over to the state and checked into our hotel in Gulfport

Tuesday morning we woke up and headed east along the gulf, crossing into Alabama and eventually Florida

In Mobile, we went to the USS Alabama battleship at Battleship Memorial Park. The ship was built in 1942 and saw action in WW2. We were able to visit most of the decks and even the turrets.

Text Box: Cotton was and is an important part of the Deep South

We continued on into Florida where Madeline tipped her toes into the Gulf in Pensacola

Wednesday on our drive back from Mississippi, we went to Oak Alley Plantation, a beautiful sugar cane estate between New Orleans and Baton Rouge along the river . The plantation was built in the 1830’s around 28 live oak trees planted at the start of the 1700’s. Those trees are more than 300 years old today, about halfway through their lives. The place was beautiful and the story was fascinating… a real look at the ways of the South.

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