Apalachicola

Camped (29.722510, -84.980633)  on the edge of magnificent Apalachicola Bay, oyster capital of Florida. We have sampled these tasty bivalves at a couple of local place, with mouthwatering results. The raw oyster at Up the  Creek were savory and sweet and the oyster po-boy at The Owl Cafe was packed with these delicious little mollusks fried to perfection.

One of the  many spectacular channels around the bay.

One year ago

Naval Aviation Museum

Another fabulous museum. So many planes and so much history to see. One can easily spend a day to two here. Hundreds of lovingly restored planes span the history of Naval Aviation from a replica of their first plane purchased in 1911 to a Gemini space capsule.

Linda checking out the 1911 Curtiss Triad,
the Navies first plane

Fellow WINs, Phil, Linda, Paul, Linda, Milt and Marian

Replica of WW I air base

The Curtiss "Jenny" was used to train WW I pilots.

After WW I surplus "Jennys" sold for $100
and were used by barn stormers across the US

This huge Curtiss NC-4 was the first plane across the Atlantic.

The famous British Sopwith Camel

A design break through, the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 air cooled engine. It became one of the most successful power plants of all time, eventually powering some 350 different aircraft.

The next break through, jet engines.
Blue Angels in formation

A must see if you are in Pensacola, FL

One year ago

Annihilation to Art

Katrina dealt Biloxi a devastating blow. As the city picked its' self up and rebuilt, lemons were turned into lemonade. Many of the old Oak Trees fronting the ocean had succumbed to Katrina's fury. They emerged twisted, mangled remnants of their former glory. Chain saw artists Dayton Scoggins and Marlin Miller changed all that.

One year ago

Two years ago

Beauvoir

Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate State of America, fell on tough times after the south lost the Civil War. In 1876 the widow Sarah Ellis Dorsey invited him to visit Beauvoir and offered him a cottage near the main house. Sarah moved to New Orleans and Jefferson and his family moved into the main house. Upon her death Sarah bequeathed Beauvoir to Jefferson Davis where he lived for the rest of his life.

Jefferson Davis' bedroom

Daughter's bedrooms

Dinning room

About 80% of the furnishing are original to when Jefferson Davis lived here.

Front parlor

One of the daughter's bedroom. 

There is no wall paper in the house.
All walls and ceilings were painted.

The other daughter's bedroom.

One year ago

Two years ago

Elks

When we were in San Antonio the local Elks Lodge agreed to accept Phil, Linda, Linda and my applications for membership. But, we would no longer be in San Antonio when our applications were voted on at the next lodge meeting. The lodge was very accommodating, letting us go through the initiation ceremony at a lodge down the road. We were voted into the San Antonio Lodge last week  are we now camped at the Slidell lodge, where we received a very warm welcome.  We completed our  initiations yesterday and we are now all Elks. This is one the nicer Elk campgrounds with Spanish Moss draped Oak trees

Laura Plantation

We visited a historic Creole sugar plantation. The word Creole means that you were born in Louisiana. There are French Creole, Native American Creole, German Creole, South African Creole to name a few. The plantation was begun in 1804 with the erection of the manor house by Guillaume Duparc. It remained in the family until 1891, when it was sold to Aubert Waguespack whose heirs resided on the plantation until 1984.

In Creole tradition, the house sits on 7 foot high piers hidden by the fence. 

There are no hallways in traditional creole homes, one room opens into the next. The porch was often used to pass between rooms. 

This door, like all the wood in the manor, is Bald Cyprus. Insect proof against even termites. Then in the custom of the day, the wood was painted to look like other woods,  called Faux painting. 

There was a fire in 2004 and one room was left unrestored. This shows the post and beam with brick construction. These wall are 16 inches thick with a covering of Spanish Moss, horse hair and plater.

Original slave cabins

By tradition, and maybe by law, slave cabins were a duplex, two 16 x 16 foot room. There were between 2 and 5 slave in each room. Each cabin had a garden and animal pens for the slaves to raise additional food. The door and additional roo in the back were added in the 1800's when they were used as workmen's cabins.

We also so visited Oak Alley Plantation, but enjoyed the tour at Laura more. 

The Big Easy

It's Carnaval time in New Orleans. You might think that one Mardi Gras parade occurs on Fat Tuesday. That's not the whole story. There are 23 Mardi Gras parades over a two week period, culminating with the Rex Parade on Fat Tuesday. Each parade is organized by a krewe, pronounced crew, which is more like a fraternitiey. You are invited to join and may spend thousands in the course of the year supporting krewe's activities. In addition to the parade, there will be the  Mardi Gras ball. The Krewe rides the floats and throw cheap beads to begging, screaming adults.

French Quarter

Andrew in Jackson Square

But Duaine, will it last?

Get geared up for Mardi Gras

Burbon Street

No judgement during Mardi Gras

THROW ME SOMETHING!!

What a great horse drawn fire engine.