The Ray Adventures: Mandeville and Gulfport, Mississippi

You might want to read the previous blog first.

Wednesday, Feb. 4, The weather was pretty ugly so we hunkered down for the day, I had plenty of laundry, it seems the washer and dryer ran all day. I'm so thankful to have a washer and dryer in the coach, it would have been a drag to go to the Laundromat on such a miserable day. An interesting side note, the leak in our slide that would drip even in a heavy dew seems to have stopped. Even with the heavy rain we've had there hasn't been any water in the "leak catcher". Strange.

Thursday, Feb. 5, We headed across the Causeway to see the sights of New Orleans or the Crescent City, named by the founders because of the bend in the river. NO elevation is about 13 feet, a population of 480,000 pre Katrina, now only about 360,000 over 100,000 left the city and do not plan to return. About 35,000 people filled the Superdome after the hurricane, most of those people relocated to Houston, our NRG Stadium guide was one of them. The highest elevation is beside the river then the ground slopes down to below sea level the further away you get. We parked at the WWII museum and got on the Hop On Hop Off tour bus, a 2 hour round trip thru the city that lets you get on and off at the stops. We thought we'd take the whole tour, decide what we wanted to see then go around again for our stops. As we rode through the city the tour guide would give us the "skinny" on the sights. We drove down Magazine St., quite a shopping area and according to the guide, the area most locals choose to eat because of the restaurants authenticity, thru the Garden District, St. Charles St. where all the expensive homes are, through the arts district, past the riverfront casino and Port of New Orleans, the 2nd largest port in US, past Mardi Gras World where they build all the floats to Jackson Square,and the French Market in the French Quarter. We couldn't stand it, we had to get off there. NO started in the French Quarter in 1718 right beside the bend in the river. We had lunch at the historic Jackson Brewing building, a little bistro on the second floor overlooking the Mississippi. We chose to eat inside, it was a bit cool, besides we were cold after riding on the top of a double decker bus. We took the free walking tour that was included in the price. Musicians were playing at Jackson Square, the entertainers have to have a permit to play anywhere in the French Quarter. Our guide took us on a 45 minute tour, telling us about the architecture of the buildings and the prevalence of wrought iron railings. We went through what is now a hotel but was a private residence, since buildings were built right at the sidewalk most of the places had courtyards, with servants quarters on the opposite side. It was illegal in the 1800's for white men and black women to be a couple, so the rich would buy homes for their black lovers. The one we visited dated back to the early 1800's, later it turned into a house of ill-repute. It is illegal to tear any building down in the historic districts. We walked past a fenced in area where a number of archeologists were sifting through the dirt looking for artifacts, it seems the lady that owned the house circa. 1800, did not make needed repairs, a few months ago the building literally fell down. Mule drawn carriage rides are offered in front of Jackson Square, their time on the street is strictly regulated, 3 months on 3 months off. The mules and carriages are all decked out, we say one mule with glittery hoofs. We hopped the bus back to our car, going down Canal Street, past the Superdome (now Mercedes Benz Superdome) completely repaired after Katrina, past St. Louis Cemetery #1 and back to the car to pick up Luci before daycare closed.

Friday, Feb. 6th, Luci was off to day care again while we went back to NO to finish our tour. The tickets were good for 2 days but we decided to only go to the St. Louis Cemetery and The Garden District. St Louis Cemetery #1 is the oldest and best known in NO established in 1789. The above ground vaults were necessary because of the high water table. The most notable buried here is Marie Laveau, a notorious voodoo queen, she died in December 1897. Another name you might recognize is Nicholas Cage, no he is not dead, he just wanted his final resting place to be in the cemetery. It is pyramid shaped with the inscription Omria ab Uno, supposedly a reference to his National Treasure movies. It was built in 2010, we overheard a tour guide say that 5 cats are interred there now, who's cats we don't know. The wall vaults were for the lower class. St. Louis is a Catholic cemetery with a few protestants buried way in the back. We left there for St. Charles Street, the St. Charles Street car runs 13 miles between Canal St. (near the French Quarter) passed through the Garden District, Tulane and Loyola Universities to Carrollton Ave. is only $1.25 each way. The Trolley dates back to the mid 1920's. We went past the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. in the 1980's the Eiffel tower in Paris was sinking, the second story (from the top) was dismantled and was sent to NO in 10,000 pieces, reassembled, it does look like the Eiffel tower. We drove through all the expensive homes up St.Charles Blvd. holy smoke some of those homes were amazing. We spotted a funky looking restaurant called the Blind Pelican, on St. Charles, all decorated up for Mardi Gras , decided that would be a good place for lunch. Wrong, since the parade would pass by that night they had an abbreviated menu with elevated price. Oh well, it filled our tummies. We missed the 1 o'clock walking tour of the Garden District, we decided we couldn't wait for the 2 o'clock, we had to get through town and across the Causeway to pick up Luci by 6, traffic is heavy no matter what time of day we just couldn't take the chance. We did take the time to visit Lafayette Cemetery #1, some of the tombs the high society are buried in are as fancy as their mansions.
It has been fun to be here during their Carnival celebration. A Catholic holiday, the season starts Jan. 6th, the parades start 2 weeks before Fat Tuesday, with parades all over Louisiana and some in Mississippi. I always thought there was one big parade also thought it went through the French Quarter, the streets are too narrow and have low overhangs so the parade in NO is through Uptown. Mandeville held their parade tonight, so we decided to go. It started at 7 and wound through 6 miles of the town, we were worried about parking, etc. so we left about 6:30 to go to the end of the parade. Wrong move, we waited in the cold for 2 hours before it went past us, taking about another hour. It was fun, the floats with the queen of the Krewe with 3 maids all in elaborate costumes, the Marine Band from Belle Chase, high school bands and local clubs were represented. The Krewe is a local organization that is in charge of the parade. They throw beads, candy, toys and plastic cups(?) Curious thing, Gary got a lot more beads than I did. By the time we got back to the coach it was 38 degrees outside.

Saturday, Feb. 7, Nothing special is planned for the week-end. We took a 5 mile walk on the nature trail at the park, picked up 7 caches, some of them were a bit tricky. By the time we got back Luci was one tired puppy and so was I. The weather was perfect. sunshine and blue skies. Spent the rest of the day relaxing outside.

Sunday, Feb. 8 I spend the morning cleaning and doing laundry in preparation for our move tomorrow. We planned to ride part of the St. Tammany Trace, a paved multi-use trail that runs for many miles. Gary pumped up the air in the bike tires, my tube blew. We didn't have a spare so had to drive to Slidell, about 15 miles,to a Wal-Mart, luckily they had the size we needed. We rode 8 miles, lots of people were out, even the serious guys in spandex. For sure the rest of the day I rested.
Fontainbleau State Park is a wonderful park, with about 100 camping spaces and another area for group camping right on the northshore of Lake Pontchatrain.

Monday, Feb. 9,Moving day, we are off to Kessler Naval Construction Center in Gulfport, Mississippi. Several towns we went through had beads etc left over from their parades still on the street. Another beautiful day. As per usual we stopped at the visitor center just inside the Mississippi border, what a beautiful building. Inside they had displays of previous Krewe queen's costumes. Up close you could see the work and detail involved in their making. We drove into Gulfport, there is 27 miles of white beaches stretching clear down to Biloxi. After our GPS send us to the wrong gate we finally got to the base around 3, only about a 70 mile drive from the state park. Gulfport is the second largest city in Mississippi, population about 68,000 with an elevation of 19 feet. The town is rebuilding itself after Katrina made a path through the area. As we drove in we parked along the beach to let Luci run in the sand. All she wanted to do was roll in it. Snot. When we checked into Fam Camp the man that checked us in told us a Security Training session will be held Tuesday from 4pm to Wed. 1:30pm, the base will be on lockdown. No one can leave or return in that period. This is the first time we've experienced anything like this in all the times we've stayed at military rv camps. To be continued. We splurged for pizza for dinner, brick oven baked. Pretty good, I'm paying for it today, it was so hot the cheese burnt the roof of my mouth. I think someone is trying to tell me something.
That's it for this week. Enjoy the photos.

TTFN

Gary and Pam