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Published: January 1st 2013
Gulf State Park
Move the cattails aside and you'e on the water. It is best to be the second one to go through.Happy New Year to every one of you and your families. We also hope you had a very merry Christmas. Being on the road at Christmas is difficult, one of us was kinda weepy, but avoiding the snow storms in the north has its advantages.
At Christmas we were still at Gulf State Park in Alabama. We really like this park and might stay here for a month next winter as this state park allows extended stays during the winter months. We did have some scary weather, but the weather man kept saying how unusual it all was - we hope he is right if we come back for a longer time. From our site we were able to push aside some cattails and launch our kayaks . On our paddle we watched as an osprey skimmed the water repeatedly, but never came up with a fish, no pictures Kris, so use your imagination.
We looked in all the seafood shops for fresh local shrimp, but only found shrimp that was already steamed. Finally after taking a wrong turn during one of our drives we found a sign for 'fresh shrimp right off the boat', and it
really was right off the boat. On a road that dead ended at the Bon Secour River there was a shrimp trawler, a woman still sorting the shrimp by size and the boat captain to take our money. We'll remember Joe's Fresh Shrimp when we come back again.
Our big splurge this year has been staying at the French Quarter RV Resort right in New Orleans. This is our first visit to the Crescent City ( because it is situated on a stretch of the river that looks like a crescent). We are only a 1/4 mile walk from the French Quarter and 1/2 mile walk from Bourbon Street. The RV park is fairly new and well maintained and also quite secure. We worried some about how safe we would feel since New Orleans has some pretty bad statistics. We have been cautious but walked everywhere we wanted to and never felt that there was a problem.
We started our visit with a 3 hour city tour in a van with a guide who sounded like he was a recording. He often forgot that he had already used a particular joke and repeated it more than once. But
Cafe du Monde
Sooo good. Beignets and coffee - worth the wait. having someone drive us through the very narrow streets of the French Quarter and the Garden District and all around the hurricane damaged areas was well worth it. We saw huge OLD mansions and seedy hovels and everything in between. There is just so much history here and from so many cultures.
On our own walking tours we hit some of the foody spots in the French Quarter like Café' du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets , the Central Market to pick up a muffuletta , Pat O' Brien's for a drink called a Hurricane. The Verti Marte had excellent Po' Boys. We stopped at the Napoleon House Restaurant for a Pimm's cup and a drink called Sazerac….. That is enough about food and drink, there is a lot of it here to try and it is all good. We watched some excellent street performers and some that were not so good around Jackson Square.
The cemeteries in the area deserve their own paragraph. Burials here are all above ground unless it isn't permitted by someone's religion. The reason of course is that too many bodies have been washed out of the ground because of rain
Cafe
Ron getting ready to have his Chicory coffee and a beignet. and flooding. Here the dead are placed into vaults or crypts that look like miniature buildings and eventually the place looks like a miniature city. A coffin is slid into the crypt and the heat and humidity take over to cremate the body. After one year plus one extra day the bones may be removed from the coffin and placed in a vault at the bottom of the crypt, and the process can start all over again. Many of the plaques in front of the vault have long lists of names for family members whose bones are all mixed together resting there for eternity. Kinda puts a new meaning to family togetherness.
Somewhere at the Port of New Orleans my family arrived in 1952 to start our new life in the USA. There is a statue along the river walk dedicated to immigrants. It says ,in part, that the people who came to the US through this city had a vision that hard work and perseverance could make a better life for their children - how right they were. Thanks to Eduard and Tamara Fust I am reaping the benefits of all that hard work .
We have
enjoyed our time in New Orleans. Visiting here was everything we had hoped it would be. We're happy that the history of this area is being preserved. We have another day here and I'm sure we'll walk into the French Quarter again - we already have some favorite spots to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the tourists.
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Joan&David Thomas
non-member comment
Thanks
I guess we don't have to go, you described it all so well. You two are great it sounds like you both enjoy the adventure, happy new year!