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Hibiscus
All the flowers at Bellingrath were stunningWe enjoy a couple of hours walking around the gardens of Bellingrath in Mobile, the roses are spectacular as are the Delphiniums and Hibiscus plus lots of flowers that I don't recognise, (neither does George!).There is also an ecological boardwalk over a swampy area and we see a couple of turtles but although we look very hard we are disappointed not to see an alligator. It is a lovely day about 80f and not as humid as it has been. We drive into Mississippi and stop for lunch in Biloxi,(pronounced Bluxi), it is a lovely resort with white sandy beaches. Hurricane Katrina devastated the buildings in August 2005 including the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino which had been only days from opening but along with lots of other buildings it is now up and running again; the optimism is astounding. We leave Mississippi behind, (to return later in the trip). Lake Pontchartrain Causeway leads us into New Orleans, it is the world's longest bridge at 23.83 miles. After checking into a motel we set off to explore the French Quarter, we walk all the way up Bourbon Street which is very tacky and we are pleased to
leave it behind as we find Jackson Square and the French Market. The architecture is very interesting and it's a great place to 'people watch', jazz is being played on nearly every street corner, we stop for coffee and beignets at the Cafe du Monde which was recently recommended to us as unmissable. We spend quite a long time just walking around and then we have to negotiate Bourbon Street again on the way back to the car. It's even seedier now that it is later in the day. We get a bit lost and end up amongst the down and outs who are sleeping under the flyover; not very nice but we eventually find the car.
Tuesday 13th May We feel as if we have seen enough of New Orleans so we decide to move towards Texas, it is humid and overcast again and keeps trying to rain but we feel quite lucky that we seem to be missing the storms that are now causing problems in Alabama and Georgia. We arrive in Beaumont, Texas and George realises that we have a slow puncture so when we have checked into a motel he has to go off
to get a new tyre (tire) fitted. Go to a steakhouse tonight, well we are in Texas!
Wednesday 14th May We are very lucky to be missing all the bad weather, several states are on 'tornado watch' and Louisiana had over 9inches of rain yesterday, (yes 9inches). We spend a wonderful day at the Houston Space Centre where the Starship Gallery has an interesting film on the history of space travel and a display of moon rocks. We take the NASA tram tour to the Johnson Space Centre for a look behind the scenes at 'Mission Control' and the 'Astronaut Training Facility'. Unbelieveably 14,000 people are employed here. It is a federal facility where space shuttle missions are monitored and directed from seconds after launch to landing and it has more than 800 pounds of lunar rocks and soil collected during the Apollo programme. JSC is the lead centre in the design of the International Space Station and is leading the way to return to the Moon and on to Mars. What a fantastic day; we end the day in a real Texas Steak House, well we are in Texas!
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Ellen Murray
non-member comment
Hello USA and the Platts!
Hello Rosemary and George - As always a very interesting blog and exceptional photographs. It is great to hear where you are and what is going on around you. Will look forward to the next installment!