The Wandering Adventurers

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Feb. 11

It’s Norm’s birthday today! We started out our day with a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum which traces the development of aviation from its beginnings to the present with over 150 planes on display. Planes were everywhere, on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels and some of their jets were hanging from the ceiling! I have loved watching them fly over the Seattle area with Suz. We really enjoyed the Imax film high lighting the Blue Angels and had fun sitting in the cock pits of a couple of the planes. In the same area is Fort Barrancas, one of the four forts in the bay. Looking across the bay we could see Fort Pickens. Spain built the first fort in this area in 1698. This territory changed allegiances many times. The French were here in 1719, the British in 1763, then the U.S was in control before being occupied by the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The old Spanish fort is still standing unscathed in front of the formidable structure of Fort Barrancas. Before heading for town we visited the Pensacola Lighthouse. We found the history of Pensacola was characterized by the various cultures also. We visited the Historic Pensacola Village and toured Old Christ Church along with three homes built from 1805 to 1890. We saw many things we that were new to us. In 1805, they got their sugar in a hard “loaf.” the end of a wood mallet screwed off and had a pick attached. The mallet and pick were used to get a piece of sugar lose. They would put the sugar between their teeth and drink coffee with a nice sweet taste. Then put the leftover sugar back to be used again. They had beautiful larder boxes hanging from the ceiling to hold supplies and keep them safe from mice etc. The town has done a fabulous job of restoration with homes and businesses. A couple of streets looked very much like the French Quarter in New Orleans. We found a fabulous restaurant for Norm’s birthday dinner, Dharma Blue, where he could get some of the best Sushi ever, Chris had a fabulous chicken dish and I had one of the best duck meals ever. We do love a great meal out!

Feb 12

Today was a driving day along the Gulf through Panama City and circling up the coast stopping south of Tallahassee. From Pensacola to Panama City was one resort or hotel after another, quite the resort area. The beaches are beautiful! The white sand and turquoise water are gorgeous. We stopped at a state park for a picnic and short walk on the sand. We wished it was warm enough to go for a swim. The water was crystal clear but we are in the middle of a cold spell with night time temperatures down to 25° and daytime temps in the 40’s and low 50’s. Swimming and an outdoor picnic just didn’t cut it. We ate in the car! We were also put off a bit when we came across three large Portuguese Man of War. As we continued our drive it seemed that as the sandy beaches became smaller or almost nonexistent and the sand lost its sparkling white look, the towns became less prosperous. We wondered if some of the fishing villages were hurt by the oil spill. We found an RV Park in Panacea right on the water and an easy drive into Tallahassee for a visit tomorrow. Cy and Sharland sent us off with a bag of fabulous avocados. We enjoyed another one in our salad tonight!

Friday, February 10, 2012

On to Florida

Feb. 9

Before leaving the New Orleans area, we drove over to the Jean Laffite National Park to see the bayous of the Barataria Preserve hoping to see alligators. No luck on the alligator sightings but a nice walk through the bayou with Cyprus trees and small palms called Saw Palmettos. The large canal was man made to transport sugar cane for a nearby plantation. Jean Laffite was a privateer in this area in the early 1800’s. By 1812, this New Orleans business man was the leader of 1,000 Baratarians smuggling in store goods and slaves. He was jailed and escaped by 1814 to become an asset to the US Navy and Army warning them of a British attack. General Jackson accepted his help to bring in ammunition and supplies for the battle of New Orleans. He called Laffite a “hellish banditti.”

We drove through Mississippi along the coast through Biloxi to Mobile and on to Pensacola, old stamping grounds for Norm when he was in the Air force. We saw “for sale” signs for beach property by the dozens. Lot after lot must have been leveled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some of the grand old homes survived and new ones were being built but you could have your choice of building lots. New resort facilities have been built, hopefully not to be leveled soon by another hurricane. The gulf coastline is gorgeous and we took a walked on the sand. We sat outside for lunch at Snuggy’s on the beach. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent getting organized in the manor for the months ahead. It feels good to be done with hotels and in our cozy home! Eating some home cooked meals will be nice for a change. Norm’s birthday is coming up so our dinners won’t all be home cooked this next week.

Feb. 10

We drove down to the coast this morning to see the white sands and turquoise water of the Gulf. The sand is amazing & reminded me of the white sand in Cancun. We are hoping to have more sun tomorrow to really get the sparkle. We drove out on a spit to the Gulf Island National Seashore. It goes for miles across Mississippi and Florida to include the Barrier Islands and coastal marches. 80 % of the park is submerged. The ever changing islands with sea oats growing as a stabilizer actually form a barrier to help protect the coast from hurricane damage. At the tip of the spit is Fort Pickens dating back to 1825. The brick fort was modernized, as cannons improved, with cement fortifications that were used clear up to World War II. This area has been under the rule of five different flags. The fort was held by the Union Army throughout the Civil War. We picked up sea shells along the beach, not in the National Park of course, and did some bird watching. There are a number of large heron and osprey nests atop dead trees. We were lucky to see a pair of heron sitting in their nest and an osprey heading back to its nest carrying a fish.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Beginning 2012 Wanderings

The Wandering Adventurers #4 Beginning in the South and Ending in the Badlands
January 22-February 4
We will be driving down through California visiting with family and friends along the way. Heading east, we will cut over on Hwy 10 to Dallas to visit with Norm’s son and family. By February 5^th we will be in Galveston to start our “wandering” for the next 5 months. We have a short visit planned in New Orleans and then on to Florida for a month or so. We are going to be in Macon, GA by March 23 for a Trail Manor Rally, DC by March 30 to meet Allison and Ann to participate in the National Epilepsy Walk, back south through the Carolinas, over to Kentucky and Tennessee before heading north to Michigan by the end of May, on to Chicago, and finally meeting Faye and John in the Badlands in mid June. On the way home we hope to visit with Doris and Ron in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. With our traveling library of AAA and National Geographic books in the back seat, we will be experiencing exciting, beautiful, and interesting places in our United States. We can’t wait to get the show on the road!

Feb 5 & 6
3,000 miles and more than two weeks later, we are embarking on our five month trip. Galveston was our first stop. The 1890’s were the glory days for Galveston when it was the principle seaport and leading commercial center for Texas. It was the wealthiest city in Texas. As many emigrants came through this port as they did through Ellis Island. Grand homes or palaces lined the street which was known as Palace Drive. A few still stand in all their splendor. We toured the Bishop’s Palace built by a leading attorney in 1887. What a beautiful home with gorgeous woodwork and stained glass windows. Tours are great for getting an idea of what those times must have been like. We drove down along the strand and the seawall. Nothing much was there when Chris and Norm were here in the 90’s. Now it is lined with hotels, restaurants and shops. Quite the tourist spot. The film, “The Great Storm,” gave us a real understanding of the hurricane of 1900 that killed over 6,000 people. We saw water markes around the old downtown from Ike in 2008. The downtown area has seen a wonderful revival in the last 20 years. At the end of the day we took a short ferry ride to get out on the water. We spotted a number of dolphins.

Feb 7 & 8
We drove across Louisiana to New Orleans in time to go into the city for the evening. Our senses were bombarded on almost every level walking down bourbon street! Music and bright lights everywhere to say nothing about the assorted smells. I love it but can only take in so much before I‘m on overload. We found a great dinner spot, The Bourbon House of Seafood. Very fun evening.

Today we went into town after breakfast at La Madeline’s, a favorite. Wandering the streets of the French Quarter is such a pleasure with all its charm and atmosphere. It is vibrant and alive after the hurricane in 2008. We walked through the French Market, took pictures of Jackson Square, had beignets and chicory coffee at Café du Monde, and stopped into the Central Grocery Company. Morning is not the time for a muffuletta sandwich so we had to do without this time around. We stopped and listened to street music as we wandered the streets. The Quarter was being decorated with colorful decorations for Mardi Gras. A highlight was a piano concert upstairs at the mint. The pianist was a young man from Tulane University. He played some modern New Orleans jazz stopping between pieces to talk about his background and modern jazz.