Nottoway Plantation

We headed northwest from New Orleans to spend a couple hours at the Nottoway Plantation, one of what used to be many plantations along the Mississippi River. This was owned by John Randolph, built just before the Civil War, and was one of the largest, growing mostly sugar cane. Due to intercession by a Northern soldier who had visited the plantation, it was spared the destruction that happened to so many of them ( though not the usurping of all the food it produced). It now operates as a boutique hotel and is a favored spot for weddings, and is also available for tours, which is what we did. It's walls, columns and many of the interior arches of wood are all of cypress. There is also gorgeous plaster work in the interior. Mr Rnadolph hid and bought the best! Here is a photo of the exterior, and two of the interior room called the ballroom--all painted in white the better to show off the ladies dresses!

Interesting display at Ogden Museum of Southern Art

After a morning wandering the French quarter, I spent the afternoon in art museums. There was a fascinating display in the Ogden Museum of southern art about costumes made for a movie series that were modeled on the ones made by the "Indian tribes" that a part of the Mardi Gras festival. The tribes are made up of African American (and perhaps also some Indian) participants who organize themselves into tribes and make incredibly elaborate costumes for Mardi Gras. The costumes are based on themes related to the actual tribal regalia of American Indian tribes, but as you will see, those original regalia are just a departure point. The costumes can weigh over 100 pounds, and the bead work is pretty incredible. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea. One shit shows the front, the other the back and the third a closeup of the large beaded panel.

New Orleans is alive and well

Yesterday Phil and I arrived in New Orleans and found our way to the Hotel Prytania, located in the Garden District. We are quite pleased with the hotel, housed in several old buildings. We are in the historic section, with brick walls on one side and a little balcony overlooking the (quiet at night) street. At $79/ night it's a real bargainer New Orleans, since there is parking on site at no extra fee. The continental breakfast leaves a bit to be desired, but this morning we made our way to Cafe du Monde for their famous beignets. Last night we had a good dinner at a restaurant oSt, Charles street, just a block away. We get to take the street car into the French quarter, about a 15 minute ride. sometimes it takes a while for the trolley to come, but all in all, we are quite happy. Here are pics of our street car, Phil at the Cafe du Monde, and a typical New Orleans street.

The USS Alabama

This morning we visited the 680 ft long battleship, USS Alabama, in Mobile. Dry docked in a very nice park along with the 311 ft submarine USS Drum and a number of military aircraft and tanks, it made a nice morning's tour. I was especially impressed to be reminded of how you have an entire "city" at sea in a battleship, complete with ships stores, dentist, surgery, laundry, large galleys for cooking and post office, alongside all the things needed to do battle. An impressive set of guns on board this ship, which did duty in WWII, mostly in the Pacific, and was never damaged. Here are two shots of the ship, plus one of the submarine (how narrow and tiny it was after touring the enormous spaces in the battleship!)

Tampa/ St Petersburg tourists

Yesterday while Shana worked, Phil and I explored Ybor City, the old town part to Tampa. It's growth came from Cuban immigrants who started making cigars. Now the Columbia restaurant there is famous for its Cuban food and also the lovely tile work on its exterior. Shana and I ate there last year. this time Phil and I just looked. One picture shows Phil beside a George mural of Columbus finding America. Last evening we watched Skyfall, and Shanas two cats decided Phil was the person to be around--it's always the person who doesn't like cats that they choose! Actually he doesn't mind them. The final picture is of me and Shana on the pier at the waterfront in St. Petersburg, where we explored today.

Family History

As we drove from Vero Beach on the east coast of Florida to Tampa, we stopped at Auburndale to see my grandparents and fathers home at 1414 Ariana Blvd. Here are several pictures for the family to enjoy. A lot of memories for me at this place, which I visited from the time I was in college to when Guy was in his teens. The house now has its second story restored (when my grandparents lived there, it was a one story house but from an old picture of the house, we know it originally had a second story). The two stone pillars by the driveway in front are still there, along with the one in back. There is now a swimming pool in the back (nice!). The most interesting surprise was to find that that alley way behind the house, which used to be a dirt road with orchards across the road, is now a paved road with houses where the orchard was. And the road is named.......Edmiston Court! Amazingly enough, the road even showed up on our GPS! We Edmistons live on, even though none of us are there.

First Stop in Florida

Phil and I are off on a cross country adventure, sparked by a visit to our daughter, Shana, who is working this year in Tampa. After flying to Florida, we picked up a car and plan to drive across the south to the west coast, then back up to Seattle. i will be using my blog to chronicle our travels this March of 2013. Our first stop was to visit our friends Art and Jeanne Myers, former boaters we met in the northwest. They have now bought a home and settled down in Vero Beach, Florida. Here they are at their new house.