50/50

After waking and getting breakfast from Waffle house, which I haven't done in years, it was time to achieve a dream.

Louisiana was a state I had skipped among previous trips. Regretfully, along my national parks tour back in 2016 I purposely bypassed due to the state not having a national park. In hindsight I should've stopped, but the positive is that I was able to enjoy another road trip.

After only a short 5-10 minute drive the GPS claimed "Welcome to Louisiana" while bypassing the state sign along the roadway. I cheered happily and kept moving to New Orleans.

Arriving in morning  at the French district was probably for the best. Not being a fan of crowds or chaos the area had a low volume of both.

The district is unique in a few ways namely the buildings architectural structure, which many are old style french with all sorts of influences and small touches.

A phone app that I came upon had history tours which gave me basic info and significant sites, which I casually followed.

 

Sitting and looking port side along the Mississippi River boats caressed the water. Next to me were a couple old styled steam boats. Behind was Jackson Square with a bronze statue of Andrew Jackson with the backdrop of  St. Louis Cathedral, a colossal catholic church. A few artists in the area conducting paintings of their so desire, which was fun to watch the canvas being created.

Walking around Woldenberg park, enjoying the history markers, watching a jazz group perform in the streets, and even strolling down Bourbon street the culture of this part of the city is blossoming. 

The city goers party hard due to the necessity of having a huge cleaning effort on Bourbon Street. I observed the cleaning crews coordinating as they spoke over their radios. They were cleaning the sidewalk and street itself with soap and water. It appeared that the private other businesses had employees doing the same.

After some time I left the area to explore  the Garden district. Not necessarily a garden area per say but mansion after mansion of old architecture. Spectacular house lines filled each street. 

 

Unfortunately due to Covid/construction areas were closed or restricted hours. Missing out on a few opportunities like walking around Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, voodoo history, and the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center. 

 

The cemeteries are particularly interesting as New Orleans is around sea level. Burying the deceased would result in them floating in water. The custom of building vaults to sit above the ground became custom to help mitigate the problem with burying under the ground. Just below is a picture of these vaults/mausoleums as I hung my phone over through the gate to get a picture.

 

 

After 3-4 hours of exploring I decided to start traveling back to PA. The first stop on the way back was The Crosby Arboretum in Mississippi. A microbiome of local ecology and habitat. A delightful experience for a measly 5 dollar admission.

 

After the arboretum the mile hungry brain made its way back to camp at Tannehill Ironworks Historic State park in Alabama. Luckily they had a primitive camping spot for this booming camping area. I'd estimate over around 1000 people were present. 

This was a delightful place to stay for the evening with an unknown special event occurring. The RVs within this city of campers displayed holloween decorations, more than I've seen and on a bigger level then I've seen in years. These displays were icing on the cake of a epic day.