Lyle and Jan - Our US Travels

Mobile, AL All About Relaxing RV Park Early morning spent in the park's tornado shelter. No damage to the park, but some nearby buildings were wrecked.  Dauphin Island sits at the entrance to Mobile Bay The Red Tide was quite strong here but we didn't link it to the respiratory symptoms we were having until later. Oil and Gas Drilling The "Mighty A" (USS Alabama), permanently anchored in Mobile Bay, is probably the most accessible museum ship we've ever seen. They cut an access door through 18 inch armor plate so you  could easily go inside the 16 inch main gun turret.

We've been to NOLA many times (past and present lives) we've visited all of the famed bars and restaurants and even stayed at the Bourbon St. Sheraton, right in the middle of the action, so this is a just a short coverage. We crossed the Mississippi on the Algiers Ferry and walked up Canal Street (using our high danger protocol). The area seemed "safer" than previous visits. We took the steamer Natchez the last time we were here. Jackson Square in the background. Impromptu marching band near the riverwalk, we don't know why. The weekend before Halloween Our dinner spot Second Lines are a popular tradition. Bride and groom first and Dixieland band second. A second, Second Line a few minutes later. The balcony was leaning, surely a risk of collapsing. Jackson Square

Swamp Tour. We're staying at Bayou Segnette State Park just outside of New Orleans. It's a huge wildlife preserve and there are many tour companies operating wildlife tours. We decided to take an "airboat" tour. The airplane engine is really loud but the ride is super smooth.  You glide over what looks like plants growing in the ground but they're actually all growing on water.  The birds were abundant as we rode through the huge bayou. This guy was the largest of the 5 we saw, at about 10 feet long. This guy was ferocious looking, but fake...

Close quarters at the park.  Lyle did an amazing job of parking so that the tree was a full 6 inches from the slide. :) Established in 1716, Natchez is a popular destination for heritage tourism because of its many antebellum mansions that survived the Civil War. The homes form a major part of the city's architecture and identity. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the city attracted wealthy Southern planters as residents, who built mansions. Their plantations occupied the lowlands along the river fronts of Mississippi and Louisiana, where they grew cotton and sugarcane using slave labor. Natchez was the principal port for cotton exports, and the principle city where slaves were bought and sold. Stanton Hall Longwood The interior was never completed after war broke out Looking up at the cupola.  Jan has always wanted to go to a balloon festival and our visit to Natchez coincided w