Short stops in Florida

Events of 22-24 Nov. and 25-26 Nov.
We left Rainbow Plantation In Lower Alabama on Friday 22 Nov. and started toward our next stop of Three Rivers State Park near Sneads, FL.  It was to only be a short trip so we took our time getting ready and had a relaxed trip of about 170miles.

Entrance to Three Rivers State Park

  We arrived at about 1:00pm and got setup in our site.  They have a unique method of doing check in at this park.  When you arrive, a park ranger verifies your reservation and then advises you to check in with the campground host between 4:00 and 4:30pm.  We needed to run to Walmart which was about 20 miles away so we fed the dogs and walked them and off we went.  Our Walmart trip took longer than we thought and about 4:40pm Stephanie started freakin out.  She pointed out that at State Parks they lock the gate at around 5:00pm and you have to have a code to reenter.  So then Bill started freakin out.  While Bill filled the truck with diesel Stephanie was on the phone calling the park ranger to see if they could wait for us to get back before they locked up.  She explained how we had not checked in with the campground host since we needed to go to Walmart.  The ranger  gave Stephanie a combination to the gate so we could get back in.  Major problem narrowly averted, these are the real world problems facing retirees today.  WOW, life is good.

Camp site at Three Rivers

Lake Seminole at Three Rivers

Lake Seminole

 Saturday morning we were awoken to the sound of around 100 loggers chopping on trees.  Actually, as we were waking up that is what it sounded like it turned out to be opening morning of Duck season and I think every Floridian was auditioning for Duck Dynasty.  It didn't take very long for the ducks to figure out they were not getting shot at on our side of the lake so there was an abundance of ducks in the park by noon.

Just across this little portion of the lake is where the hunters were

 

  On Saturday we did laundry and just hung out with the dogs at the trailer.  Took a couple of little hikes and enjoyed the day.  Weather reports indicated another cold dip.  Sure enough, on Sunday morning the temp was down around 40 degrees and yes that is Fahrenheit.  The wind was blowing and we thought it might actually force Bill to wear long pants.  At last we got packed up and trailer hitched up and off we went for our next stop at Stephen Foster State Park near White Springs, FL. 

 

Entrance drive to Stephen Foster State Park

 

Stephen Foster State Park Ranger Station

Pretty picture of the Swanee River

Swanee River with a warning

 

Now we didn't know who Stephen Foster was and why they named a state park in Florida after him so we did a little studying.  As it turns out Stephen Foster probably never stepped foot in Florida but back in 1840's he was a the premiere song writer and is considered the father of American music.  He was the author of songs such as Camptown Races, Jeanie with the light brown hair, Oh! Susanna and the real biggie, Old Folks at Home (Swanee River).  Since the Swanee River flows right through the park and the song was adopted as the state song for Florida, Stephen Foster earned a State Park.  All kidding aside, this is a really a special place.  As I said, the Swanee River flows through here and they have built a museum in honor of Mr. Foster.  There is also a tower associated with the museum that plays Stephen Foster songs every hour as the chime.

 

The Parks Dept. puts on a Christmas in Lights throughout the Park in December.  Right now they are doing all the preparation work for that.  We both want to come back here again as soon as we can. 
  We took a little time to drive around White Springs, FL to see some of the old homes.  Very nice little town.

 

Methodist Church dating back to 1850's

Baptist Church 1898, still beautiful



Tomorrow, Tuesday 26 Nov. we are off to our new site in Hardeeville, SC.  It is actually the outskirts of Savannah, Ga. so we intend on doing some site seeing.

Quite times in and around LA

Events of 17-21 Nov. 2013

On Sunday 17 Nov. we set out for our new destination of Rainbow Plantation near Summerdale, Alabama which is very near the Gulf Coast.  Because this area is so far South  they call it LA or Lower Alabama.  We got an early start so we could stop and see Biloxi, MS for a little while.  Bill actually was stationed in Biloxi while he attended Radar school in the US Air Force along time ago.  We got to Biloxi at around 10:00am along with the fog.

Fog along Hwy 90 in Biloxi, MS

Because of all the fog we were having a very difficult time identifying any landmarks so Bill really didn't recognize anything along the route.  We decided to go ahead and push on towards Mobile, AL and hopefully less fog.

Mobile, AL city skyline

Tunnel in Mobile, AL going under downtown

View of Mobile Bay

We arrived at the Rainbow Plantation RV park around 1:00pm and with GREAT difficulty got setup.  All of the sites at Rainbow are back in sites, not our preferred type site.  Bill had a hard time getting the trailer backed in and thinks in hindsight he was just trying to get it done to fast.  After a post being knocked over and a truck mud flap being knocked loose, we were parked.  Once we had all the utilities hooked up Bill went about standing the post back up and reconnecting the mud flap to the truck.

 

Since Sunday was our 29th Wedding Anniversary we decided to go out to dinner.  Gulf Shores, a resort area, is only about 17miles south of the park so we decided we would drive down there to find a place.  We saw a billboard advertising the Oyster House on the Boardwalk and Stephanie did a little trip advisor search to look at the ratings.  It looked good on Trip Advisor so we decided to go there.

Oyster House, Gulf Shores, AL

1/2 eaten plate of food, Sorry I couldn't wait for the picture

Stephanie and Bill both got the 'Fresh Catch' which was Sutchi.  Stephanie had it grilled with a sort of sweet pecan glaze on it and Bill had it blackened with a Tasso sauce.  We had to ask what a Tasso sauce was and it turns out it is a spicy cream sauce with bits of Ham in it, VERY GOOD.  When our plates arrived we decided to share our fish with each, good choice.

 

Just for those of you who don't know what Sutchi is, like us, it is an Asian catfish.  It is considered a trash fish in Asia and has a pretty bad reputation.  We were told that they are farming them here in the US and feed them non trash foods.  All I can say is it was very light fish flavor and very flaky.  Bring on the trash fish!

 

 

When we left the restaurant, Stephanie was accosted by an Alligator.  Pretty scary stuff. 

On Monday 18 Nov, we both woke up to a cold.  Not cold weather but the sniffing and sneezing kind.  We just rested around the trailer for a couple of days.

 

On Wednesday, 20 Nov. we decided to drive down to Pensacola, FL since we won't be stopping there on this trip.  Pensacola is only about 55mile from here so off we went. 

 

What a beautiful day for a walk on the beach.  We really enjoyed our day here.  On Thursday, 21 Nov. we stayed around the trailer to do some chores and maintenance which needed to be done.  Our next long stop will be in Savannah, GA but we will be taking around 6 days to get there.  More later.

Just a day of fun

On Saturday, 16 Nov. we decided to go to some yard sales.  Being poor retirees we are always on the look out for cheap movies to add to our collection.  It also gave us the opportunity to drive around and see more of what is called the North Shore and the old homes in the area. 

This area, just like New Orleans, was very hard hit by Katrina and there is still a lot of rebuilding going on.  We ended up driving more than 80 miles and scored 8 movies over the course of the morning.  We also saw numerous not so old homes.

The structure in the background is Boat Storage.  I think it was 4 stories tall.

 

The one big item we had on our to do list before the end of the day was to go to the visitor center and tour the Sugar mill ruins.  We started by driving down to the camping cabins.  Just wanted to see them.  As it turns out, as I said, the area was very hard hit by Katrina.  The Louisiana State Parks has been working to rebuild ever since.

These camping cabins sort of surpass all concepts I ever had of a cabin

 

So, finally, we were off to the Sugar Mill for the tour we had been waiting for all week. 

 

As it turns out, the visitors center with all the displays and information on the area had been totally destroyed by Katrina and they are still rebuilding that.  What a BUMMER.

 

So here is a picture of an information plaque at the site. 

 



 

I did a little additional reading on this and learned that Marigny was actually a French Creole.  It was fairly common for the Creoles to not be very sympathetic towards the American settlers.  Marigny apparently made deals with the settlers and then broke the deals out of his dislike for them.  This had a very negative impact on his reputation and when he vied for Governor of Louisiana on 3 different occasions, he was soundly defeated.  Wish Americans still had that since of fairness.

 



On Sunday we are off for Alabama.  We will be staying for a week in the Mobile area.

 



Moving on to Fontainebleau State Park

We left Lafayette on Tuesday morning 12 Nov. for Fontainebleau State Park on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain.  The route took us right through Baton Rouge and then down I-12 to Mandeville.  This is an interesting area of the country with names like Atchafalaya National Wildlife refuge



 

and Tchefuncta River and others.



 

 

Just before we entered Baton Rouge you cross the Mississippi River

Mississippi with busy barges

 Best picture of Baton Rouge as we passed



We arrived Fontainebleau State Park around 4:00pm and got checked in.  We went looking for our assigned site and while it was a pull-thru site it was a very sharp turn where the trailer would normally sit.  We tried pulling in and the trailer was hanging off in the grass.  We decided to go around the park and look for a more 'friendly' site.  It turns out that all the sites are the same.  We ended back at our original site and made some entry corrections and got parked. 
The Park is on the site of a Sugar Plantation which was developed in 1829 and operated with its own Sugar mill.  The foundation of the sugar mill is still visible and the Louisiana Parks Department has a visitors center with more on the history.   We will tell more on this in a later post.  For now I will add a picture of the area.

Massive Oak tree with Spanish Moss

We spent Wednesday doing the obligatory trip to Walmart and a few other errands.  We drove by a Café Du Monde restaurant and decided to stop.  Bill has been to Café Du Monde in the French Quarter numerous times but Stephanie has not so this was going to be a prelude for her.

Café Du Monde in Mandeville, LA

We each had the coffee and Bingets.  Not as good as Bill remembered them to be.  Maybe it had something to do with location. 

Stephanie found a recipe for a Potato Corn chowder soup she wanted to try so we ate dinner at home.

 

On Thursday, we decided it was a good day to go to New Orleans and visit the French Quarter.  It was a very cold morning but very little wind so we decided to brave it.  We decided to take the route over Lake Pontchartrain down to new Orleans.  This route is on the longest continuous bridge in the US.  It covers around 24miles.  By the time you get off the bridge you are in New Orleans.

 

Pontchartrain Causeway

New Orleans skyline





 The French Quarter is truly a sight to see.  Most buildings can be dated back to the early 1800's with some dating back to 1700's.  It isn't that there are building that old, it's the fact that there are so many buildings that old.  Street after street of well preserved buildings.  At the same time, relentless shop after shop gets a little overwhelming.

As we were walking around we saw a small band playing music on the street.  We stopped and Stephanie got a very nice picture.

Good music on the street

Bourbon Street, Beautiful but the smell is terrible

 

We spent some time in St. Louis Cathedral.  It is an absolutely beautiful church right off Jackson Square.  As you may know, it was named for the beloved French King Louis, originally built in 1729.  The current cathedral was built on the original site and completed in 1850.

Looking across Jackson Square at St. Louis Cathedral

One of many stained glass depicting the life of King Louis

The Lamb of God

 

Just to point out the realities of French Quarter life, when we left the church we went outside and there was a woman setup to do tarot card readings on the steps.  Seems Christianity is pretty tolerant to me.

 

After continuing our walking tour we decided to stop for lunch.  We went inside a restaurant boasting 'Breakfast all day' though neither of us got breakfast.  Stephanie went with the Creole combination plate (bowl of Gumbo, Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole and Red Beans and Rice.)  Bill, being a simple kind of guy, went with the Red Beans and Rice with Andoule sausage.

 

We decided after lunch to leave the French Quarter and drive around New Orleans for a while looking at old houses (something we really enjoy doing).  We made one more stop before we got to the truck to get Pecan Pralines.  They were delicious.  A couple more photos before we move on.







The real Café Du Monde

 

Stephanie with a real Joker

We looked up on Google to find neighborhoods with old houses and started driving.  Now, as you know, New Orleans is a pretty big town and some might even say a little rough, as in dangerous.  Well we saw some of that, and decided it would be best to just find our way out and as quick as possible.  We found I-10 and got on going East to Slidell.  We were back in Fontainebleau in no time.  The rest of our sight seeing will be up here on the North Shore.  More later.