I found a great deal for the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour on Groupon, and got us all tickets. It also helped that I had some leftover credits/Groupon Bucks! In all I think I paid $4.00 for the whole family, so it was an easy decision to go. Although we can see alligators in Florida, it has been very interesting seeing them on this trip, too, so we were very excited to go.
Amazed at ourselves we actually got there early! We registered and looked around the property for a few minutes before it was time to get on the pontoon boat. When ordering tickets we had already decided that we would enjoy that over a noisy/windy airboat tour, and once we got on and started chatting with others aboard we knew we had made the right choice. Joe broke the ice by asking where everyone was from, and after that there were a lot of conversations going around us. We even found a few people from Iowa!
After tooling down the access canal, we got into the Carpes Swamp area and started seeing more wildlife. I won’t go crazy with pictures of gators, but here are a few of the larger ones we saw on our tour.
We also went by a cabin that was used in the filming of several movies, so I took a picture of it if anyone recognizes it!
One of the movies filmed here was with Nicolas Cage, and so out pops an album with photos. See if you know any of these people (hint: one is Nicoas Cage!):
Getting even Closer to Nature
Now it was time to head back, and also time to get closer with nature. After looking at alligators for so long, Captain Jamie thought we should see one up close. First he showed us all how to hold it, and then we got to pass it around. Joe declined a turn with the baby because he thought it might pee on him. For the record, the baby alligator did not pee on anyone! Jamie also passed around a large preserved alligator head. Much to their delight, the boys got two turns with the baby alligator!
If you like alligators, bayous, and corny jokes, we highly recommend our Captain, Jamie Beasley!
Goofy Lunch Break!
Viewing and playing with alligators will work up the appetite! We found an amazing gem of a restaurant near our campground in Westwego. The Little Kitchen had all of our favorites, a fun atmosphere, and great low prices! If we had gone there sooner during our stay we definitely would have gone there often!!
Back to Camp
Flocks of birds, busy armadillos, fuzzy caterpillars, turtles, and more tiny sticky frogs were just a few of the things we enjoyed around the campground on our last night at Bayou Segnette. The boys enjoyed the playground and riding their bikes while Joe and I went for a walk. I also finished a an urban sketch of our day at Cedar Key.
We thought that one of the best ways to celebrate Memorial Day was to spend it learning more about WWII History witha tour of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
Entering the space we got oriented to the museum layout. The first activity is a train exhibit–always up the Liddy alley! We did the road to war and home front sections, and moved on the the Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theters. After that we went to the amazing movie experience, Beyond All Boundaries. Narrated by Tom Hanks, there were also props and special effects that made it even more dramatic. After the movie and lunch, we spent a long time in the section with the most airplanes, the US Freedom Pavilion: the Boeing Center. The boys had challenge pages with the silhouettes of different planes, along with brief descriptions. Their task was to match them with the planes on display, so we took some extra time for them to finish their worksheets. For the final few hours we rushed through the two different campaign sections: The Road to Berlin, and the Road to Tokyo. We spent all day, but did not see it all!
Road to War
Fire Direction Tower model
Uniforms and Equipment
From the Leaders
By Air and By Sea
US Freedom Pavillion: the Boeing Center
The Road to Berlin
We had the opportunity to follow a service person with the Dog Tag Project. Clayton’s was Doris “Dorie” Miller, and we found some of his story in this section. The boys also loved the large equipment, and the “hole” in the ceiling with the planes going by. The museum was about to close, so we did have to rush through these.
Back to the Bayou!
A quick drive through town, and it was back to Bayou Segnette! We enjoyed some different views on our walk; the boys thought that the line-up of boats in the auxillary parking lot were pretty funny! We watched some tour and fishing boats go by, considered buying an island, and laughed at al of the large birds roosting in the power tower. All-in-all a great day!
After hanging out at Bayou Segnette a few days, Sunday came and we ventured out into the city again.
We chose First Baptist of New Orleans, which is near Metairie Cemetery. The teaching was very good, and I especially loved their lobby walls with the murals depicting their local and international missions.
After church we went over to City Park. We saw some people with crazy Mardi Gras outfits walking through the parking lot!
We walked over to the Children’s Museum, and discovered these “weeble-wobble” chairs on their front porch:
Then we headed inside and found out that they had just reopened the day before for the first time since Covid started. This museum has an amazing outdoor area, so we headed there first. After having fun with a parachute and some balls, we moved on to their little garden, where the boys could help water the plants as they learned more about them.
After the herb and vegetable garden there was more outdoor space with a lake and flowers for additional learning opportunities.
Then we went back inside for a quick tour of some of their play spaces. We enjoyed the ball conveyors, and the art and music spaces.
On our way out, we found the bubble station, and gave giant bubbles a whirl!
Lastly, after fun at the Children’s Museum, we decided to go for a “Sunday Drive” in a 4-person Surrey Cycle! We enjoyed riding around the lake, and each boy got a turn at driving.
Since we had plans in the evening to stay in one of the floating cabins we decided to get going pretty early. Our first stop was a little restaurant in a house, called Biscuits & Buns on Banks. This place, although small, packed a big breakfast punch! We were definitely NOT disappointed! There were waffles–the boys tried theirs topped with grilled brie and fruit and Joe had the chicken and waffles with grits. I had an omlette with a huge biscuit, and we also all shared an andouille sausage hash cake. All-in-all an excellent choice for breakfast which we all highly recommend. The owner and staff were very friendly. We got there right when they opened and we were the only people eating inside which allowed us to get some pictures of their decor as well. I think seeing all of the murals might be enough reason to go eat there!
From conversations with the owner we found you won’t be disappointed with any of their neighbors, either. The little restaurant cluster at Banks St and S Alexander St includes Mid City Pizza, Wakin’ Bakin’, Bub’s NOLA (a burger joint), and Banks Street Bar, and they ALL looked worth checking out. (Wakin’ Bakin’ was my second choice, if Biscuits and Buns had been too busy!).
Exploring Metairie Cemetery
Full from our amazing meal, we drove up to Metairie Cemetery. We took an extra tour of the next neighborhood, having followed Google to an entrance that was not useable. We ran the gauntlet of the same challenging intersection we had walked through the day before and then found an opening we could finally drive into. Next was the challenge of finding the gravesite that Joe wanted to see, which was of Jim Garrison. This search introduced us to a gravesite finding website, which I found a little fascinating! We did find Garrison’s gravesite, and then I found a whole list of interesting people who were buried in Metairie.
Generally speaking, I enjoy walking around in older cemeteries. I especially like seeing the interesting choices people make in statues and memorials, finding the oldest sites, and even reading the names. Of course, cemeteries in New Orleans are even more interesting as most of the dead are above ground, and many of the tombs are very elaborate. You can read a short article about the history of NO’s burial sites and cemeteries here.
One of the more famous people at Metairie is P.G.T. Beauregard. I had never heard of this man, but I started to read his story and made everyone wait for me as I finished the whole thing. He was the fifth most senior Confederate officer, and was instrumental in creating the Confederate flag to avoid battlefield confusion. Even more interesting was his after-war career, which included inventing a cable car drive system similar to the one in use in San Francisco, running the Louisiana state lottery, and serving as Adjutant General of Louisiana. He is buried in the Army of Tennessee Memorial, where you can also see statues of him.
P.G.T Beauregard may be one of the more famous people at Metairie, but the Weeping Angel in the Chapman H Hyams Memorial may be the most famous and most photographed statue. The haunting blue light from the stained glass only adds to her beauty.
Someone else broke out a little piece of stained glass, but getting the end-view photo can still be challenging:
My other personal favorite is this eternal visitor to the Morales tomb
Celebrating Life
After our tour of death, we took our boys to the nearby City Park. I had wanted to see an exhibit of outdoor trains, but it was inside of the Botanical Gardens. Since we had reservations to stay at the floating cabins, we decided to skip the Gardens. The boys enjoyed a play area, and also the statues outside of StoryLand. Sorry, Bo Peep!
Back at the campground, we packed up a few things and headed over to the floating cabins! We enjoyed watching the swamp tour and fishing boats go by from the screened-in deck, the wildlife, and the sunset. Taking advantage of a full-size oven, I made brownies and stuffed-crust pizza. Since it was Park Ranger Keith’s last day working at the park, we invited him over after his shift. He came to pick up his brownies and ended up staying and chatting with us for almost two hours! Eventually he succumed to eating some pizza, as well.
On Wednesday we took Keith’s advice and found the Algiers Ferry over to the French Quarter. We lucked out and got free street parking very close by, and also got on the ferry just before it was leaving the terminal. We sat up top and enjoyed the breezes and the views as we crossed the Mississppi.
There was some construction on the other side, so it was a challenge to get our bearings and find the tram stop. We found the riverfront tram and rode it to the French Market stop at the East end of the French Quarter. Walking a few blocks to officially be in the French Quarter we started marveling at the famous architechture right away!
After a few more blocks, we found a store-in-an-alley, with the cutest outdoor metal decorations. It wasn’t open yet, but we thought it was worth some pictures. I told Joe that it would sure look better if the recycling can wasn’t in the way, so the first picture is of Joe moving the can out of our shot!
We went into the French Market, which was just coming back to life after being shut down for Covid. There were not many vendors, but we did make a friend with Oscar, a gentleman who makes art with some kind of meltable plastic sheets, mostly metallics. He does earings, pins, and magnets. Since we had just started collecting magnets for the major places we visit (we try to keep it to one or two per state, lol), we decided that Oscar’s original artwork would be a great choice! We got a crawfish playing a saxaphone and a parrot. Not sure what the parrot has to do with New Orleans or Louisiana, but it was cute and he had a deal on two!
Continuing down Decatur Street, we took in some “enhanced” local art (someone had fun with beads!), the Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans landmark, and more amazing architecture.
After that it was on to the highlight of the morning–Beignets at Cafe’ Du Monde! There was a line, but there was also a small band playing, which made it more pleasant….not to mention the smells! I think the anticipation (I had been talking up beignets since Florida!) made them all the more sweet.
Tipping the band, we moved on to explore the Jackson Square area. The way was full of buskers, including this gentleman, making poetry on-the-spot. Our boys seriously challenged him with the topics of “Nascar” and “trains!”
We waited for the poem and then made it through the rest of the gauntlet. One notable was a man betting people he could tell them where they got their shoes. (spoiler alert–the answer was always “you got them on your feet, in New Orleans!”). He was up by the cannons and we managed to get a picture while he made his money off of someone else. Across Jackson Square from the cannons is the beautiful Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France, and in the center is a statue of its namesake, Andrew Jackson.
Interestingly the sculptor of Andrew Jackson on his horse, Clark Mills, had neither personally seen Jackson nor even an equestrian statue before designing his statue. A self-taught artist, his design balancing the statue perfectly on the horse’s hind legs was an unprecedented artistic feat at the time. The first version was errected in Washington DC in Lafayette Square in 1853, and in 1856 a second version was errected in New Orleans. The site chosen was the Place d’Armes, which was renamed Jackson Square at that time. Place d’Armes was where General Jackson reviewed his troops. Andrew Jackson was commemorated there because he was “The Hero of New Orleans.” In 1815 he defended the city of New Orleans against British forces: in about 30 minutes of battle the British had about 2,000 casualties, while Jackson lost less than 100 men, causing the Brits to withdraw and spare New Orleans.
The Saint Louis Cathedral is the oldest congregation in Louisiana, founded in 1718. The current building was built in 1793, with expansions and final renovations finished in 1851. It is the oldest active cathedral in the United States.
As we were leaving the church, Joe spotted a hotdog cart and couldn’t resist getting a foot-long dog to share! Next on our list was to see one of the old, above-ground cemeteries. On our way, we couldn’t help enjoying a laugh at some unique lamps in a lighting store. We took pictures from outside so as to not tempt fate with all of the breakables they had there!
Then we got detoured at Congo Square, and figured we should see the giant Louis Armstrong statue in the connected Louis Armstrong Park. The boys loved the full costume statue of “Big Chief Tootie” we discovered, as well!
We finally got to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, only to find it closed except for tour groups. So we walked on to St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, which, although we were within the posted hours, was also closed. Several other small groups came by and were disappointed with us. We did take a few pictures over the walls or through the gates, getting some interesting contrasts with the modern office buildings of downtown.
Having walked a long way during the hottest time of day, we then found air conditioning, bathrooms, and a drinks break at a near-by convenience store. There was a bit of chaos and confusion at the drink machines, and I nicknamed our group the “Hot Mess Express” getting a laugh from the workers there. They weren’t busy and chatted with us for a few minutes as we all cooled off and got prepared to walk back through the French Quarter.
On the sidewalk along the parking lot, a local man cut directly infront of me and gave me “the eye.” I jumped back a step and apologized, thinking I had not seen him earlier and made him mad somehow. We kept walking and turned at the next corner and I sensed him following our group. Just when things were feeling REALLY uncomfortable, a police officer shouted, “Hey man, do you have a problem?” from across the street. I looked over to see two officers on foot coming over, and then we kept walking as they got between us and the man, detaining him. We were very relieved to get away from whatever that situation was going to turn into! Trouble behind us, we went back to enjoying the buildings and people of the French Quarter.
Back on Decatur Street, we found the mule-drawn carriages we had seen during our earlier walk, and all agreed it would be fun to sit and ride and have someone tell us about the area. The tour was very enjoyable (we even went past the hotdog vendor!). Afterwards, the boys got to feed Daisy a treat for her work.
Terrible video, but gives a feel for how the ride was! Also caught a bit of a jazz band.
As if we didn’t have enough treats for the day, we got some ice cream at Kilwins!
We had an all-day transportation pass, so we thought we’d take the streetcars again. We took the Canal Street line this time, to go up to Metairie Cemetery. A section of the line was closed so we had to do some walking to another stop, but we enjoyed the rides! After an interesting walk through a major intersection we found out that the cemetery was also closed. This time it was because it was after 4:00, not because we weren’t in a tour group. We resolved to come back again, and went back to reverse our route on the streetcars.
Ready to end the day, we headed back through the construction maze to the ferry terminal. After a false start we did get to the right entry point! We enjoyed the river views again on our way home, including one of the paddle-wheelers heading out. Joe was relieved to find out car the way we left it, having not been towed or ticketed (I was confident of the parking space). We wound back through the neighborhood and to our campsite.
After leaving the campground (at the appropriate speed!) we enjoyed driving along the gulf again. Clayton and I didn’t want to give up the scenic route so we went through Biloxi and stayed on US 90 until Gulfport before cutting up to I10 to meet Joe and Carter at a Cracker Barrel for brunch.
Although I was excited to see New Orleans, I needed to get gas from Sam’s Club before going to the park so Clayton and I were routed a little differently and didn’t go through the city center. We did get to go over a cool bridge that had train tracks in the center, and later when we did a quick trip to WalMart we got to see a train come over it.
When we got into Bayou Segnette State Park we discovered that they had been experiencing flooding at the park before we got there. It had actually gone down from the highest levels, but some of the campsites were still flooded. We were able to get into the site we were assigned, but the picnic table was in water, as well as the fire ring. As we were checking out another site, we discovered a surprise visitor!
As we were contemplating what to do about parking, a Park Ranger showed up. After chatting for a few minutes, he offered to check to see if we could be switched to another site. Luckily, even though Memorial Weekend was coming up, he was able to get us into a less-watery site. After we were parked, the Ranger came back in his truck to check on us. We stood around and talked for quite a while; long enough to talk him into a picture with us! Thanks, Keith! We found out from Keith about the flooding, about the animals to expect (an armadillo walked into our campsite as if on cue), and that they had just had the same termite swarms there that we had experienced in Mississippi. He also shared some great places to eat, and about the ferry to take to the city/French Quarter.
On our first full day at the park we decided to do some exploring. We went on the boardwalk trails inside the campground, and then we went down the road and through the massive levee gate.
After we marveled at the huge levee gate, we went down the road and discovered another amazing sight: the cabins. But these park cabins were different than any other cabins we had seen in campgrounds so far: they were on the water. Cabins at Bayou Segnette are actually houseboats!
After admiring the cabins we went out on the berm levee along the bayou. From there we admired the bayou: animals, birds, flowers, boats, and a view of the city of New Orleans. The boys also admired the big hill of the levee we were walking on, by rolling down it!
On our way back past the cabins, we started seriously contemplating staying in one for a night. I found one available during our stay, but Joe didn’t want to confirm without seeing inside one. At that moment, a couple of ladies were cleaning one of the cabins We approached them and they agreed to let us into a cabin to see what they were like. We found out they are HUGE inside! A very large, full kitchen connected to a dining area and living room, two bedrooms and a large bathroom. One of the bedrooms had two sets of bunkbeds, and the other a queen size bed. We all agreed it was pretty cool, so we booked one for Thursday night.
We really enjoyed this state park in Mississippi! On the 23rd we did an almost 4-mile trail walk which included turtle and alligator sightings, as well as using our binoculars to observe the birds in the bayou. There were also some CCC Dining hall ruins, which was the boys’ first introduction to the Civilian Conservtion Corps. After a little history lesson we found a couple cut logs on the trail and we decided to roll them out for our campfire, which the boys thought was a lot of fun!
Wait, didn’t I say we saw alligators? Yes, we saw several along our walk! So I thought it would be fun for a little game of “spot the gator!” Scroll down to the next picture, and see if you can find the gator, then scroll to the close-up photo to check your answer.
Did you see it?Just hangin’ out!This one is trickier! It’s in there!Now you can find it!
While we live in Florida and there are alligators, we just don’t see them very often where we’re at, so it was pretty exciting to us to see them just off the side of the road. We became very aware of how still and tricky they can be, and spotting them quickly became more important as we knew we would be spending more time in wilder places. Luckily these were rather small, so they weren’t as threatening and scary as their elders could be!
Having rolled our logs through the wood (and then picked them up with the car) we thought it would be fun to do a nice campfire. We got the fire started, and got our hotdogs, beans, marshmallows, and all the fixins ready. In order to see what we were doing we got out our little lantern and put it on the table by all of our food. And then they came. Without warning our little campsite was swarmed with winged termites! It was crazy! The boys tried moving our light to the other end of the picnic table, which helped draw them away from our food. We did manage to work around them, but it put a bit of a damper on our little party. When we turned the light off they started dive-bombing into the fire until we put it out for the night.
The next morning they were gone, and we again enjoyed the park and took a long walk. This time we also went through an adjoining neighborhood, and I found a small folding table that someone was getting rid of so it went back with us (it works great and I’m still using it!).
Our second night was the same–more termites swarming near our table and fire-pit, but at least we knew not to try to have dinner there! We did watch a movie outside at our camper; it was apparently far enough away that they didn’t come over to the tv light.
Again, the next morning they were gone, so packing up was no trouble. We unhooked our utilities and decided we should dump our tanks before heading out. The dump station was just a short distance from our site, but since the road was one-way I thought I should go all the way around instead of just backing up to it. So we circled around the campground loop, at one point having to stop and ease around a truck that someone had left in the road while they were hooking up their camper. When we got to the dump station we started our regular routine of getting out our hoses, etc., when a man on a golf cart came over and yelled, “Hey!” He got our attention and said, “are you one of my campers?” Thinking he was concerned we didn’t have the right to dump at the station I said, “we just pulled out of that space right there!” and pointed to our now-empty site. I was gearing up for a fight about using the dump station, and it turned out he was more concerned about our speed going through the campground. Of course he made it sound like we were tearing through at a dangerous pace, when in reality it wasn’t more than 10mph (maybe 15 when I was past all the sites an circling back to the station?). Assuring him I would make sure to stay at 5mph on my next loop through, we were able to finish our business.
We spent one night in Panacea, FL, at a sweet little campground (with GREAT WiFi, lol). In the morning we went on a walk to the gulf, and saw a charter fishing group using a net to catch bait fish.
So after our couple mile walk we were ready to hit the road again! This was a big travel day for us, not only did we leave Florida, but we drove in two additional states! A quick pass through the bottom of Alabama, and then we were in Mississippi.
After our great meal at Cracker Barrel we finished our day’s driving and parked at Davis Bayou State Park.
Leaving Manatee Springs, we continued North to the state Capitol, Tallahassee. We were on a deadline to get to our parking spot by 4pm, but we did go through town to get gas at Sam’s Club first. Thanks to the Harvest Host program, I found out about the Tallahassee Auto Museum, which was a surprise for the boys. We checked in and parked on their spacious grounds, along with a few other campers. Before they closed the gates for the night, I took the car over to Subway and got sandwiches. After eating and some reading time, we went for a walk around the grounds and enjoyed the statues and displays they had outside. Again, temperatures were low enough that we were comfortable sleeping with the windows open.
The next morning we were up early to enjoy the museum! The boys were very excited to get inside and see all of the cars and memorabilia on display. I was surprised to find the variety of collections, including outboard motors! I got a kick out of all of the chrome hood ornaments, so you’ll see a lot of pictures of those as well.
This first slideshow is from the downstairs section. It is mostly cars and at the end are a few shots of the piano collection.
The next slideshow is from the upstairs of the museum. The collection gets a bit more ecclectic, with very unique vehicles, boats, vehicles that are boats, cash registers, toys, and other odds and ends (including a fun-house mirror!).
After getting our fill of cars, we parked the camper at a shopping center and took the car downtown to see the capitol. Florida built a new capitol complex in 1977 and is currently updating the grounds and parking garages. The original capitol building has been restored and is open for to the public (free admision). We did a self-tour and the boys worked on a scavenger hunt worksheet.
After all of this touring we were certainly hungry, so we decided we could handle Momo’s Pizza. Their huge slices were a hit with us, as well as the fun decor.
After filling up on pizza we were read to pick up the RV and head down to Panacea, FL to spend our last night in Florida.
After one last night with our temporary cat, we packed up and headed a little farther north. A little too far, actually, as I wrote the wrong state park on my atlas post-it! Luckily it was only fifteen minutes out of the way. So, after a brief visit to Fanning Springs state park, we drove back to Manatee Springs, where our camping site was waiting for us! During the check-in we were warned that the park does not have cell service, but there is some wifi at the snack bar area by the springs.
We parked the RV and did our hook-ups, and then all got in the car and headed to Cedar Key. I remembered the island fondly from a trip my friend Annette and I went on (over 20years ago–GULP!) to Florida together. Some things had definitely changed–there were many more houses, for sure! Some things were the same, like the little row of businesses clustered together jutting out into the gulf was the same. I don’t remember the concrete fishing pier, but we enjoyed walking out on it and checking out what fish were being caught. While we were there one of the fishermen caught a large fish (a black drum fish), but they said it was not good eating and after a photo op they tossed it back in. We watched the stunned fish get its bearings and finally swim away before heading to the shops. After some laughs, a few small purchases, and some ice cream, we headed back to the car and our campground.
On our way out we saw one more funny golf cart scene; check out this guy’s passenger!
After settling in, we went to see the springs (aaaand maybe use the cell service by the snack bar!!). On our way we got the sweet surprise of a little deer family making its way across the parking lot. Another couple had some leftover apple slices they were tossing to the deer, and they let the boys do it, too. After the deer we went over to the springs and watched some turtles and fish in the clear water. No manatees around, but we didn’t expect them as most of them have moved back to the gulf with the warmer weather.
The weather might have been warm for the manatees, but we were enjoying the fact that it was cool enough to camp with no AC. In the morning, more deer were in our campsite, and they were calm enough to stick around even when the boys went out to investigate!
Next up was a long hike in the woods. We started by checking out the springs again, and saw more turtles on the move, along with a few crazy-looking insects. We went around the springs and did the full nature trail loop, with the boys reading all of the sign markers along the way. We learned about the plants in the area (our favorite being the loblolly pine) and also about the Seminole Chickee people and how they lived. We have a Liddy family tradition of making Sasquatch jokes wherever we go, which explains the boys on the bent tree (“everybody knows Sasquatch like to bend trees to mark trails!”). The hut is a reproduction of a Seminole Chickee tradtional building.
Another great place to enjoy the natural side of Florida. Maybe this winter we will come back here and actually see the manatees!
