Olga and NOLA

After a busy week in Vicksburg, it was time to head south again, following the Mighty Mississippi down to New Orleans. We decided to splurge a bit for this campground and upgraded to have a site directly on the water, facing a major canal that connects Lake Pontchartrain with the river.

Our view of the canal with The City of New Orleans docked on the other side

Although near the end of hurricane season, a storm by the name of Olga decided to head our direction soon after we arrived. After dealing with almost 5 inches of rain while in Memphis, we really weren’t in the mood to be in another storm but here we were. Although rainfall was reasonable, wind speeds picked up much higher than we had expected, peaking our around 50 mph. This is the first time that we felt the wind really pushing Lola around and we decided to pull in our slides. Each of our four slides that go out and increase the interior space, are covered with a slide awning that helps keep water and debris from accumulating on top of the slides. The problem is that these can flap around a lot and in the case of high winds, could tear or get damaged, making slide operations a challenge (and potentially leaking). Thus, early in the AM we pulled the slides in and hunkered down in our bed until day break. Luckily, no damage or problems occurred and we can now say we’ve weather two tropical storms (having endured the remnants of Florence last year while camping in Boone, NC).

The next day we drove into New Orleans, checking out the French Quarter and all the regular sites. We also stopped by the very first officially licensed pharmacy in the US, which just happens to be in New Orleans. It’s now a museum and the time that we stopped by they were giving a tour/demonstration. Sticking to the medical theme, we also stopped by the Voodoo museum for a look see.

The next day Dan wandered off on his own to visit the WW II Museum (formerly the D-Day Museum). He had been warned that it could take multiple days to get thru this 5-building complex and it was a fair warning. He was able to get thru it all in about 8 hours but could have taken way longer. Below are some pics but one thing people may wonder is why there is a WW II museum in New Orleans, of all places. Well, see the plaque below for an explanation.

A “Higgins Boat”, otherwise known as a landing craft

There is no way to capture in pictures all the information, exhibits, stories, and experiences presented at this museum. There are complete sections dedicated to the Pacific War, the War in Europe, the Africa Campaign, the Homefront, and the Merchant Marine. One building houses aircraft from the war and allows you to view them from various levels and perspectives. It is truly an immersive and stirring experience.

Even though we were in New Orleans in October, we still wanted to explore the world of Mardi Gras. So, that’s what we did – we visited Mardi Gras World! Here is where most of the floats are designed and constructed for the various parades each year during Mardi Gras. We were able to see how they are constructed and several of last year’s floats. An interesting fact is that they save most of what is made and then repurpose the figures and forms the next year.

Much like the area around Natchez, the New Orleans area has its fair share of plantations. We had heard a lot about a different view of the world of plantations at the Whitney Plantation. This plantation/museum is focused on providing a view of those where were enslave and endured a horrible world at the hands of plantation owners in order to allow these places to thrive.

Since those who were enslaved were considered property, the state of Louisiana fully documented selling and trades as well as births. This created a very large amount of documentation regarding the enslaved population within the state which included birth dates, dates of changes in ownership, deaths, names, etc. Due to a considerable amount of research, the Whitney Plantation has been focused on sharing this information and pull back the veil of romanticism that surrounds the plantation life. Thru artwork, memorials and displays, we were able to learn much more about the lives and deaths of thousands upon thousands of individuals. Below are some of the pictures we captured during out tour.