New Orleans and Other Points to the South

(Warning: This is a very long posting, though mostly pictures.) We made plans awhile ago to meet our good friends from Australia, Margaret and Murray, in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. This posting is a quick overview of the trip.

Kathie and I decided to take several days to drive to New Orleans so that we could take in a few additional sights and activities along the way. We started with a stop in Springfield, IL, where we visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Given the recent election, I couldn't help but have strong feelings about the contrasts between what may have been our most important President and the disastrous individual we just elected to be our next president.

We toured Lincoln's home.

And also visited the grave and memorial.

The next day, we stopped in Memphis to have chicken at a favorite place recommended by Betsy and Pete.

Vicksburg was next. I have a strong interest in the history of the Civil War. My service at NSF in Washington allowed me to visit many of the battlefields and locations (e.g. Ford's Theater) that are associated with the eastern part of the war. I had always wanted to visit Vicksburg and Shiloh to learn more about the western battles. I'll post separately in a few days about Shiloh, but here are some pictures from our visit to the Vicksburg battlefield. A most dramatic part was to see the ironclad ship named Cairo that shelled Vicksburg from the Mississippi. Years ago, the ship, after having been sunk in the river, was recovered for display in the park.

This is the gentleman we hired to give us a private tour of the battlefield.

This is the monument Iowa erected to honor its soldiers during this campaign.

The next day, the day prior to Thanksgiving, we arrived in New Orleans to rendezvous with Margaret and Murray. The first night was spent wandering along Bourbon Street. listening to the music and watching the people.

We managed to get into historic Preservation Hall for an hour's worth of good jazz.

We walked along the river the next morning. The paddle wheeler named Natchez can be seen in the background of this shot of Margaret and Kathie.

Later, we enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with lots of embellishments at Arnaud's.

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On the way back to the apartment we rented for the week, we came across a parade on Canal Street. The Bayou Classic, an annual football game between Grambling State and Southern universities in New Orleans, took place this weekend. The parade was a very fun and lively event.

While Margaret went shopping, Murray, Kathie and I visited the National World War II museum, which was very impressive, detailed, and interesting--one of New Orleans' most popular attractions.

A night or two later, we took an excursion on the Natchez, including a good dinner and great music by the famous Dukes of Dixieland.

We had beignets and coffee near Jackson Square and toured a museum that explained Hurricane Katrina and everything surrounding that event.

This piano belonged to performer Fats Domino and is typical of the many, many important artifacts and locations lost in the flooding that year.

There was more great music at the House of Blues.

And I got to eat great oysters on the half shell several times.

Our very good friends...

I took Murray to a New Orleans Saints versus Los Angeles Rams NFL football game on Sunday. Murray sees lots of highly competitive rugby in Australia, and though he had a general idea of our football rules, he had never seen a game before.

City Park in New Orleans at this time of year is filled with lighted exhibits. We spent a couple hours there.

On another day, we traveled out to the Whitney Plantation for a tour. This location really focuses on slavery and helped us all gain additional understanding of this horrible aspect of our history. Again, for me, given the recent election and the display of bigotry by the person we elected, this was a difficult and moving experience.

People at the plantation recommended a nearby small rural establishment for lunch. They had great cajun food. Kathie consumed six blue crabs! The rest of us sampled crayfish, alligator, catfish, and other good things.

On yet another day, we visited two units in the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. We started with the location where the Battle of New Orleans took place in 1814-15 as part of the War of 1812 with the British.

Then we traveled to the Barataria Preserve, where we were able to walk through much of a bayou.

Murray and I found this alligator (center of picture) and a snake along the way.

Eventually, after eating our way through New Orleans and seeing all these and other sights, we drove to Memphis. We chose to make a side trip on the way, driving first to historic Natchez and then driving on the Natchez Trace from Natchez to near Jackson, MS. If you don't know, the Natchez Trace is an historic parkway maintained by the National Park Service. As it did originally, the parkway links Natchez to Nashville, some 400+ miles away. No commercial traffic or amenities exist along the route, and it is truly amazing and beautiful to drive along such a road.

Once in Memphis, of course, we toured Graceland.

One of Elvis's numerous gold records.

His mother's favorite Cadillac.

We heard a fun blues band on Beale Street one night in Memphis.

After Memphis, we drove to Nashville, where we said goodbye to Margaret and Murray, who are traveling further south and then to South America before heading home. We love being together, and have now traveled together in the Mediterranean, Portugal, the U.S., and Australia. Who knows where we will meet next?

During part of our drive to Nashville, we stopped at the Shiloh National Military Park, about which I will write something of special interest for my next posting in a day or two.