Last Night in New Orleans

Our spot to watch the parade go by...

Our time in New Orleans would not be complete without a Mardi Gras parade, and lucky for us, the family friendly parades began on Wed evening, our last night there!! Here are a few pictures of our first (and only) Mardi Gras parade. I apologize for the picture quality, our iPod doesn't take very good photographs in low lighting. We pulled out of New Orleans yesterday morning, after one more breakfast of beignets, and began making our way north. Overall, we had a GREAT time in the "Big Easy" and we were glad to get out when we did...before the craziness of Mardi Gras begins!!

"Old Glory" leading the way!!

 

A marching band...

 

The cheerleaders...

 

The floats...

 

The jazz band in the gutted school bus...

 

More floats...

 

 

Spectators of all sizes...

 

Do you think they got enough beads?

 

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Touring the Garden District of New Orleans

We started in another cemetery...LaFayette Cemetery of the Garden District

Our last tour was of the Garden District of N.O....this is where some of the huge, old, "plantationish" homes are. Even some famous people live there now!! These were really beautiful...the pictures really don't do them justice!

 

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The home where the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" was filmed. This was the nursing home where he grew up in ( in the movie)

 

The home where the actor John Goodman lives.

 

The home of Sandra Bullock

 

Look at this fantastic cast iron work!!

 

 

Huge house on the corner of the street...this one was breathtaking!!

 

Sooooo pretty!!

 

For all of you sports fans...this is the home where Payton and Eli Manning grew up...their parents still live there. Can you picture these brothers playing football together on the lawn?!

 

If you look very closely, you will see at this cast iron fence has stalks of corn all lined up...this fence was the most expensive of all of the fences in the Garden District!

 

I HAD to take a picture of this beautiful tree...learned it was a "Japanese magnolia" and it blooms in Jan/Feb. I wish these would grow in NM!!

 

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Touring the Sites of New Orleans

Our National Park tour guide through the French Quarter.

Here are more pictures of New Orleans, still in the French Quarter...all the way to the Mississippi River and through some of the many famous cemeteries in the area.

 

 

The St Louis Cemetary #1

 

 

 

A local bookstore...absolutely love these kiddos who love to read and learn!!

 

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New Orleans, Louisiana

We arrived on Monday (the day after the Superbowl, which had just been hosted by New Orleans) and settled into our fully gated campground that is located right in the hub of all the activity. This was great because we could just walk wherever we needed to go and not have to mess with parking our big truck!! So, we crammed in LOTS of walking and lots of sightseeing in the "Big Easy" for the two days that we were there!! It will take several blogs to cover all of the cool things we have seen...in this first one, I'll show parts of the "French Quarter"...some of the oldest parts of the city!

The public square/park/garden in front of the church where people gather and play music.

St. Louis Cathedral in the "old town" area of New Orleans. The original church that was built in this same site was the first Catholic Church in Louisiana, built in 1718.

 

The ceiling inside the church...absolutely beautiful!!

 

The front of the sanctuary

 

The back of the church with the HUGH pipe organ that is played all day long :-)

 

The pulpit...FANCY!!

 

 

Some of the architecture of the French Quarter. Plus, making preparations for Mardi Gras

 

 

 

Plus...no trip to the French Quarter is complete without a stop at Cafe Du Monde for their world famous beignets and coffee!!

 

Enjoying our beignets...definitely worth the trip across the country to eat these!!

 

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Fabulous Weekend with Treasured Friends!!

The Wiegand Family, minus their son Levi who was in Italy...Ron, Solita, Charis, Eden and Aria

Our last stop in Florida was in Ft. Walton Beach to visit some of our bestest-life-long friends, the Wiegand family...and man, did we have a great time!! We spent Thursday evening thru Monday morning (today) with them and did lots of "catching-up", visiting, cooking, touring, eating, putt-putt golfing, beach playing, musical-going, trampoline jumping, Superbowl watching and partying, laughing and learning...what treasured memories we made :-). What a blessing they have been (our newlywed class Sunday school teachers) and continue to be (special friends and mentors) and we praise the Lord for their friendship!! Now it's off to New Orleans, Louisiana we go... I-10 headed west is a very good place to be...home is getting closer by the day :-). Blessings to you all and we hope y'all have a great week.

Putt-putt golf at the famous Ft. Walton Beach Goofy Golf

 

Family pile up after golfing!!

 

Solita's neighbor, Mrs. Whitney, generously offered two tickets to go to the Sat. evening performance of "In The Mood", so Madeline and I jumped on the opportunity to go!!

 

The show included some of the famous music of the 1930's and 1940's. Dancing, singing and big-band music all made for a wonderful evening with my Miss Madeline!! We also very much enjoyed meeting and visiting with Mrs. Whitney and have made a new life-long friend :-)

 

We all went to their wonderful church together, then went out to lunch afterward and ate some scrumptious fish tacos.

 

Enjoying the Florida sunshine, one last time!!

 

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