Helicopter, Car & Boat...New Orleans, Shreveport & Memphis...

Monday, February 1st was a new month and time to relocate. We were on the road by 9:15 CST. We had a three hour drive from Gulf Shores, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana. We would drive through Mobile, Alabama which is where these pictures were taken.

We would make one stop at a Love's Travel Plaza before getting to New Orleans. We drove the bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. It's a very, very long bridge.

With the morning spent driving, we would spend the afternoon walking the French Quarter in New Orleans. Our first stop would be Café Beignet. Here we would feast on three freshly made Beignets. Yummy!! We would learn later this is Michael, our son-in-laws, favorite place in New Orleans. 

We had one other mandatory stop for me, Leah's Pralines. Here I purchase me a pecan praline and a small bag of pecan brittle with bacon in it. Both were delicious. I am the sweet tooth. Claude really didn't care. He did like the pecan brittle with bacon though.

We then just strolled around the French Quarter looking a buildings. Here are a few pictures.

The street signs were fun to see. They were inlaid into the sidewalk. I took pictures of two of them as we walked around. Later, as we returned to our car, we found Bourbon street. I took a picture of it and then the street in either direction.

After wandering around a bit in the French Quarter, we found our way through the sea wall and across the train tracks to Woldenberg Park. 

Woldenberg Park is a lovely 16 acre green space along the Mississippi. It was created in the late 1980s on land that had been occupied by old wharves and warehouses along the Mississippi Riverfront. It is named after philanthropist Malcolm Woldenberg (1896–1982) who helped fund the building of it.

We walked down to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas which has an enclosed area over its front entry that is filled with budgies (parakeets). They make quite a racket. Then we returned past where we started down to Washington Artillery Park where we would cross back across the railroad tracks and the sea wall and up to the monument for Washington Artillery Park.

There is a lovely Monument to Immigrants.

The Holocaust Monument.

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

Evidently Jax Beer is a big deal in New Orleans. We don't drink so this was news to me.

Washington Artillery Park with views of Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral then up and down the Mississippi River.

Earlier, while walking in the French Quarter, we saw this concrete fixture and wondered about it. While on top of Washington Artillery Park, we saw the purpose for this concrete fixture. It's a water trough for the horses. 

We crossed the street and entered Jackson Square. This park area has a monument to Andrew Jackson in the center, hence, Jackson Square. It is actually the spot where the Louisiana Purchase was made. Andrew Jackson was a hero of the Battle of New Orleans. We would walk through the square and saw St. Louis Cathedral on the next block. We did not go inside the cathedral. The spires of this cathedral had an unusual cross on them. Never have found what this type of cross was. On either side of St. Louis Cathedral are beautiful buildings that are the Louisiana State Museum. As you exit Jackson Square, there is a fountain at that exit. It is a fountain commemorating a visit to New Orleans by Charles de Gaulle. The street between Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral is pedestrian only. Lots of history remembered here. 

Time to head back to wherever we parked our car. We enjoyed the architecture, came upon a street band playing (Claude did give them a tip), and found some interesting places that probably have a bit of history to them. Gotta love all the grotesque masks and decorations for Mardi Gras.

We found our car and set up Google maps to get us to our hotel on the other side of the Mississippi River and a bit south. This would put us on the road to get us to our Tuesday destination. We made it to the Holiday Inn and then searched through Google maps for a local place to eat that might be interesting.

We found a gem of a restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. It is named Café 615. The item on their menu that caught my attention was Da Wabbit burger. I have never heard the word ‘Wabbit’ used except in relationship to our family. Years ago as a child on a trip out west for our family vacation, we passed a huge open space full of jack rabbits. Papa and Mimi started calling each other ‘wabbit’ as a play on ‘rabbit’. And it stuck. We have been the Wabbits ever since. It surprised me to see a Da Wabbit burger. I asked our server about the origin of their Da Wabbit. This little café has a long history. Years ago it was a gambling place. The man who owned it named himself Da Wabbit as his gambling name. In honor of that, there has always been a Da Wabbit burger. After being a gambling casino, it was turned into a drive-in restaurant where you ordered burgers and fries and milkshakes. Then it later became Café 615 and serves all kinds of wonderful foods. We had a good meal. I enjoyed a club sandwich with sweet potato fries. Claude had shrimp etoufee with fried catfish and seafood gumbo. I could not get through all my club sandwich and fries. I took them back to the hotel and Claude enjoyed them as he watched television that evening. He turned to me and said, "Second supper is good!" (If you are a Hobbit or Lord of the Rings fan, that will mean something to you.)

I took these two pictures to prove that Da Wabbit was really there to my Papa. Such a fun experience in Louisiana, the state of my birth.

Tuesday, February 2nd we would travel to Jean Lafitte, Louisiana to take a Swamp Tour on an airboat. I booked us on the smallest air boat they had. We had no trouble finding the location. When we pulled into the parking lot, we parked by the only other car there. It has a sign on the side that said "DeRidder, Louisiana". That is the city I was born in!!

There were interesting photo ops outside. We took advantage of those photo ops. 

We went into the office and shop to pay for our tour. These pictures are inside the shop. They do have a live albino alligator in a big tank inside the shop. Our guide would explain it was born at an alligator farm. Because of its lack of coloring, the other alligators would have eaten it. The people who own this airboat business took it in. Every evening they harness it up and take it for a walk so it gets exercise. It even has a double pupil which makes it an even rarer creature. Our guide said there are only about 50 of these in captivity. 

We both donned our winter coats for this experience. It was a cold day and it is always colder on the water in a boat. We would be happy we did this. This is a picture of the airboat we would be in for our tour. Three rows of seats. We had the front row. Two other couples were on the tour and they each took a row. 

Soon the seven of us were out on the water. The water was really low. I am not remembering the reason for it being so low. I am sure they are at the mercy of the tides to some degree but there were places all over the tour where you could tell the water was very low.

I got this picture of the dock as we left it. The big covered area is an indication that at times there were lots and lots of people out for tours. I am sure this time of year there are few tourists. When we left there were two other BIG airboats that left. The people all were that from DeRidder and they all worked together. They brought their families and they all loaded on two airboats for their tour. 

This boat is sitting in a personal dock at someone's home and it is sitting in the mud.  

This cemetery is interesting. The water table is so high in Louisiana that we didn't know anyone with a basement when I was growing up in Shreveport which is much further north than these swamps near the Gulf. The practice was to bury above the ground. This explains all the crypts above ground in this area. I even looked into a cemetery tour for Claude and me in New Orleans. There are several old cemeteries there with very tall crypts. This is a small local cemetery. However, it has been the scene of many movies. I found it amazing it was so close to the water. 

Look carefully in the pictures. Often I was trying to get a bird standing in the water or flying away. I love watching the waterfowl.

Between these two towers is the Gulf. We had to move slowly and not make any wakes until our boat captain got through the towers. Then he would speed up to get us to the channels we would roam in.

Lots of times we saw how Hurricane Sally ravaged this area. There is a tree pulled up by the roots and laying on the ground in this picture. 

We went down a long channel of water with shorter channels that would dead end branching off from the long one. I asked our captain if these were natural or man made. He told me they were man made. 

I spy an alligator.

This is Spanish moss hanging from the tree. I grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana and we had trees there laden with this. I loved it then and I love it now. It is not Spanish, nor a moss, but a flowering plant. The plant is not parasitic, as is often thought, but attaches itself to trees for support. The plant has no roots but derives its nutrients from rainfall, detritus and airborne dust. 

This is an intersection of the waterways. The main waterway is running left to right across the picture. We are leaving one of the off shoots from the main waterway and directly across the main waterway in front of us is another off shoot. I was amazed we could go up and down and in and out and never get lost. Our pilot was born and raised in this area, has always worked on the water, so he knows his way around very well. It still felt like they should have some type of swamp street signs!!

Alligator. We saw several even though it was a little cool for them to be out.

This was a sad spot for me. I remember growing up with lots cypress trees being in the water bodies. I remember gift shops and stores having polished cypress knees for sale. These are bald cypress trees. They are a conifer and get the name bald cypress because they lose their needles early in the season. These trees have a most distinctive feature of the presence of knees. Cypress knees are cone-shaped structures that grow vertically from the roots of the tree where the roots are at the soil/sediment surface. The most likely function of the knees is to provide stability in the swamp substrate. It is illegal now to cut these knees. Our captain said there are only about 20% of the bald cypress compared to when I was growing up. Hurricane Sally simply stripped the tops of all these trees. 

Alligator.

Lovely bird.

Alligator sunning himself. We were told alligators grow a foot each year for about four years. Then their fifth through eighth year they may grow about half a foot. From the 9th year forward they may grow about one inch per year. Alligators have rings on their bones. These rings are like tree rings allowing them to tell the age of the alligator. They are a dinosaur and it is believed they might live up to 200 years. Did you know the alligators in Louisiana are more gentle than the alligators in Florida. This is because it stays warm all the time in Florida. The water is always warmer for them. In Louisiana they have to bury themselves in the mud and their heartbeat slows to 5 beats per minute to conserve energy. Because of dealing with colder weather, the alligators in Louisiana are more gentle.

The next two pictures are a cormorant on top of a post. These birds we also saw in China. They would put a rope around their neck. The cormorant will dive into the water to catch fish to eat. With the rope around their neck, they can dive and catch fish but they can't swallow them. So they come up with this fish and the owner of the cormorant get the fish. Evidently, there are people in the Louisiana swamps that also use this technique to catch fish. It doesn't hurt the bird and the birds are treated well by their owners.

It would be fun to see the swamp during the spring when things blossom. We were delighted to find these flowering trees full of red blossoms. Lovely with the Spanish moss. 

This grass should have been a lot taller. It was mowed down by Hurricane Sally. It will eventually grow back tall. We normally would not be able to see the trees behind that grass.

When you see this type of an area stay away. We were told that you get back in there and there are spots that are the equivalent of swamp quicksand. You simply sink into the ground and there is no bottom to it. 

We very much enjoyed this experience. A new fun way to see Louisiana. We drove back up and past downtown New Orleans on our way to Shreveport. We had a five hour drive ahead of us. 

This is the cute Christmas tree ornament we found at our airboat tour store. Love it!

Monday, February 3, we woke up in Shreveport, Louisiana. My family moved to Shreveport when I was in second grade. Claude came to Shreveport as an Airman in the Air Force. We met and married while living in Louisiana. We decided to make a stop in Shreveport on our way home to take some pictures for Family History purposes and relive some memories. 

We drove first to 120 East Herndon in Shreveport. This is the home my parents purchased after they moved from DeRidder, Louisiana when Papa got a promotion. Papa worked for the telephone company. So many memories in this home. 

I stood in front of this home and took a video as I turned completely around. I stood and took in my childhood neighborhood. I noticed in the front yard of the home where Minnie French lived a sign from the election. It definitely had a Louisiana Cajun feel and I was amused at someone's creativity. 

We next drove to where the church building was when I was a child. A larger building was built about the time Claude and I were married. The old church building was sold to an insurance company and they had their offices there. Not sure why the building was removed but today it is only an empty lot.

Next we found Alexander Elementary School. I was in second grave when we lived in DeRidder and then moved to Shreveport. I attended Queensborough Elementary when we first moved to Shreveport. My parents rented a home until they found the home on Herndon which they purchased. When we moved to East Herndon, I attended Alexander Elementary School.

Staying in Shreveport, we went in search of my first apartment. I started at Vera Nell's Beauty School on weekends when I was a senior at C.E. Byrd High School. When I graduated I went to Beauty School full time. I decided it was time to be on my own. I rented an apartment with Joyce in Bossier (more about that later). When Joyce married, I moved back to Shreveport to 338 Atkins. This was a house that was turned into a duplex. I was in the left side as you face the building. When I rented, there was a screened in front porch. I remember it was a furnished apartment and the living room had a purple sofa that was shaped like a jelly bean. I was living in this apartment when Claude proposed and he moved in after we were married. It was laden with roaches. My father came over and sprayed for them which helped greatly. 

Then we tried to find the apartment we moved into after we were married. It was owned by my piano teacher, Arlene Herring. It was also on Herndon. It was also an old home and there were at least 3 apartments, possibly four. It was a two story building. When we got to where it should be we were not sure. We found the house in the picture at 353 Herndon. Next to it was an empty lot. The home we lived it may have actually be the one where the empty lot is now. This was the apartment we lived in when I got pregnant with our first born, Nissa. We could not have a child in this apartment so we would move to a duplex in Bossier City, Louisiana. Our apartment would have been on the right side ground level. We had what was the living room, dining room (our bedroom), a bathroom, breakfast room and a kitchen. You drove down the side and there was parking in the rear of the building. 

Next, we opted to drive out and find the larger church building that was constructed when Claude and I were first married. 

Time to go across the Red River to Bossier City, Louisiana. At the base of the bridge over the Red River on the Shreveport side is the McDonald's that Claude worked at as a part-time job while in the Air Force at Barksdale AFB. It was one of the first McDonald's built and originally had the golden arches. Claude often worked as the fry guy. There was a little window and I would drive by to get fries so I could see him. Now there is a brand new McDonald's in the same locations.

There is a nice big bridge over the Red River between Shreveport and Bossier City.

On the Bossier City side of this bridge the road goes directly into the entrance to Barksdale AFB. Claude worked here. Our firstborn, Nissa, was born here. One cannot just enter the Strategic Air Command Base. 

We turned right and went to find the Southern Maid Donut Shop. Ah...Southern Maid. This donut is the only product that Elvis Presley made a commercial for. He sang their jingle. An institution when I was a child. The original store had some myna birds. The birds could talk. It was a treat for our parents to take us to this donut shop and get us a donut and let us talk to the myna birds. These donuts remind one of the Krispy Kreme donut of today but they are slight bit heavier. We wanted to be sure we got one of these while in Shreveport. We even bought two extra. I put them in a Ziploc bag and brought them back to Kentucky. Before we went home, we stopped by the nursing home and left these two Southern Maid donuts with a letter in the box for Papa. Hope he had a happy memory when they took them in to him. 

Now to find that duplex. The first apartment I was ever a resident of was with Joyce in Bossier City, Louisiana. It was a little frame house with a porch and had two apartments in it. I could not remember the address but thought I would remember it when I saw it. Claude and I were dating when I lived there so he was familiar with it as well. We knew the section it should have been in. We drove every street and are still not sure we got the right place. We turned onto Julia and found 2324 Julia. Julia seems like the right name for the street. This home would have been similar to what we remember except there was one small front porch with a door to each. Joyce and I would have rented the right side of this duplex. Again, there was an empty lot so the duplex I lived in may not be there anymore.

We went across the main highway and found 2828 Teague in Bossier City. This was the home we moved to after we learned I was pregnant. The apartment in Shreveport didn't allow children. This little home backs right up to Barksdale AFB. While living here we had our first child, Nissa. We also had a dog that was half German shepherd and half great Dane. We named him Sir Doggie. When we moved our next door neighbor took him for her own. After I had Nissa, I would go for walks with Nissa in the stroller and Sir Doggie on a leash. He loved Nissa and I had to be careful as he enjoyed licking on her. 

We were looking at a 5 hour drive to Memphis this day so we called it quits on looking for landmarks in our lives. We wanted to go to Fertitta's and have a muffuletta sandwich before we left Shreveport. 

When we were dating, a favorite date was to go to Fertitta's and get each of us a muffy. Then we would drive as quickly as was safe to the A&W Root Beer stand and order each of us a cold mug of root beer. It was a delicious meal. When we moved to California, Nissa and I flew back one time to visit my parents. As my mother took me to the airport, we stopped at Fertitta's and purchased Claude a muffy sandwich. I tucked it in my suitcase so he could have it when I got home. He was one happy hubby!!

Now for the embarrassingly funny story of this visit to Fertitta's. We went inside and you order at a counter. There was a large man sitting behind the counter. He told us we could open the fridge to our left and get the kind of soda we wanted. A lady set to work making our muffys. We were to told to sit at any table and our food would be brought to us. We were also told we would pay before we left. When we finished eating, I told Claude I was going to use the ladies room before we hit the road. When I finish Claude went to the bathroom. I went to the counter and explained how much we appreciated getting another muffy to help celebrate our soon to be 51 years of marriage. I explained that I graduated from Byrd High School in 1968. The lady behind the counter explained her mother would have owned Fertitta's at that time. I then went outside to stand and enjoy fresh air before we hit the road. Claude came out and we got in the car and headed toward Memphis. We got about to Little Rock, Arkansas and Claude turned to me and said, "I don't think we paid for that meal." I knew I had not as I left my purse in the car. Oh my heck, we did our first dine and dash. And it wasn't even a deliberate action. Our intention was to pay. I think waiting till we finished and not bringing us a bill it just happened. We wanted to get on the road so we might get to Memphis in the daylight. Ugh!! I have written a nice note of apology and sent Fertitta's the money for our meal. What silliness. We are getting older!!

Along the way to Memphis we stopped for gasoline. I went in to get us treats. I was very happy to find this on their shelves and promptly purchased it.

Some days before we left on this trip, I had a craving for jelly beans. Not sure why. One sometimes just really wants a certain something. I wanted jelly beans. I didn't get any thinking they could be a treat from a gas station during this trip. I never found any place with jelly beans that we stopped until this day on the road home. I also noticed they didn't have the orange marshmallow peanuts or the jellied orange slices. It seemed like all the old candies have been bumped off the shelves. I was very happy to find a nice bag of jelly beans and finally satisfy this silly craving.

A little further down the highway I saw this truck and pointed it out to Claude. Claude said, "He must be a pretty good driver if he can back up at 75mph!" We did our old folks laughter.

Claude installed a Ring doorbell. It lets you know if someone is at your front door. The signal is strong enough that you get a warning if a car is near the driveway. If the wind is strong enough you get a warning. The warning sounds like the melody of angels on our cell phones. We amused ourselves every time that angel sound was on our phones by commenting about it. Claude said one time that he was at least sure the Wi-Fi was working. 

We drove past Parkin Archeological Park in Arkansas. Claude's comment, "Parkin is where you go with your best girl. So an archeological one must be for old people." Where does he get these things?

We arrived in Memphis and found our Comfort Inn Hotel in downtown Memphis. It was overlooking the Mississippi. Very easy to get to for a downtown hotel. We were given room 1112. We had a big picture window looking out at the Mississippi River and the bridge over it. 

I asked the front desk clerk if there was a local restaurant we could walk to from the hotel for dinner. She told me about Bad Dog Tavern about 4 blocks up the road. We hiked there. This was the first place we had our temperatures taken upon entering. Claude also had to enter our names and formation in a book. We took a table along a wall and away from others. Claude ordered a Rambo sandwich. I thought this was because we watched the end of the movie Rambo the night before. He said it was delicious. I enjoy a cheese quesadilla made with a spinach tortilla. The food was good. We enjoyed the opportunity for a nice walk back to our hotel after a good meal.

As we walked back to the hotel, we realized the lights on the bridge over the Mississippi River were changing colors. We opted to not walk in the park across the street but to go up to our hotel room and watch this beautiful light show from our room. I have video to prove how gorgeous it was. It was like the fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas only with  lights of Memphis over the Mississippi. Turns out they are the 'Mighty Lights' and they come on at sundown each day and go until 10pm each evening. Our room was the perfect place from which to watch them.

Thursday, February 4th, our goal was just to get home. The drive would be six and one-half hours. We would stop once for lunch and gasoline. We opted for a Taco Bell at the BP station. As we sat outside eating, I realized there were four gas stations at that intersection. The Speedway had a Speedy Cafe. BP had Taco Bell. Marathon had Subway. The Shell station actually had a Schlotzsky. I have never seen a Schlotzsky at a gas station before. Wish we had noticed that earlier. 

We would stop in Georgetown before going on home. Claude had a prescription CVS kept texting him about. We left the donuts for Papa. Then we made it home in the rain. We unpacked and started to get ready to go back to a normal routine. 

This was a good trip. We tried to be as safe as we could from Covid-19. We tried some new things and visited some old things. We were both very happy with this adventure.