Happy Birthday Katie!!!

Christmas in Louisiana

 Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!

On Christmas day, we drove to Venus La. the furtherest most point of land of La into the Mississippi Delta.  I must say that the devastation from the Hurricane in August is still most prevalent here.  I cannot even begin to describe it.  so I won't

The next day we went to Grand Isle Island.  It is barrier island that looks like a war zone  .  But the state park is still beautiful and there were still people camping there. And yes Mingo went with us!

Overlooking the Gulf Coast

On the way, we pulled over and stopped by the river and had a picnic!

New Orleans!

 New Orleans West KOA.  About 20-30 minutes from New Orleans.   Lots of contractor trucks here.  They are still trying to recover from Hurricane Ida.  Blue tarps are everywhere on roofs.   Lots of homeless around.  Tents set up around the city.  Many homeless in the French Quarter along the streets and in the parks.

Looking at the up side.  The city is interesting and busy!  Music everywhere!

The city is really rich with history, beautiful buildings and fabulous  culture.  We took a hop on and hop off bus tour.  The only way to see the city! :). We got a two day pass so we were able to see where we wanted to go on day 2.  A couple of days of just driving south to see the Mississippi Delta, we went back to the city.

This time we bought an all day streetcar pass for $3.00 apiece and saw some beautiful houses, mansions and small shops.  We got on and off, walked around, shopped and got tired! :)

Roosevelt Hotel

Jackson Square for the rooftop of the bus!

St Charles Streetcar

For Sale!

Streetcar!

Jackson Square.  This is the St Louis Cathedral

Bourbon Street

Great Lunch!  Street view seats!

Waling along St Charles St.

St Charles Street.

Sights Along the Way

 Part of the joy of this road trip is the scenery along the way.  The first thing that I want to say is, What is with all of the trash along the highways?  Not just a little cup that fell out of the window, I am talking full on trash bags! Disgusting! 

Ok moving on.  Starting in Virginia at one of the first campgrounds, we saw cotton fields!  The further down south, the more cotton fields.  I never knew that cotton was baled!

This house was abandoned!

Cows

Cotton Fields

cows!

Cotton Bales

When we drive, generally we do not take the highways.  We take back roads and byways! We see more of the population and the country that way.