First state past Louisiana,

second state, and finally

Florida!!  We were surprised by the great roads, useful signage, and interesting dead things along the side of the road. Mainly we saw smooshed alligators along with some raccoons, and a fox.  Carl Hiaason wrote a bunch of funny books with a character named Skink who was a former governor but walked off the job into the bush one day.  He ate a lot of road kill.  I’m sure he would have done well along this stretch of interstate!

In Pensacola we discovered the National Naval Aviation Museum.  We spent the entire day there and as you might suspect, Mark was in seventh heaven!

Marine One and Mark emulating Tricky Dick!!

Trying to one-up old high school pal, Mark Dove, Mark tries out the cockpit of a Blue Angel jet.

Blue Angel planes in the atrium of the museum. Incredible!!  And, yes, they are full-sized!

For Stewart Miller. This is the first plane to land in Antarctica. Mark told everyone about your tour there!  This incredible museum has planes from the Wright Brothers to the fastest jets of today.  Many of the refurbished planes are ones of a kind and many of them were resurrected from Lake Michigan where they crashed during training in WWII.  This place was well worth the visit!!

Tomorrow we are off to Tallahassee and then DISNEY WORLD!!!

Crossing into Louisiana.

On a drizzly day we set out from Houston to New Orleans.  The ride was pretty easy without traffic until we got nearer to our destination.  This is Lake Ponchitrain which I thought was the ocean at first it is so big.

Lovely and iconic New Orleans architecture.  We did Hop On Hop Off to get a feel for the city.  Basically it is divided into thirds:  The Garden District of stately old houses, The Vieux Carre or the old part of the city which is sub-divided into French and Spanish areas, and then the areas around the Old Market and Jackson Square which are basically in the Old Quarter.

This is one of the many old, above ground cemeteries found all over the city.  Very interesting. Seemed to me like a lot of famous people either came from or are buried here (New Orleans).

Continuing with our military theme, we visited the National World War II Museum. This very interesting museum chronicals the war as seen from the eyes of the soldiers.  At the outset we were given dog tags belonging to a soldier and we followed his story through the war.  ‘My’ soldier was John Morgan who was rejected when he tried to sign up because he had broken his neck so he went to Canada and joined the RCAF.  He went to England and fought courageously and was finally accepted into the USAF.  He earned a Congressional Medal of Honor and was then shot down and captured.  He made it out alive and was a great example of the bravery and single mindedness seen in so many of that generation’s soldiers.

And, finally there was the food!  Beignets at Cafe du Monde,

Chicken gumbo and crab deviled eggs at Mannings (yes, the father of Eli and Peyton),

And finally a taste of jambalaya, gumbo, and etouffe at Huck Finn’s.  I’ve gained 5 lbs so far.