Fun Times in the French Quarter

It was rainy and dreary when we pulled into Biloxi, Mississippi, but that didn't stop me from testing my new snorkeling mask and action camera together to see how to set them up right and how much video time I'm likely to get on a battery.  I'm going to need to know those things when I get to the Great Barrier Reef!

The water here is very murky, so there wasn't really anything to see, but I did learn hopefully what I needed to learn about the adventure camera and full-face snorkel mask together.  I can get about an hour and a half on one of my new batteries, but it will be in about 30-minute increments.  I really don't understand why the camera restarts after 30 minutes, but it does it automatically, so I'm not overly concerned.

After resting, gambling, and playing with water toys, we headed west.  First stop, New Orleans, the French Quarter.  For some reason this trip, I was into the Voodoo priestesses/root workers of the south, and Marie Laveau is one of the tops.  Because you cannot get into St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 without a guide, we decided to take a mule carriage ride around the Quarter.  This ride included a tour of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

It started at Jackson Square in front of the St. Louis Cathedral.  This is where we met Maya and the mule whose name I have forgotten.  He was awesome with personality plus, but I just can't remember his name.  I have Maya's business card, which is how I remember her name.  The mule would plod at a regular pace except at certain areas, and he apparently didn't like those particular spots because he would trot through them, then drop back to his normal plodding pace.  Maya said she just lets him take his pace, although sometimes, she had to scratch the top of the carriage cover to make noise to remind him the light was green.  They use mules instead of horses because the mules tolerate the heat much better than the horses do.  Maya has two mules that she swaps out so they don't have to work every day.  He seemed to enjoy what he was doing, though he seemed a little bored with it.  Remember those Le Dogs?  The big headed ones making fun of the inability to take animal pictures?  Well, meet Le Mule!

St. Louis Cathedral and the statue of Andrew Jackson are the focal points of Jackson Square.  We didn't tour the cathedral this time, but I'll be back, and I'll catch it then.

The streets in the French Quarter are beautiful, and Maya pointed out many points of interest, both historical and touristy - such as the New Orleans School of Cooking with Fun, Food, and Folklore.  I've checked their offerings.  I do a mean okra gumbo, jambalaya, and creole already, but they have things on the menu that I don't recognize.  I'm just going to have to take a class and sample some of those dishes while I learn to cook them!  Or I may choose something that I know I like but have never made, like an alligator bisque or a creole ratatouille.  Or I may do several of them, but I have every intention of doing at least one.  Who's up to join me?  It's coming up on the left.

After winding through several streets, we came upon St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Maya told us the cemetery is an active cemetery, and new remains are interred here regularly.  Some of the family tombs are communal, meaning that the most recent body interred there lays in the top drawer until the next family member is due to be interred.  At that point, assuming the last body interred has been there for the proper time (often considered a year and a day), the tomb is opened, the remnants of the casket are removed, and the remains of the last decedent are swept to the back of the tomb, where they fall to the bottom and commingle with the remains of others who were interred in the tomb before them.  This is a common practice in oven-style tombs, like this one, in which the heat going through the concrete helps speed deterioration of the remains.

Families can pay for the church to maintain the tombs or they can maintain them on their own.  If a tomb becomes neglected, but the family is not paying for maintenance, the church will provide very rudimentary repairs.

Being a member of certain groups, such as soldiers in the New Orleans Battalion of Artillery, who defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, or immigrants receiving the benevolence of certain groups, could get you a place in tombs maintained by these societies.

Nicholas Cage has built his private tomb with much Masonic symbolism, including that at particular times of the year at a specific time of day, the sun is supposed to perch just at the top of the pyramid.

All of this was very interesting, but the tomb I wanted to see was that of the Voodoo Queen herself, Marie Laveau.  She is interred in the family tomb of her last lover, Christopher Glapion.  Handsome Jack Paris is still nowhere to be found.  He was the last man that "done gone".  For those who don't get that one, you really need to listen to more Dr. Hook!  Anyway, She is interred in this tomb.  Her daughter, Marie Laveau II is not.  It is illegal to drop tokens to her, but people do it anyway.  I had a hair bow ready to drop for her, but the two little boys in our group were eyeballing a pocket knife someone had left.  I didn't want to give them an excuse and couldn't find a moment that they weren't watching.  Generally not like me to be a good role model, but sometimes crap happens.

We took the long way back to Jackson Square to see more sights.  The mule jogged past Louis Armstrong Park, so I only got one halfway decent shot of the gates.

And we went past the Homer Plessy home, of "separate but equal", which was the law until Brown v Board of Education.

After the tour, we walked across the Square to the Gumbo Shop for lunch.  I got the Creole Combo that gave me a sampling of my favorite creole dishes: red beans and rice, jambalaya, and shrimp creole.  Bruce got the Seafood Okra Gumbo.  Mine was awesome.  Bruce could not find the okra in his, but it had a soft-shell crab in it.  The waitress was adamant that he got what he ordered.  Then, he heard the lady at the table beside us complaining that her gumbo had a lot of okra but no crab.   He had a good chuckle out of it, but he said it was good anyway.  After our late lunch, we did a little shopping and headed northwest.

Where the Rain Smells Fresh

Let me start this post with an apology.  I generally avoid posting about other people out of respect for their privacy.  If you ever want be a part of this blog, you have to let me know.  Our week in Florida was spent visiting friends and family that we have missed so much.  I was so excited about spending time with them that I didn't take care to get good pictures for the blog.  With that caveat . . .

We pulled into Florida just as the afternoon rain shower hit.  I didn't realize it until that time, but I've missed the smell of rain.  Being in the Seattle area, there is lots of drizzly rain, but a full-on shower is rare.  Something I never really though of before, though, was the smell of a Florida rain!  I really can't describe it, but it just smells fresh.  A quick Google search (see how scientific I am!!) gives a couple of reasons for the unique scent.  One explanation is that it's ozone.  The problem is that ozone is created when lightening splits oxygen and nitrogen.  The problem with that is that I've been in thunderstorms with lots of lightening strikes in other parts of the world and never smelled this particular scent anywhere else in the world besides Florida.  I have been places where you can smell the rain, but this is a very unique scent.

Another theory is that the rains release specific oils and bacteria from the ground, especially when it's been dry for a period of time.  This could be the case, since it's such a unique smell and the flora in Florida is different than in, say, Tennessee or Kentucky or Seattle.  However, the flora is similar in Louisiana, and there are differences in the flora in North Florida, with the Live Oaks, Pines, and other vegetation compared to the Mangroves, Cypress trees, and vegetation common in the swampy areas of South Florida.  I smell the same scent with the rain in both North and South Florida.  I also don't smell it in Southern Mississippi or Louisiana, or other swampy areas with both Live Oaks and Cypress trees.

Oh well.  Just one of those things.  The universe may never know.  Maybe it's just in my head.

Anyway, we got settled into our accommodations and started looking forward to seeing people we had missed for the last couple of years.  We did do some things other than just hanging out, and I did get some pictures, but most of my pictures are of some adorable young ladies who were busy enjoying our activities.

We spent some time at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.  They've made some changes since the last time I was there, and there are more changes coming.   They were just beginning to open up the new section with the lemurs when we left Tampa.  The area is really nice.  They have more Roseate Spoonbills than I remember, too.  I think they've given up on keeping them out of the rafters.

On a different day, we went to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.  I had never been here before.  Even for being June, not a very blossoming time in the Florida heat, it was beautiful.  The tower itself is pretty imposing.

The koi were happy to eat the food that made it out there for them.

And the gardens were lovely with or without blossoms.

I took lots of shots of butterflies.  Unfortunately, as always, the butterflies weren't in any of the pictures.  I think all the butterflies gang up on me to avoid letting me take their pictures.  It started in the Amazon with that beautiful blue butterfly that kept taunting me!

When we went, they had just recently opened a new section, the children's garden.  It was an awesome garden with everything from a sandbox, to climbing activities, and even an old-fashioned water pump!  It was a great area for young children or children young at heart to play in.  I soooo wished I hadn't been in the CAM boot, but I really enjoyed watching the kids play, especially in the water fountain!  They all had a wonderful time!  Unfortunately, I got confused with the camera.  I video taped lots of the sky and ground, and when I thought I was filming - with the kids running up and down in the water - it was off.  Oh well.  I guess I can't be perfect ALL the time!  Heehee!

Though you don't get many pictures, I definitely recommend visiting Bok Tower Gardens if you're around Lake Wales (South and between Tampa and Orlando) and the Florida Aquarium in the Channelside area of Tampa.

On the way back to Kissimmee, where our hotel was, I did pass by this little malfunction.  The news said the manager had just gotten up from his desk on the other side of this wall when the store was converted to a drive-in furniture rental shop.  Nobody was injured during this impromptu renovation.

After a couple of more days hanging out with friends and lounging by the pool, we headed out for one of Bruce's favorite places, Biloxi, Mississippi.

Canyons and Cookies - It Doesn't Get Any Better!

Do you know what the only drawback to staying two nights in the same hotel is?  You might forget your inhaler when you leave to go sightseeing.  Is that going to stop me?  Not at all!  We stopped at the visitor's center before we left Kanab to make sure we knew where to stop to get the best look at the Grand Staircase.  Remember, that view is not in the Grand Staircase National Monument.  Instead, it's at a little-marked pull-off just past Fredonia, Arizona.  That's where I noticed I didn't have my inhaler.  The walk up to the platform was only a few hundred feet, but it feels like miles when your lungs close up!  Thankfully, they had benches on the platform so I could sit until I could breathe again.  Most of the formations that make up the Grand Staircase can be seen from this platform, including the stack of the Chocolate, Vermilion, White, Gray, and Pink Cliffs.



After stopping for the Grand Staircase, we headed to the Grand Canyon.  This was my first trip to the North Rim.  I was glad the lady at the visitor's center told us to make sure to go into the lodge for the best view of the amphitheater!  It was breathtaking!

Here are some shots from various other places on the North Rim.  Words just can't express, so I'm not even going to try.

After touring the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and leaving the park, we stopped for lunch at the only eatery around, the cafe of the Jacob Lake Inn.  We couldn't complain about the sandwiches, but the defining food of this place is their gourmet cookies, which were delicious.  I thought I took some pictures, but I can't find them, so maybe I didn't.  Maybe I was just too busy eating them.  I know the super blackberry filled milkshake didn't survive long enough for a picture.  Oh well, food pictures weren't the focus of the day, and I spent almost all the time in the car sucking on the oxygen compressor because my inhaler was back at the cabin or huffing and puffing to enjoy the magnificent views!

After lunch, we drove over to the Vermilion Cliffs.  This is a more up close view of one part of the Grand Staircase stacked cliffs.  The Vermilions are the second lowest cliffs.  The rain stopped just as we pulled off the road by the cliffs.

We considered going on to Marble Canyon, but the weather was threatening, I was having trouble breathing, and we are going to make another trip to this area for Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, and some other things in the area, so we decided to head back to Kanab to our cabin at the base of a cliff.  The drive back, even in the rain, was phenomenal.  If you're here, be absolutely certain you drive Highway 89A from Arizona to Utah.  These are some of the best views of The Grand Staircase, but there is no place to pull off and take pictures (other than the pull-off just south of Fredonia), so here are some pictures that I shot off while we were driving.

After so long without any services, they make sure you can get everything here.  From auto repair to ice cream, Lotto to ammo!

Sasquatch and Pedro and Voodoo, Oh My!

After a week of visiting relatives and studying history, we headed south to see more loved ones in Florida.  A nice farewell breakfast, and we were on the road by the crack of noon.  There were loads of things to stop and look at along the way.

Heading down I-95, the first quirky stop was the Cryptozoology and Paranormal Museum in Littleton, North Carolina.  This little museum is set up in a reportedly haunted house in a little town about 20 miles off the interstate.  Yes, we actually drove off for this.

This was a neat little house full of casts of huge footprints found in nearby Medoc Mountain State Park.  He also has dolls trapped in plastic cases.  These dolls are reportedly haunted, but there have apparently been no sightings of them moving.  There are also haunted items, such as a rope that supposedly caused someone to go crazy and some familiar shrunken heads that were sent up from Ecuador.  I think I saw them in a souvenir shop in Guayaquil a few years ago!

A bit further down the road, in Bowman, South Carolina, we made another foray off the beaten path to see the UFO Welcome Center.  It's a double-decker set of flying saucers made out of wood and other junk.  The guy who built this supposedly lives in these saucers part time, living the rest of the time in the mobile home behind it.  This one isn't worth going to see.  The yard is piled so full of junk and garbage that it really just looks like a heap.  But, since we were there, I took pictures.

Back on the road after the disappointing UFO Welcome Center, we crossed into South Carolina.  We stopped for dinner, shopping, and sight seeing at South of the Border.  You get a pretty solid idea of what's coming up when you drive in.

That's Pedro, over there, on the right, under the hat.  They have an elevator up to the sombrero where you can look at the area from up high.  The guy in the arcade said it was too windy, so we couldn't go up.

So we had fun playing around in the stores

We had dinner at the Hot Tamale.  I wouldn't recommend it.  The food wasn't good, even by fast food standards, and the counter help wanted to be anywhere but at work.  It's definitely a neat stop, though.  If we drive through there again, we'll stop again.  There's still a small reptile aquarium that was closing when we got there and several more options for eating.  Bruce drove around so I could get some video of some of the animal and Pedro sculptures.



The following day, we pulled into Savannah, Georgia.  Savannah is a beautiful town with the tree-lined streets hanging full of Spanish moss.

There were a lot of things to see, but downtown Savannah was packed with no parking.  Turns out, we came through during graduation day.  I don't know if it was just one great big graduating class or if every school in the area was graduating that day, but they had streets blocked off, and access to the trolley tours was even difficult.  So we just drove on out of town, past this awesome lion fountain

just a block over from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

and to the primary goal:  Bonaventure Cemetery, otherwise known as the Garden of Good and Evil.

Legend has it that voodoo done in this graveyard before midnight is good magic, but voodoo done in this graveyard after midnight is bad magic.  It is also key place in the book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" about the murder of Danny Hansford, a local male prostitute, allegedly by a local wealthy, prominent member of society, antiques dealer, Jim Williams.   I liked the book better than the movie, but they were both very good.  Minerva, the voodoo priestess, figured much more prominently in the book than the movie, as did the cemetery, obviously.  We went all the way to the back of the cemetery, but like most people, we were unable to find Dr. Buzzard's grave, where Minerva is said to have worked her magic, which got Jim Williams acquitted.  All we found was the Wilmington River.

The cemetery is laid out in a grid, and the roads have names, often related to the families buried in that section.

There are some famous people buried here, like songwriter Johnny Mercer, and poet Conrad Aiken.  But others, including those whose names are forgotten are also notable.  It is a lovely cemetery as cemeteries go, even though the statue of the Bird Girl has been moved from the cemetery for fear of vandals since it was used on the cover of the book.

After exploring the cemetery for a little while, we had some lunch in a little out-of-the-way buffet, and headed into Florida, where we were stopping for a while to visit more family and friends.