The trip started in New
Orleans, Louisiana with my college singing group, the V8s, gathering for
our annual rehearsal weekend.V8s is not about vegetables...it's a
shortened version of 'Victory 8s', a group started in 1942 during WWII
by 8 talented Mount Holyoke College singers. It is still the 'oldest
continuing historically all-female collegiate a cappella group in the
nation'. And this particular subset of the group has been meeting to
perform at every Class of 1974 reunion in the last 45 years. (!)
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We stayed at a
quirky villa site right on the canal that leads to Lake Pontchartrain.
The villas were constructed of containers, but the interiors were quite
nice. The breezes and weather were considered cold for the locals, but felt
fabulous to us--having traveled from CT, IND, IL, NM and ME.
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And we often have
trouble finding individual bedrooms, with private baths, for 6,
so I was happy to find this place...and in our price range! |
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Here's our closest
neighbor on the canal, a 100' houseboat owned by Nancy.
She said that she and her husband were enjoying listening to us singing
and she said, 'hey, I know some of
those songs....that's live.' And he said, 'nah, that's the radio'. But
when we stopped for a break, she was proven correct.
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Four days were spent
eating....checking out the shopping district....eating....wandering the
cemeteries....eating....and touring the historic districts...with
rehearsals here and there... |
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My favorite restaurant was the Commander's
Palace for brunch. |
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......and we took
a wonderful walk at the Barataria Preserve of the Jean LaFitte National
Historic Park, SE of New Orleans, where I finally got my fill of Spanish moss...and were visited by egrets and
alligators galore. |
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March 5, New
Orleans, LA to Moss Point, MS
Then it was time to
say goodbye to the Songbirds and to start my exploring adventure of the
Deep South. So I took off to the east and wandered backroads (route 90
is designated the scenic route) through the
Gulf areas of Mississippi and Alabama. Everyone was amazingly nice and
helpful...it really was the 'southern hospitality' that we Yankees hear
about.
This was the plan
for the first half of the trip. |
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Locals reported that
they felt that Katrina had been a 'cleansing' of the Southern
Louisiana areas. With rebuilding of houses and businesses, there's less
crime, etc......but some
buildings were just swept away...and left where they landed... |
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March 5
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Along the Louisiana
and Mississippi Gulf Coast, there were multitudes of stilts and signs,
stilts and signs...so that high waves won't take away these lovely new
waterfront homes... |
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Wandering East on Route
90, I came to Bay St. Louis, a lovely town that sits right on the Gulf
of Mexico. |
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Bay St. Louis has
some of the 'Angel Trees'...(strong oaks that people held onto and
climbed into to escape
the massive waves of
Hurricane Katrina)...which saved many lives. |
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Across the bridge,
and soon I was traveling right along the MS Gulf Coast...
and I've always wondered exactly where you are when you're in the
boonedox! |
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Very interesting to
see the Presidential Library and Museum of the
President of the Southern United States during the Civil War,
Jefferson Davis. |
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March 6, Moss Point,
MS to Dauphine Island, AL and back....
March
6, it poured all
morning, so I stayed put at a lovely, comfy suite in Moss Point, MS and
further planned the trip. Then, when the sun came out at noon, I drove east to
Alabama. The ladies at the AL Welcome Center were delightful and I
set out to discover Dauphin
Island that very minute.
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So here are the
containers before they became our villa bedrooms! |
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The Welcome Center
ladies exhorted me to note the cleanliness of the Gulf water, compared
with the muddiness of the protected waters of southern LA and MS. They
said that people fish and boat in LA and MS, but they drive to AL to
swim...interesting!
Hmmm...this 'real
Gulf' water appears to be the same color as the sand....but the
beachfront was gorgeous, relatively untouched and full of wildlife... |
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March
6
Dauphin Island
is the home to Fort Gaines, strategically placed for defense of Mobile
Bay.
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Dauphin Island is
also the site of the Audubon Bird Sanctuary, where I met the largest
alligator of the trip...turtles and lots of spring singing birds.
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Looking down is
something we do when we hike in Maine...because of the rocks and roots.
Looking down is something they do in the Deep South because of snakes!! |
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I loved that
the morning's rainstorm was still sitting on the lily pads.
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On the way back up
to the mainland, I stopped at the renowned
Bellingrath
Gardens and Home in Theodore, Alabama and had a wonderful
time and a long walk surrounded by early spring color...particularly
appreciated since my
town in Maine
was having the second of three major snowstorms while I was away!
What a lovely breath of warmth and burgeoning life.
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The trees....the
trees....the glorious trees!! |
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March 7 Moss Point,
MS to Montgomery, AL
The next morning, I
said goodbye to the Gulf and headed inland, towards Montgomery.
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The first stop was
at the magnificent Bragg Mitchell mansion in Mobile |
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The second stop was
at the famous Visitation Monastery, also in Mobile, in the same
neighborhood. |
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Then on to
Montgomery on back roads... |
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March 8
Montgomery, AL to Gadsden, AL via the highest point in Alabama
Montgomery is, BY
FAR, the cleanest and most impressive state capitol I have ever visited!
I had a wonderful, long walk around the Capitol area on a glorious sunny
morning. |
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The first White
House of the Confederacy...and its view of the current State Capitol.
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And the more modest
home where Martin Luther King was raised. |
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And a riverboat on
the Alabama River...note the high water mark....58 feet, one inch! |
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Montgomery is a
LOVELY city.
And Alabama, like so
many states, is a study in extremes....here are the back roads I took, heading
northeast towards the highest point in Alabama,
in Cheaha State Park, near Lineville. |
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At the highest point
of Alabama (2400 feet!!), in the Talladega Forest, near Delta, I found a
hike...and a very large new friend. Sasquatch!! But seriously, these
states are close to flat...and most of the hikes had no views. I'll take
Maine for hiking any time. |
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But this state park
did have the first of many waterfalls...lovely natural resources that
abound in northern Alabama. |
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It seems this was
near a
former lodge, and the local Christian boy scout troop had built this
reservoir....must have been lovely. The current lodge has other water
sources! |
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The countryside
flattened out pretty quickly on the way to Gadsden that evening.
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