Florida Day 22

March 20

Hiked MANY miles; didn't have the GPS but walked the entire French Quarter!

Time to leave the Gulf Coast and head to New Orleans. We passed the Stennis Space Center of NASA (never heard of it before). The fisherman we met yesterday speculated that Stennis would take over the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast if ever there were another big hurricane.

Hit Louisiana at 9:42 and were welcomed with an entire ditch full of egrets. We crossed over Lake Pontchartrain on Highway 10 and started to notice the remains of Katrina. Random houses were refurbished and others still in decay. Businesses were left vacant. There was an entire mall that WAS (just parking lot now, for sale, and someone was cutting grass!).

We found our way to Pontchartrain Landing (a PA park for $33 a night). It IS an RV parking lot on a canal that leads to Lake P. There's a yacht-making business across the canal and a big boat storage area.

Since the weather was meant to be bad for the next couple of days (unlike the WARMER and SUNNIER forecast back home), we took the 4:00 shuttle into the French Quarter.

We walked a lot, took in the sites, and enjoyed.

Here are some pics of the balconies and beautiful architecture:

The stroll through Bourbon Street led to ONE solicitation to David (and they invited "the wife" too since they loved women!). Thank God we were worth the invite!

We had a not great dinner (Red Beans and Rice and hot sausage/fried chicken) then a yummy dessert of beignets and cafe au lait. There were two Supermen at the Cafe du Monde:

We got a good sense of the French Quarter and New Orleans. We're hoping for okay weather tomorrow, but don't expect much!

Here's the view from my chair (dull skies and wind and many Rvs, but our view nevertheless):