Week ending Dec 03, 2015 Vidalia, Natchez, Marksville, New Orleans

Friday morning we were off to the Delta Blues Museum in Ferriday, LA. Before we left we checked their website and according to the information it was open. We arrived at the museum to discover that due to Thanksgiving it had given itself a long weekend and was closed from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving until the Monday after. It appears that no matter how hard we try we can't win.  There was some information outside on placards as well as a patio of fame with stars on it honoring  numerous music celebrities from along the Mississippi River. Three local people with stars on their patio are Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart, who were cousins.  For more information check www.deltamusicmuseum.com  We did a quick stop at a wine store on our way back to the trailer and spent the rest of the day watching the European curling championships.

Since Saturday was a warm beautiful day, after doing a few chores and then went for a walk on the trails going south through the RV park.We are pleased with the wi-fi here, so have been searching for RV parks and things to do further down the road.

Sunday morning was spent watching the RV park empty  out.  We said our goodbyes to our neighbours.  They were very interested in our full-timers lifestyle. We shared with them the good and the bad about this lifestyle. He really understands some of our "ugly" as he is a deputy sheriff. We are glad we are not on the roads on a Sunday of a long weekend. After lunch we decided to walk along the river on the Natchez side of the river. The only interesting area was "Natchez Under the Hill", an area which in the early days was the less desirable part of town.  We stopped at the Natchez Visitor Center, which has a tremendous display on the history of the city, from the Mound Builders, New France, British West Florida, New Spain, Mississippi Territory, Mississippi State, a Confederate State, and then back to a US state.   One of the interesting items was the list of staples required by someone walking back north along the Natchez Trace.

We then drove out to Natchez National Historic site.  It has a well maintained mansion, Melrose house. 

There was a good description of both the sugar cane and cotton crops, with examples of each growing in small beds.  Go to  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melrose_%28Natchez,_Mississippi%29 for more information. We then stopped at The Forks of the Road, where the slave trade established a market after it was banned from the townsite.  See http://usslave.blogspot.com/2012/04/forks-of-road-slave-market-at-natchez.html for more detailed information. Our next stop was a  short hike to an observation tower at Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge.  Although the walk was very nice, birds and animals were elusive.

We then headed back to the trailer to watch the Grey Cup. John was very happy with the results.

Monday morning we packed up and departed for Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisania.  We know we are in the Delta, since a google earth elevation profile indicated a minimum elevation of 16 meters, and a maximum of only 31 meters.   It was a nice drive through a nice wooded area most of the way.  We stopped at Deville for coffee and a snack. We ordered sausage and egg biscuits.  They said it would be about 15 minutes, so by the time they arrived we decided our snack could be considered  an early lunch.  We figure they had to bake the biscuits, as they were nice and fresh.  Shortly after lunch we arrived at the casino campground. It is very nice. We noticed White Pear Trees in the park, that have beautiful red leaves.

After getting set up it started to rain, so we did nothing for the rest of the day.

Tuesday was another dreary day.  While Joan did laundry John went for a few groceries. Joan had trouble with her US credit card so she called  Mastercard and  was told  she will not be able to use it as the chip option because she tried the wrong pin number too many times. It is okay to use it as a swipe card, so we will go with that until we get back to Canada and get this sorted out. Luckily John remembers his pin number. We then called Three Oaks and a Pine RV Park in New Orleans to reserve a spot. Late afternoon we wandered over to the casino, donated a few bucks to their cause, before having a really nice dinner.

Wednesday morning  we packed up early and headed for New Orleans. The drive was really easy, mostly freeways. At one point, we were driving on a levee through a wetland with thousands of birds.  Unfortunately there was nowhere to stop, but we did get a photo from the truck.

We stopped mid-morning at Geismar, south of Baton Rouge, for coffee and a snack. Our projected arrival time at the campground was early afternoon, but the drive didn't take as long as we expected, so by noon we pulled in. The manager was very accommodating. New on the job and wanting to have happy campers in his park. After we got set up Joan went over to pay. Will her credit card work??? that is the question. No chip technology here, so all is well. The rest of the afternoon was spent making plans for our time in New Orleans.


Thursday morning we hopped on the local bus to go to the French Quarter. We chose a 3.00 day pass, that allowed us to use buses and trolleys.  We had an auspicious start by watching the bus go by before we got to the bus stop. Oh well, another came in 20 minutes. While waiting another lady from the RV park came to the stop. She was well versed in the route to the French Quarter so gave us lots of help, actually she said" just follow me that's where I'm going" and as she had been here for months she knew the best routes.

We made a stop at Jackson Square to take some pictures,

St. Louis Cathedral

then headed for Cafe Du Monde for our coffee and beignets. Nothing has changed; they are as good as we remember from 26 years ago. The French Quarter is as quirky as ever, with houses with interesting wrought iron railings on their balconies.

We then walked along the river to Riverwalk Outlet Center.  Finally it was time to retrace our steps take the public transit back to the park. It  was so much easier than looking for somewhere to park our truck in the French Quarter