14. Florida Panhandle

Most RV parks are similar and fairly predictable, but once in a while we stumble onto one that’s exceptional. Somewhere between Pensacola and Tallahassee, we spent a couple nights at Juniper Lake RV Park in the small town of DeFuniak Springs, pop. 5,000. Many of the park’s 20 spaces were occupied by permanent residents or snowbirds. Our hosts, Bill and Donna, were very friendly and brimming over with “southern hospitality”. After we got settled in, Bill invited us down to the large deck on the lake for some conversation and a cold beer (no charge). He and Donna bought their little piece of Juniper Lake and have created an RV park that’s like a garden with lots of flowers, grass, decks, docks, wind chimes, bird houses and other amenities everywhere. The lake is full of fish, including trophy bass, and many turtles that they feed from the deck. A few gators also live in the area and help keep the turtle population in check. We really enjoyed this park and stayed an extra day to let a thunder storm pass through the area.

The panhandle beaches are some of the best in Florida. The sand is bright white and soft as sugar and the water is usually beautiful. The photo of Bonnie and the first photo below were taken at Santa Rosa Beach. It was open and uncrowded so we took the opportunity to bask and work on our tans. The second photo was taken west of Panama City Beach. Much of that beach is lined with hi-rise condos and hotels. Some can be seen in the distance. Public beach access in that area is controlled and not available to us common folks.

About 300 miles down the highway we arrived at the small town of Homosassa Springs, home of an exceptional state park by the same name. Natural springs pump millions of gallons of fresh water into the “fish bowl” of the Homosassa River. The water is a constant 72 degrees which is perfect for the manatees that make it their year-round home. We visited the park and watched the manatees. They aren’t the most exciting animals to watch. Most of the time they move very very slowly and look like very large slugs or small sand bars. Many manatees outside the refuges are injured or killed by boats because they swim in shallow water and have to surface frequently for air. Some areas have very slow speed limits for boats in an effort to minimize collisions.

The park is a wildlife refuge with its emphasis on birds. The birds include flamingos, spoonbills, blue heron, egrets, pelicans, owls and even a few bald eagles and hawks that were injured and can’t return to the wild.

The park also has a variety of reptiles and lots of alligators. The park naturalist showed us a baby gator. Bonnie got to touch the little feller. The big gator in the photo seemed to be “growling” at Bonnie. She caught a short video of it and we’ll try to get it to you so you can hear him growl. It sounds something like a motor boat engine.

This was a very interesting park within a half mile of our RV park. It was a relatively cool shady place to go on a hot muggy day.

13. New Orleans & Katrina

As everyone knows, New Orleans has its problems with water and flooding. A couple days before we arrived, the city received 8 inches of rain in 5 hours. There was some minor flooding, but they pumped it out and everything was okay.

We parked the car in a downtown New Orleans lot ($16) and spent a couple hours exploring the French Quarter. It’s larger than we thought. It's very colorful, and full of interesting art and architecture, funky businesses, entertaining signs and the aroma of southern cooking wafting through the narrow streets. Cars, trucks, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians seem to conflict at every intersection but somehow things keep moving.

To get an overall view of New Orleans and its history, we took a three-hour city tour. The driver grew up in the city and could explain what it was like when he was young and how it has changed . . . and how it continues to sink. The tour covered the French Quarter, CBD, Mississippi River levees and Cemetery #3 where the driver (photo) explained how the laws of the Catholic church control how the family tombs are used, maintained and removed if not properly maintained. Fascinating.

We visited some of the neighborhoods that were severely damaged by the flooding following Hurricane Katrina, including the Ninth Ward where the water was deepest and about 450 people died. Nearly three years have passed since the hurricane. Most of the debris has been cleaned up, burned or hauled away, but many mutilated structures remain abandoned. In some cases, it appears that badly damaged homes are still being occupied. Many FEMA trailers are still in place, but many others are still living in tents. Habitat for Humanity and other organizations are very actively building new homes. We also saw many new single-wide manufactured homes, complete with front porches, have replaced many of the destroyed homes.

Large flood walls protect low lying neighborhoods from the river. We saw some of the old flood walls that didn't fail. We also saw the newest walls that are giving property owners renewed confidence that it will never happen again. The photo shows one of the new walls. The remains of a destroyed neighborhood lies to the right, with new houses being built. Personally, I’d never feel safe looking up at the Mississippi River.

Many families lost everything in the hurricane and flooding and it’s obvious that those neighborhoods will struggle for many more years. However, the central business district, French Quarter and other areas that were not damaged appear to be healthy and gaining strength.

The amir of Qatar was visiting New Orleans while we were there. His entourage of black limos, led by an extensive police escort, crossed our path a couple of times. The amir and his associates visited this area after Hurricane Katrina. After viewing the devastation, they felt compelled to help out. So far, they have contributed $100 million to the recovery effort. Most of the assistance went to Children’s Hospital, Habitat for Humanity and Xavier, Loyola, Tulane and Louisiana State Universities. The Qatar group is here to check on progress and make sure the money is going into the recovery effort and specifically for projects related to education, housing and health care. One of those projects is a 50,000 sq. ft. addition to one of the university hospitals. The addition will be known as the Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion.

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi was near the center of Hurricane Katrina. We stayed in a local RV park and drove through former neighborhoods and along the shoreline highway to see what was lost and what is being done today. It was amazing to see how low and flat the land is and how close the shoreline is to the highway and properties.

We drove through Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian where whole beachfront neighborhoods were wiped off the map. Scattered framework, foundations, pilings and some floors can still be seen with floor tile still attached. It’s not unusual to see a fancy iron fence and gate with a winding driveway leading to what was once the site of a large home, but is now occupied by a travel trailer.

We found a couple interesting churches. One was gutted, but its sturdy Gothic arched framework still stands. Another (photo) managed to save its steeple, which remains as its focal point, but now operates from the temporary structures.

It’s very sad. But time marches on and new construction is going on everywhere. Streets are being rebuilt and new homes are popping up along the beachfront. I suppose they’ll be occupied by families who feel another Katrina will never happen . . . at least during their lifetimes.

12. New Iberia and Tabasco

A little deeper into southern Louisiana is the town of New Iberia, an early Cajun settlement that is proud of its many restored homes and a nationally recognized historic downtown. We decided to take a closer look at one of the first mansions. It was built along Bayou Teche and named Shadows on the Teche. This house was built by local plantation owner David Weeks in 1834. It’s officially listed as a “brick, 7-bay, colossal columnar Greek Revival plantation house.” The house has been mostly restored to reflect its early 1800s lifestyle. A similar house (the white one) was built next door in 1910 by a descendent of Mr. Weeks and fits neatly into the neighborhood character of New Iberia.

The Konriko Rice Mill is also in New Iberia. It's a family business and the oldest rice mill in the country. It has been operating with the same basic machinery that was installed in 1912. Still going strong with the old technology.

Ron enjoys the “spices” of life, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tour the Tabasco factory a little farther down the road on Avery Island. This little island is actually the top of a massive salt dome that extends thousands of feet into the earth. The island grows lots of bright red Capsicum frutescens peppers for their pepper sauce, mines salt which is used in the process, and pumps the oil that is often found adjacent to major salt formations. It also maintains the wildlife sanctuary where the snowy egret was brought back from near extinction and the 200 acre Jungle Gardens full of plants, flowers and native creatures such as alligators, deer, nutria, raccoons and armadillo. The Tabasco factory is a big brick building but is close to the coast and was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. They are now building a higher levee to protect all their facilities from a category 5 hurricane.

We capped off our day in New Iberia with a crawfish dinner at the Seafood Connection. Locals recommended it, so it had to be good . . . and it was. The restaurant itself appeared to be an old converted 1950’s drive-in with a sit-down room addition made of cinder block with no windows or other features that might attract someone to stop there. The interior was also pretty plain, with tables lined up in rows, Bingo hall style. A big screen TV was playing a re-run of a Saturday night Cajun program up the road in Eunice, the center of Prairie Cajun. Everyone seems to be eating crawfish around here these days, so we both ordered the crawfish dinner. They came to us in big tin dishes, similar to oil change pans, with potatoes mixed in, a couple ears of corn-on-the-cob and a couple large sausages. It was a very messy hands-on dinner but fun and very tasty indeed.Seafood is everywhere, crawfish is king right now and there are also lots of oysters, shrimp, crab, catfish, seafood gumbo and jambalaya, andouille and boudin sausages, shrimp po-boy sandwiches and etouffees (pronounced “A-2-fay”). It’s really great!!! We'll miss the food, but will also miss the fun spirit of the local people, the music and the large swamps, bayous and unique wildlife that the state is trying hard to protect. As we head on down the road, we'll leave you with a picture of Bonnie at Bayou Teche.

11. Welcome to Cajun Country

You can’t visit Louisiana without learning something about the Cajun culture and history. We didn’t know much about it, but our research told us that Cajun Country is centered around the southern areas of Louisiana. Lafayette seemed to be a central location with lots of history and cultural activity, so we dropped anchor in a nice little RV park just south of Lafayette. The tourist info center provided us with an armload of maps, brochures and good ideas to keep us busy.

History is everywhere, but is told especially well at the local Jean Lafitte Acadian Cultural Center and at nearby Vermillionville where historic buildings have been preserved and Cajun, Creole and Native American exhibits tell the story. The "palmetto hut" in the photo is an example of an early swamp hut that was insulated with a mixture of mud and Spanish moss. Very sturdy.

The history is fascinating so I’ll try to share a little of it. Around 1600, a group of French settlers moved into an area of eastern Canada, now Nova Scotia, in search of freedom from French oppression and a new land for their families. The settlement of “Acadie” (or Acadia) flourished for 100+ years. However, when the British took control in the early 1700s, they demanded that the Acadians swear allegiance to the British crown and support the ongoing wars against France. Well, being independent folks who wanted to be left alone, the Acadians chose to remain neutral and refused to support the British. So, the irate local governor put about 8,000 of them into boats, sent them out to sea and confiscated their lands. Some fled to other parts of French-speaking Canada, many returned to France, and others were scattered along the east coast of the U.S. Later, a group of exiles led by Joseph Broussard made their way as far as Louisiana where they set up their new Acadia near what is now the city of Breaux Bridge, just east of Lafayette. The Acadians, with the help of friendly local Indian, established new communities and eventually became known as Cajuns. They held onto much of their French culture and language and their music and food have continued to grow in popularity as major tourist attractions. Ron managed to find a good local music station (KBON, 101.1 FM). He loves the music, even though many of the lyrics are in French, and we’re eating lots of Cajun food.

Louisiana calls itself “America’s Wetland.” Can’t argue with that. There’s water, rivers, bayous, lakes and swamps everywhere. We wanted to find out more about the wetlands, so we took a swamp tour in Bryan Champagne’s 24 ft. aluminum crawfish skiff. Bryan was born a Cajun and raised on the banks of Bayou Teche, so he seemed to know what he was talking about. He took us in and out of the swamps, through thick vegetation, groves of cypress draped with Spanish moss and, to our surprise, no mosquitoes.

The swamp was full of birds, including herons and snowy egrets. We also came across lots of alligators. Most were sunning themselves on logs and we were able to get within a few feet of them. Some would casually slide off their logs and disappear into the water, but others stood their ground and stared us down. None were aggressive and, after a while, we began to really appreciate these big critters. They weren’t bothering anyone and were probably a little annoyed with us for trespassing in their territory. It was a great swamp tour and we all survived.

Vermillionville is a sort of Cajun cultural center, adjacent to the Jean Lafitte Center. The village is nicely laid out and includes a self-guided walking tour of early structures from small swamp huts to a typical home, school, church and other structures.

In the center of the village is an entertainment pavilion with stage and dance floor. A Cajun band was playing and, after watching for a while, we drug ourselves out onto the dance floor and went a few rounds. We later went to dinner at a place called Randol’s. They also had a live Cajun band, so we went a few more rounds on the dance floor (sorry, no photos). Those dance lessons we took last year finally paid off and we had a great time!

10. Texas Gulf Coast

Texas’ largest city stood in our path as we headed east from San Antonio. We considered going out of our way to get around Houston, but decided to just put the pedal to the metal, close our eyes and follow I-10 right through the middle. It was a nail-biting white-knuckle experience. Major freeway development was going on everywhere, highways were torn up and detours zig-zagged around miles of orange cones and rows of Jersey barriers. Obstructions narrowed the traffic lanes and we were constantly pushed and squeezed by 18-wheelers and lots of traffic trying to go faster than it should. We made it through with a sigh of relief and continued on down the highway. The posted speed limit on Interstate-10 across most of Texas is 80 mph. I'm sure we irritate many motorists as we amble along at our more fuel-efficient 55-60. No tickets yet for impeding the flow of traffic.

We stumbled upon a very nice little campground on Turtle Bayou, about 40 miles west of Beaumont. It was at the edge of a lush swamp full of birds and animal sounds. The bayou water was a nice milk chocolate brown and the bullfrogs were loud enough to keep us awake at night.

The gulf was only 40 miles away, so we drove down to the beach at High Island and did some wading, bird watching and shell collecting. Parking was allowed on the beach so, of course, Ron managed to get the Honda stuck in some dry sand. We dug a couple trenches with our ice scraper (we knew it would come in handy) and were able get ourselves out. It was a bit of a concern having the car stuck in the sand 20 feet from the surf and not knowing if the tide was going in or out.

The Anahuac Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge was nearby, so we did a walking and driving tour of a small part of the area. It’s a birder’s paradise. But, even more exciting for us, were the alligators that also reside in the refuge. We saw eight or ten gators in their natural habitat, which was one of Bonnie’s primary objectives. Pretty exciting.

We drove to the end of the Bolivar Peninsula, ate a couple excellent burgers at Crystal Beach, visited old Fort Travis and looked at Galveston across the water. A free ferry could have taken us across but we had no reason to go there and it was getting late.

The Bolivar Peninsula is a long low sand bar that’s fairly well populated but prone to periodic destruction. It has been hit by hurricanes and tidal surges over the years so now all new houses are being built on stilts, some of them so high that we wondered if they are protecting against flooding or trying to get a view over other stilt houses closer to the beach. It’s comical. The peninsula was interesting, but not a place we’d want to live.

9. San Antonio - Fiesta

“Fiesta” in San Antonio is all about food, music and fun and it’s all over town. Market Square is the venue for Fiesta Fantasias. The market is a maze of small shops stuffed with everything from Mexican sombreros, pottery and wierd skeleton people to very fine (and expensive) art. Lots of good food was available at street booths and several stages were alive with local Tejano music and some dancing in the streets. We did a lot of walking, looking and sampling of gordidas and mini-tacos. Excellent!!!

The “Taste of New Orleans” is another popular Fiesta event. It's held outdoors in the Sunken Gardens of Brackenridge Park, a perfect setting. We took folding chairs, arrived early and got a good center spot to view the stage. Once again, food booths were everywhere, this time with lots of good Cajun delights. Ron dove into a bowl of shrimp, fish and sausage in a thick spicy sauce over “dirty rice”. Bonnie had a big crabcake with rice. We shared a shrimp-on-a-stick and couldn’t pass up the alligator-on-a-stick (hard to find in Seattle). The alligator tasted like we imagined it would, a bit tough and rubbery but with a nice flavor and plenty of Cajun spices.

Different bands took the stage and a local belly dancing group did a show as well. Ron especially liked the rough raspy jerky zydeco music that makes you want to dance right out of your chair. Since we know very little about that style, each song sounded pretty much like the one before. It would help if they'd sing the words in English instead of French. But it's a cultural thing and, since music is a universal language, nobody seemed to care. We’re looking forward to some slightly softer Cajun music in Louisiana.

The River Walk is the city's second most popular attraction (Alamo is first). This public walkway follows about three miles of the river as it winds through the center of downtown. It's lined with restaurants, pubs, shops and the best hotels. It's very nicely landscaped with plants and flowers, many very large trees and lots of birds. There are also lots of masonry walls, small bridges (that's Bonnie on the bridge), stairways and other attractive rock work. The River Walk is a comfortable relaxing "people place" away from traffic and noise. It's an excellent example of good planning and urban design.

We spent our final evening in San Antonio at the annual River Walk Parade. It’s a parade of boats/floats with lots of lights and music on the river. Thousands of tables and chairs were set up along the route in front of hotels and restaurants. We could sit in one for a fee of up to $25, but we opted to stake out a nice section of railing along Crockett Street overlooking the river. It was a great view, but standing up for hours was a little hard on us old folks. The restaurants went all out in their table decorations and mariachi bands were entertaining the patrons.

The parade and San Antonio in general were lots of fun. We’re leaving with a positive impression and hope to return some day.