Driving Thru Florida - All Day Long - Day 68

On Tuesday I drove over to Martha’s for coffee at 7:30 in the morning (too early for Mary). She showed me around her cute 1960s era brick fixer-upper. The house has good bones and will make a great home for her when she is done making it exactly the way she wants it. She has already remodeled.

Back at the camper, Mary and I put the camper down (she had done a lot while I was gone and I did a little before I left), and got on the road by 10 am. Good-bye Fort Pickens. Mary pointed out that this National Park may not be here 20 years from now and this may be the only chance we had to see it. I finally found a car wash on Highway 98 out of Pensacola, so I was finally able to wash the visible coating of pollen off my car. My sinuses felt immediately better!

We took I-10 all (and I mean ALL) the way across Florida to Jacksonville, which took almost all day. I had to stop for one 10-minute nap. We had lunch at a buffet named Steak and Seafood in some medium-sized town I can’t remember. I had steak and baked sweet potato. Very good. I bought some silicone lubricant spray at Lowe’s – whose parking lot we parked in while we ate. Florida along the I-10 corridor is heavily forested and hilly. Even when we turned off onto I-295 around populated Jacksonville, it was heavily forested.

We left Florida behind about 7 pm (finally), and drove thru Georgia on I-95. The highway thru Georgia was 3 (and sometimes 4) lanes all the way – even thru the rural parts. We saw a beautiful sunset around 8 pm. Even though the highway is near the coast, we never saw the coastline. We stopped in Richmond Hill, GA at a truck stop for McDonald’s dinner about 10 pm. We both had breakfast biscuits. Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to getting late night food on the road.

We drove for a little while on I-95 thru South Carolina, and then veered off onto Highway 17 into Carleston. It was a long drive (or so it seemed) since we kept expecting to see the turn for Folly Road/ Highway 171 any time. We saw several groups of deer waiting on the side of the road - hopefully not to bound into cars passing by on the highway. Found our campground – James Island County Park (which is huge!) and got checked in. The Ranger on duty helped us guide the camper in to our #34 spot and even helped us push it the last few feet. This all took place around midnight. We put up the camper in record time and fell asleep immediately.

Mileage at the end of Day 68 = 7,500

Beaches, They All Beaches

Today (Monday) was “walk on the beach day” in Pensacola for us two touristas. First we found a beach at Fort Pickens with a picnic shelter and restrooms. We walked on the white sand beach – billed as the whitest sand in the world. I wore my flip flops so I could get my toes wet. And I did. I put a little bit of that “whitest sand in the world” in a baggie so I could take it home. Photo: top row = photos from Fort Pickens beach, bottom row = photos from Pensacola Beach

We drove to Pensacola proper to buy Mary a new phone charger and cord to replace the one I lost last night (see story below). It was getting close to our dolphin cruise, but I didn’t want to wear flip flops on a boat, so we drove back to the campground for my shoes. That campground road is really long and parts of it have a 25 mph speed limit. Needless to say, we missed our 2 pm dolphin cruise, but Mary rebooked it for 5 pm. That meant we would miss Martha’s 5 pm zombie walk.

With time on our hands, we drove over to the Pensacola Beach strip in Gulf Breeze. We took photos at the Pensacola Beach signs (very retro and fun). And we visited their actual beach. It was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit that day, but people were swimming and sun bathing there. Pensacola Beach has several huge piers and we walked out on the one behind Captn Fun’s bar. I rolled up my pants and walked into the water on a tiny sandbar on the beach – and Mary took photos. We got drinks at Captn Fun’s (mine was a Southern Comfort hurricane that came in a sand bucket). BTW, don’t give the bartenders at Captn Fun’s any large bills. They claimed the $20 I gave them was a $10. We sat on their patio overlooking the beach and had a lazy day in the sun and sand.

Around 4 pm, we drove over to the pier where the dolphin cruise with Chase-N-Fins was going to push off from. We took another photo by the even more retro Pensacola Beach sign over there, and then hopped aboard our boat. Surly Mike was the captain and Charlie, the master of bad jokes, was our guide. I really enjoyed the trip out of the bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. We watched the buildings and houses on both sides of the bay slip by us. Pensacola seems to be a very long, skinny city that sort of morphs into Mobile, Alabama – which is on the same sea coast.

We saw dolphins jumping up for air near Fort Pickens and Charlie told us that is a dolphin nursery. The come there from deeper in the ocean to birth their young. They nurse their babies with mothers’ milk for 2 years, so they spend a lot of time in the nursery. We saw three more schools of dolphins out in the Gulf of Mexico, including one that was “surfing” our wake on the boat. I took a photo of the sunset from the boat. Mary paid for my ticket. Thanks, Mary! It was an experience that I will never forget. We tipped Charlie $10 after the cruise and may have been his only tipping customers that night.

When we got back on dry land, we picked up take-out Thai food and walked across the parking lot to The Bridge bar to meet Martha. There were quite a few zombie runners and walkers there, so did not have a lot of time to talk. She invited me over to her house for breakfast the next morning.

Fort Pickens and Bushwacking with Martha

Sunday: Mary & I went to Panera Bread for breakfast because they have free wi-fi. I called Martha and we agreed to meet for dinner at 4 pm. My sinuses are still stuffed up – so much pollen in the air that you can actually see it accumulate on the car and camper. Mary & I went to Target to get her a black towel and both of us some groceries.

We got back to the campground, put the groceries away, and drove to the actual historic fort at Fort Pickens for their 2 pm Ranger-led tour of the fort. It was a really interesting tour – a little history, a little architecture, a little warfare, a little cannon talk, and even a little gruesome (e.g. the killing field). The fort was built in 1829 to protect Pensacola Bay’s access to the ocean. It was fortified by President Lincoln during the Civil War and was the only Southern naval fort that remained in Union hands for the entire war. It was used in World War 2 to protect the coast from U2 submarines. I was amazed at how much is still in good shape today despite regular flooding and being abandoned for so long; not to mention being built on very fine almost powdery sand to begin with. Mary was impressed at how huge it was, and also how they mounded up dirt on the roofs and planted vegetation on it to camouflage the entire fort. The original green roof.

When we got back to the campground, we threw a load of laundry in and then met Martha at Paradise Inn for drinks and dinner. Why? Bushwackers of course. Two kinds of rum and vanilla ice cream. I had an excellent shrimp Po’ Boy for dinner – very lightly breaded, crisp, and tasting like shrimp. Martha seems to be blossoming down here in Pensacola – she looks fabulous, dahling!

On the way home, we stopped at the boardwalk to the beach to see the sunset. I locked my keys in the car, and my purse with the spare key and my cell phone in the trunk. We did see the sunset and spent some time on the actual beach. The sunset was glorious. I called AAA from Mary’s phone, and they showed up an hour and a half later to unlock my door. It was really cold waiting out there for him. He was young, very nice and polite. However, I dropped Mary’s phone off my car hood as I backed out of the parking lot. Luckily it still works fine.

Last Day in NOLA, Hello Pensacola

Saturday, and Day 65 of the National Retirement Tour. Last day in NOLA, and moving day. I got up early, packed the car, and wrote some more postcards. I sat in the lobby and downloaded photos until the others woke up. They got dressed and I went to the French Market. I bought a T-shirt for Autumn, one for Grant, and two for me. I found one more mask for Autumn, and another box of Aunt Sally’s pralines.

Went back to the hotel to pick up the girls for breakfast at Monty’s in the Pontalba Building on Jackson Square. I had the Jackson Square omelette with shrimp, crab, and crawfish. Numm. Mary said they have the best Bloody Mary she has ever tasted (they used pickled vodka). On the way back to the car, I stopped in the National Park Service office in the French Market to get my passport stamped, and get a stamp on a piece of paper for Trudie. I discovered that 3 of the National Park Rangers all play musical instruments, and they now give a history of jazz tour. Wish I knew that earlier in the week. We said our good-byes to Trudie, which was hard. I really wish she could continue on the trip with us.

Then we got on the road. First to Slidell – home of the rednecks – to pick up the camper, and then on to Pensacola. The only interesting thing we saw on the trip was that Mississippi and Alabama drivers don’t know how to merge on a highway. We also stopped at the Florida highway department welcome center for a highway map, and tourist ideas for Pensacola.

Got to Pensacola, then Gulf Breeze, and then Fort Pickens campground before 5 pm. I only had Martha Miller’s phone number on Facebook and no wi-fi at the campground. To shorten the story, we finally connected on Sunday.

Total trip mileage so far = 6,750 on Day 65 of the trip.

Courtyards of New Orleans

Both Trudie and Mary were up, showered, and dressed way before me today (Friday). We had breakfast at Croissant d’Orr bakery on Ursuline just a couple of blocks from the hotel. We sat in their courtyard for breakfast. Fabulous bakery!

We took Royal Street to an appointment with El Monde Creole tour of Nawlins courtyards – after an early morning detour on Decatur to check out the Palm Court Jazz Club, and to buy Brendyn a hoodie shirt in a shop on Decatur.

We met our tour guide at 622 Rue Royal, and were joined by a Black couple from Atlanta for the tour. It was raining softly and continued all day. We did the courtyards of the French Quarter (this time most of them were public and not private), and learned about Creole cottages, shotgun, and double-shot gun houses, slave quarters, and kitchen placement (hint: in the courtyards behind the house per decree from the Spaniards when they ruled the French Quarter). We went to St. Louis Cemetery, to the Pharmacy Museum, and to another New Orleans museum that has rooms decorated in period style. We also wet to Little Vic’s ice cream parlor to see how his courtyard had a shrine to St. Joseph. The Italians will have parades and celebrations for the Feast of St. Joseph next week. Photo clockwise from top: mask made from Mardi Gras beads at Little Vic's, slave quarters on Rampart, and portion of the old Slave Exchange on St. Louis (the original wall with the name was destroyed except for this small segment).

After the tour we three amigas ate at the Court of Two Sisters on Royal. It was a courtyard jazz brunch, but was in the dining room and not the courtyard because of the rain. But there was live jazz – or really jazzy show tunes. The buffet was well done and had: (a) some interesting new things like cold sweet potato salad, (b) crawfish pasta, (c) duck – kind of dry, (d) and more pecan pie for dessert. The wait staff were superb – and entertaining.

After lunch we split up. I bought two refrigerator magnets at the little shop where we met, and one of the two Mardi Gras masks I looked at yesterday at the art gallery. I settled on the comedy clown one. I decided the grandkids might be afraid of the Italian hawk nose one. I walked back to the hotel and spent over an hour cleaning out my computer’s browser history to make it go faster. Worked – sort of. I checked Facebook, and wrote up the direction to both Slidell and Pensacola for tomorrow, then updated my journal. Did not have time to blog. We had intended to go to Palm Court Jazz Club, but opted for drinks in the Le Richelieu bar instead.

Garden District, City Park, and Preservation Hall

Thursday and St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans. We had an elegant breakfast at Angeline’s at the Provincial Hotel on Chartres, just one block from our hotel. It was delicious. They squeeze their own juices.

Then we began a day-long adventure on the streetcars of New Orleans. First we headed to Parasol’s in the Garden District for what was billed as an 11 am St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was more like a block party. There was no parade. But to be fair we did not get there until 1 pm. One lady who was sitting out on the boulevard looking like she was waiting for a parade told us, “There is no organized parade, but if you want a disorganized, those people over there are the masters of disorganized.” She was pointing at Parasol’s. It was an 8 block walk there. Trudie and I were both over-heated and dehydrated. So, we walked 7 more blocks to Joey K’s restaurant, which I learned about from the Triple D TV show. It was cool, the ice water had lemon in it. Trudie and I both had shrimp salads (of different types) with remoulade dressing. It was delicious, but the waitress just did NOT care about us at all!

Joey K’s had a painted sign on the wall that said: “Oh no, not you again."
>/br>We walked another 6 blocks back to where we picked up the streetcar and went to City Park where Mary wanted to see the New Orleans Museum of Art. They were only open for one more hour by the time we got there. People had created floral arrangements riffing off some of the paintings in the collection. Some florists had good concept designs that fit the painting’s zeitgeist, but some just picked up the colors of the paintings. I really the guy who put two birds of paradise in a birdcage. We walked thru City Park on our way back to the streetcar back to the French Quarter.

We walked for a few blocks on Bourbon Street but did not get the full effect of the smells, mostly because there had been rain that day. We went to dinner at Café Remoulade – the poorer sister of Café Arnaud (located just around the corner and whose kitchen they share). We had Creole dinners, Sazerac, and pecan pie for dessert. The food was great and our waitress was wonderful! We watched 3 young boys (about age 10) doing tap dancing on Bourbon Street. They were really good! And we saw part of a really pathetic parade.

After dinner we walked to Preservation Hall for the classic jazz show. We had fun conversations in the line with a father, mother, and son from near Pasadena, California (and previously Germany); and with a father, daughter, and friend from Oregon who was trying to organize a revolt in the line. The show in Preservation Hall was well worth experiencing – again!

French Quarter and Fauberg Marigny

Beautiful, warm, humid, pollen-laden, cloudy day in NOLA on Wednesday. Mary & Trudie wanted beignets from Café du Monde, so we walked over there thru the French Market. I bought two mask Christmas decorations for the grandkids, we all bought pralines from Aunt Sally’s, we walked over the levee path to see the Mississippi River, and got in line for our beignets. We each ate one while they were hot and brought the rest back to our hotel to eat on our balcony with coffee. The hotel has a large balcony with ice cream tables and chairs, so we ate there and planned our 3 days here.

We set out on Rue Royal for lunch at Felix’s and to explore the French Quarter. I found some gorgeous hand-made Mardi Gras masks at an art gallery on Rue Royal. They hand craft the masks right out in the store where you can watch them while you shop. I want to buy one. Trudie stopped in an old-fashioned pharmacy where they used to top shelf all around as a kind of pharmacy museum – and they had an old tile soda fountain! The owner told us that his family owns the building and has run the pharmacy since 1941.

We had lunch at Felix’s – which was almost all the way to Canal Street. I had a fried catfish Po’ Boy and a cup of Gumbo – delicious. The food and the restaurant were OK, but not the fabulous that was advertised. We walked back on Chartres. I stopped at Hove’ Parfumerie which has moved. I bought a Verveine refill and a Rose Geranium bottle. We stopped in quite a few other shops which I can’t remember now. Chartres is a little rough near the Neutral Ground, but you can see signs of gentrification. There was a Pharmacy Museum on Chartres, but we decided not to explore it today. We stopped at an art gallery where the artist made 3-D topo maps of depths of water (including the Great Lakes, Lake Ponchatrain, and the Mississippi River at the Port of New Orleans) out of bass wood. Unique and beautiful.

We had drinks at the hotel bar and talked so long that we missed our opportunity to eat at the Praline Connection in Fauberg Marigny. But on the bright side, that gave us an opportunity to hear the Tin Men band at d.b.a. New Orleans. One of their members played a washboard with a bicycle bell and 2 large tin cans attached. It was the percussion. They played a wonderfully odd and eclectic mix of music – Cab Calloway songs popularized by Mickey Mouse and one parody of a song about Paula Dean.

We moved next door to Snug Harbor where we had purchased tickets for the 10 pm show. We got there a little after 9, after taking some selfies outdoors. Believe it or not, this put us first in line to be ushered into the show when they were prepared for us. I bellied up to the bar and ordered a drink and some stuffed mushrooms from the bartender. I never did get my drink – or a check for the mushrooms. Worst bartender ever.

The band playing that night was Delfayo Marsalis’ Uptown Jazz Orchestra. I think it was 14 or 15 players (5 on saxophones all of different sizes, 4 on trombone, 2 on drums, and 3 on trumpet.). They were great – funny, entertaining, and good musicians. They did a jazz thru the decades set. Louis Armstrong to Charlie Mingus. I do not care for the dissonance of Mingus, but liked all the rest. The alto sax player got most of the play time during the whole show. He was good. And one of the trumpet players showed up about an hour late. It is New Orleans, you know.

We walked back to our hotel along Frenchman until it turned into Decatur. That intersection looked like the City garbage dump. When we got to Decatur, Trudie and Mary wanted to eat, since we had missed dinner. I wanted to sleep since all that pollen had stuffed me up. When I came back to the hotel alone, the hotel clerk gave me some Mardi Gras green beads.<