Images of our Last Few Days

Since leaving Natchez, Mississippi a few days ago, we feel as though we haven't given our cameras a rest! Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, we stopped at the Oak Alley Plantation for lunch and a tour. This was the place that we'd heard was a location for filming 'Gone With the Wind' - not so, apparently, but we could see why someone thought it might have been....

In about 1720 someone planted these 28 live oak trees. 100 years later, the plantation was built as the country home for Mr. Roman and his young bride. This would have been the entrance as guests arrived from steamboats coming down the Mississippi River.

I'm tall, but these rhododendrons are crazy tall!

...can you believe the size of these yucca plants?!?!?!

This is the back of the house...er, mansion.

A view from the 1st floor balcony to the Mississippi.

In New Orleans, we really were quite pleasantly surprised. The devastation of Katrina is still evident in parts of the city, but St. Charles Avenue's beautiful homes, the French Quarter, and the walkways along the Mississippi River by the steamboat were all cleaned up. The city is clearly happy for the incoming visitors as we were welcomed with open arms.

You can just see Andrew Jackson's statue in Jackson Square between the street and St. Mary's Cathedral. The streets were just watered down because there was a film crew shooting in the area. Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman are doing a film called "Red" - we saw the film crew, not the stars.

This lovely statue of the baby Jesus with Mary was brought to New Orleans by 12 Ursuline nuns. They established a cloistered convent there in the early 1700's.

Upon this balcony, Elvis Presley was filmed in the movie, "King Creole." (you can see that Dennis is extremely excited about that fact...or maybe not)

...saving the best for last: Beignets and Cafe au Lait from

Cafe du Monde!!! Oh yeah, tasted as good as they look!

We are amazed at how much ground we cover in any given day since leaving Texas. My good friend, Nancy Evans, told me recently of a sign she saw in a saloon in Post, Texas years ago that read, "the sun has ris, the sun has set, and here I is in Texas yet!" Well, yesterday we travelled only 200 miles but were in 4 states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Tomorrow we head out for Savannah, Georgia where we'll 'reside' for about a week while taking in the area. April has been a wonderful month for travelling these southern states; the temperatures have been mild and the air dry. We hope you are having a splendid springtime!

Until next time,

Lori & Dennis