East Coast Trip Day 7, 8 and 9

Day 7,
We decided to stay one more day at Lake Pontchartrain RV Park so we could explore the French Quarter in New Orleans. This is where the Mardi Gras is held and also where Hurricane Katrina did a lot of its damage.

Spanish Providence ruled by the French?

Is hard to believe the French Quarter was founded in 1718. Most of the building were of French style and looked to be from the late 1700's to the late 1800's.
We decided to do our own walking tour of the French Quarter.
Since the Mardi Gras celebration was over less than 2 weeks ago, they were still cleaning up the mess left by partiers. We also noticed some Mardi Gras decorations and beads here and there.

Café Maspero at Decatur & Toulouse

We didn't see much damage left from Hurricane Katrina, considering this area was under about 10' of water less than 10 years ago.

One of the moveable retaining walls that failed to hold back Katrina 

Quite a few of the houses and buildings from the 1700's and 1800's were still standing and occupied.
After our tour of the French Quarter, we were advised to eat lunch at "Deanies Seafood"
The food and the service was great. Normally they bring bread as an appetizer before your order arrives. We received red potatoes? We weren't sure how to eat them so we looked around and saw other tables eating them with a fork. We had some and I must say they were the best tasting red potatoes I have ever had. Sue lost a bet to me as she said they baked and I said boiled. We asked the waiter and he said they were boiled with seasoning and water from boiled crawdads!

The "Slick Skillet Serenaders" Band

After lunch, we walked down Bourbon Street to see the street performers and street vendors.

The Rivers Edge Restaurant

 

 Historical Marker

 Historical Marker

 Glad I'm not a motor cop in New Orleans

 Wall-E and Ellie posing with Dug at the pet park.

  Our Camp Site at Lake Pontchartrain RV Park

Day 8,

Time to Leave New Orleans and head for the Gulf Coast.

We arrived at Buccaneer State Park (on the Gulf Coast in Waveland Mississippi) after a quick 2 hour drive.

We were pleasantly surprised about the RV sites, they are very large with full hook ups and only $25 a night. The park also had very large grassy common areas for walking and playing with the dogs.

Largest spot we have had so far on our trip

We took the dogs to the beach near the park. The beach is beautiful white fine sand with no one around. The beaches in this area are rated the best on the gulf coast as they are groomed and maintained daily.

This is the first time the dogs have seen a beach, they had a blast. Wall-E tried to drink the water and got a nasty look on his face. He didn't try to drink anymore.

They look so Regal.

Day 9,





Today we left the puppies behind and headed to Biloxi Mississippi. We were amazed to see so many empty lots on ocean front property that once had homes. These were never rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. The ones that were rebuilt were literally built 20' up off the ground on stilts. Even in the towns along the coast there was evidence of buildings and houses that were never rebuilt after Katrina.

Not a whole lot to see in Biloxi so we stopped and ate lunch at Bubba Gumps inside the Golden Nugget Casino. After lunch, I put $20 in a $1 Wheel of Fortune, got a spin, won $50 and cashed out $30 ahead, yeee haaaaw.

Even on stilts this house was destroyed

Don't fall off the porch, its a long drop

On the drive back to Waveland, we saw several large trees that were destroyed by hurricane Katrina. Instead of cutting them down, they were carved into awesome works of art.

 Very nice Carvings

Our Pen Jumping Puppy

Got back to the park and noticed Miss Ellie has escaped her kennel and was looking out the front windshield at us as we pulled up. Now we just need to figure how to keep Ellie from jumping out of pen (since we know she can unzip her kennel!)