New Orleans

Fri, Jan 17

Well, New Orleans is just like any other big city (which I expected of course).  Too many people, too many cars, too many confusing (and poorly maintained) roads and too big.  It's tough on a country boy!.

We are at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans which is on the South side of the city. Surprisingly, the RV park (which is quite large) is not full.  For some reason I had expected it to be.

On the way here today on I-10, Clara spotted a Bass Pro Shop in time for us to get off an exit and visit for a while.  She has been looking for a specific vest like mine for three years, and she was able to find it in this incredibly large sporting goods store.

Sat, Jan 18

New Orleans is rather difficult to describe.  Both of us had high hopes.

We drove to the main downtown area of New Orleans this morning.  We decided that, with all that the tourist maps showed was available to see, that we would first get on a tour bus to help get us oriented.  After an hour and half on the tour bus, we both came to the conclusion that there really isn't much that we wanted to see.

After getting off, we walked down Canal Street, hoping to find a nice restaurant.  We eventually found something to eat.  That's about all I can say for that.

It was rather cold, we weren't too excited about just walking around, so we got back to the car and drove back to the motor home.

Neither of us has much to say about New Orleans.  I guess the best indicator of what we thought of the place is the number of pictures we took - about 5 - none of which are very good.

Tonight, Tony and Jill Pimentel, our friends from Wichita and Maine, came over to the motor home and we enjoyed an evening of catching up.

Sun, Jan 19

It is rather difficult to describe our experience today.  We were immersed for about 7 hours in the history of World War II.

We went to the National World War II Museum.  It was intense.  We started with a great multi-media program, "Beyond All Boundaries".  This set the stage for the rest of the day.  From there we went to another multi-media program "Final Mission" which was staged as we stood inside the control room of a WWII submarine as they went through the last mission of the sub after it had sunk several Japanese ships.

The most famous model of aircraft in WWII, the B-17

We paused briefly for some lunch in the restaurant.  Here Clara got carried away by the salt and pepper shakers.  She shared this with the waitress, wanting to know where she could buy a set. They aren't for sale.  A few minutes later the waitress comes back with a set of old ones and gives them to her.  This makes her day.

After lunch, we start walking through the exhibits and then another video on the preparations and aftermath of the landing on D-Day in France.

Throughout all of these presentations and viewing the exhibits, we became saturated with the ugliness and heartbreak of war.  There is nothing held back.  This museum does a masterful job of telling the terrible story of a world at war, from the big picture of how it was started through the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.  While it does a thorough job with the overall war, there are many meaningful reminders and stories of the common soldier, airmen, and sailors, many who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Overall, it was an experience we needed to have, but I don't think either of us are anxious to repeat it.

After leaving the museum, we had a little time, so we took or chances and drove down Bourbon St. There was block after block of bars and restaurants, populated by tourists and what I guess are some mighty weird locals.

After this, we needed a little something to pick us up.  We met with Tony and Jill at a steak restaurant to celebrate Jill's birthday and forget the rest of the day.

The waiter and waitresses sing Happy Birthday to Jill.