Trip to New Orleans, Jackson, Little Rock, and Vicksburg in 2005

This photo is taken out our 44-floor window at the Sheraton in downtown New Orleans. We were on Canal Street only a few blocks from the French Quarter and the Mississippi waterfront.

While in New Orleans we took a city tour. They took us to the Longue Vue Mansion, which was the home of some rich cotton baron and his wife (heiress to the Sears company fortune). Marguerite liked the home but I did not. Once one has seen the Breakers in Newport, all other homes are just a Motel 6.

We also took a Paddlewheel ship ride down the Mississippi to the old battlefield where General Jackson defeated the British in 1815, a few months after a peace treaty was signed.

The battlefield was mostly empty, but this large monument was there to mark the spot.

One of the things Marguerite wanted to do was relive her youth. She and her first husband, Crawford, lived in Columbus, Mississippi, and they used to come down to New Orleans from time to time. One of the things they did was go to the famous Acme Oyster House and have Oysters. Marguerite had many many many Oysters while we were in New Orleans.

Another thing Marguerite and Crawford did was eat at Pascal's Manale restaurant in the Garden District. So we of course had to take a bus out to the boondocks and visit this restaurant. View the highlights at: http://www.neworleansrestaurants.com/pascalsmanale/

Here Marguerite is on a large Swamp Airboat. We went out looking for alligators and other critters.

This is a photo of the two of us on the airboat. It was very breezy on the boat and one feared loosing one's head ear protectors. It was also very cold at 30 miles per hour. Most of the time we were very warm in New Orleans.

Another smaller boat was out that day looking for Gators. These young people were getting out of the boat and running down the gators. I did not see them catch any. Our boat operators tried the same in the swamp. This photo is of the marshland. We toured both the swamp and the marshland.

Marguerite's most fun was going to a New Orleans Cajun Cooking School. Here she learned how to cook with lard. Not too many thin people in New Orleans.

Here we are in Jackson, Mississippi. George likes capitol buildings and old museums so Marguerite is getting more history than she normally does.

After the capitol of Mississippi we went to the capitol of Arkansas and saw the Clinton Library. Very interesting, especially the full size oval office.

This is a photo of Marguerite near the Oval Office exhibit. It was a nice library. Not too crowded except for the restaurant. George has now been to the Truman, FDR, Reagan, Nixon, JFK, and now Clinton Libraries. Also been to Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, and Teddy Roosevelt homes. George likes his history.

This is a photo of Marguerite at the Cairo Gunboat exhibit at the Vicksburg Battlefield in Vicksburg, Mississippi. We toured the battlefield and this gunboat was part of the exhibit. It was raised from the bottom of the Mississippi. An electrical mine blew it up during the battle. It was getting a little humid, even for March, and we were glad to be coming home after our last tourist stop.