Retirement Tour 2013: Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA

We were hoping to catch our "very special youngest child one family removed", Chandler Thorpe, who was going to be in Little Rock, as we were nearing there.  It turned out he was out of town with his girlfriend, so we decided to see New Orleans, as I had never been there, Jim had only been there as a child and we were once again craving some fresh seafood.  So, we headed on down through Biloxi, and followed the Gulf Coast to New Orleans.

We went to the Tuskegee Airmen Site, but guess what
greeted us?  We paid our respects anyway.

The Gulf Coast itself is looking pretty good after the 2005
devastation of Katrina.  But, we saw nary a soul at the beach.

You see miles and miles of driveways leading nowhere, as
the flooding wiped out almost everything in its path, as far as
12 miles inland.  This is right by the ocean, so there is hardly
anything left standing.  For sale signs are everywhere.

This was an absolutely wonderful find-Shaggy's on the
water, outside of Biloxi.  Dog Friendly !!!

Jim had oysters and I had a wonderful concoction of stacked
crab cakes and fried green tomatoes.  Mandatory margaritas!
Again, we were the only ones here.

Arrival in New Orleans!  We walked the lovely
new Riverwalk where there are art exhibits and
riverboats, restaurants and great people watching,
leading to the French Market, the French Quarter
and some great coffee and beignets.

This about says it for New Orleans.

Bourbon Street lived up to its reputation.  Lots of hungover
or loud, drunk people still drinking grenades or hurricanes.

10 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful road-side jazz

We had a yummy lunch of gumbo and beignets at this great
place, commemorating all the jazz greats of the area.

And, our first hurricane-not bad!  The Charte St. Bar-our
favorite-dog friendly!

My favorite painting at the Contemporary Arts Center.
We spent a morning and afternoon at various wonderful
galleries during our tour of the Art District.  Wish I had
more pictures-I'm learning.

National WWII Museum-not dog friendly, so this is all we saw.

A quick drive through the 9th Ward, devastated by Katrina.
There is alot of wonderful rebuilding going on, but there is
still so much to be done here.

For our last night we decided to go to the famous and wonderful Bon Ton Cafe, which had been recommended to us by friends.  We ordered a couple of cocktails, crab imperial and crab au gratin, our mouths watering, when we got a phone call from the dog friendly hotel.  Apparently, Boo heard we were having too good a time and eating some great New Orleans food and wanted to join us.  We
were determined to enjoy our meal (which we did!-afterall, that's why we came here!) but, reluctantly, headed back to comfort our lonely pup.  He is growing so accustomed to going everywhere with us.  I don't think that's going to change any time soon.