New Orleans, LA

December turned out to be a busy month for me:  a trip to Kentucky (see last post), then to Philadelphia for my nephew's bar mitzvah, Chanuka, and then a vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana between Xmas and New Years.  Phew! That's a lot of airline mileage....

I've always wanted to visit New Orleans and this trip was a lot of fun.  When you think of the Big Easy, you think of partying (Marti Gras), drinking, and eating.  But there's actually a lot of other great things to do there if you like history and architecture and the beautiful outdoors.  I stayed in a timeshare on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain (which is directly north of N.O.) in a town called Abita Springs, which used to be a summer resort destination for city folk.  It was very pretty and much quieter than staying in town.  It was also a great jumping off point for visiting other places outside of the city.

I apologize ahead of time for the large number of photos posted.  I really tried to narrow down the amount to a manageable size (you should have seen the first cut!), but I think you'll enjoy the ones I've selected.  Grab a cup of coffee and start scrolling :)

Waffles on Maple

St Charles streetcar (oldest continuous running streetcar line in the country).

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (24 miles long!)

At the Mystery House at the UCM Museum, Abita Springs.

The owner of the Mystery House.

GARDEN DISTRICT

Parade down Louisiana Street.

Tour guide at the Lafayette #1 Cemetery

PLANTATION COUNTRY

Houmas House

Custom "Blue Dog" painting by local Cajun artist George Rodrigue.

Destrehan Plantation

FRENCH QUARTER

The famous Cafe du Monde

Mmmmm beignets!

Jackson Square.

Lafitte's blacksmith shop (it's a bar).

French Market.

CSA half dollar - the only mint to strike coins with a distinctly Confederate design was in
New Orleans, after it was taken over in 1861.

More Blue Dogs and streetcars.

Lake and cypress trees at dawn.

BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI

Top of the Biloxi lighthouse.

Biloxi Visitor's Center.

Carved cypress sculptures by Marlin Miller.

Gulf Islands National Seashore - Davis Bayou area.

Hmmmm....

If you know your history, he was president of the Confederacy, not the USA.
Only in the South...

...and yes, that's a Confederate flag flying.

Jeff himself.

Behind Beauvoir is a cemetery for Confederate soldiers.

Driving along the Gulf Coast.

NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM, NEW ORLEANS

This is for Dad (a"h).

Vacation in Kentucky (with a little Nashville, TN thrown in)

Yes, yes, people at work think I'm on vacation all the time too, but it's really been a few months since Colorado :)  A few weeks ago I went to Kentucky to see Mammoth Cave National Park, the world's longest cave system.  It has over 400 miles (!) of explored tunnels and caverns - there's still more that are still to be seen.  I flew into Nashville on an overnight red-eye and spent the day sightseeing there before driving north to my condo near Cave City, KY.  I then spent 4 days checking out some of Kentucky's sights:  one day in the national park (taking 2 two-hour tours - since it was off-season we had only 20 people/tour, which meant the tour guide was able to stop much more often and give us lots of info), one day in Bowling Green (home of the only GM plant that manufactures Corvettes - great tour!), a day in Louisville (think Louisville Slugger bats, museums, bourbon), a day around Bardstown, center of Bourbon country (where I, yes I, went on a tour of Heaven Hill distillery and participated in a bourbon tasting!).  There were stops at state parks (My Old Kentucky Home), national monuments (Abraham Lincoln's birthplace), and other museums (including both Tennessee and Kentucky state museums).

All in all, a very fun and insightful week in the not-so-deep south.  Here are a few dozen photos of some of the interesting and beautiful things I say.  Hope you enjoy them :)

NASHVILLE, TN

At President Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage

Tennessee state flag

Ryman Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ol' Opry

Hatch Letterpress Printers

View from the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge

Music venues and bars on Broadway

BOWLING GREEN, KY

National Corvette Museum

Near Fountain Square

LOUISVILLE, KY

The Seelbach Hotel (now a Hilton)

Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum

Bucolic view on the Ohio River

BARDSTOWN, KY

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park (there's a log cabin inside that!)

My Old Kentucky Home SP (where Stephen Foster wrote that song)

Inside the Whiskey Museum

MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK

Where the Green River now exits the caves

Cave crickets!