Chapter Seventeen May 16, 2001 Wednesday New Orleans to Pensacola, Florida This was a strange day for us, with lots of just plain driving around. We started out early with a quick breakfast and drove up to the New Orleans airport (so Dave could see it). We drove to the Rivertown area of Kenner and its levee-front park (picture below), then back past the ball diamond again and then on into New Orleans. We headed downtown, past the Louisiana Superdome and around the business district. Dave made us stop to get more pictures for his "college collection" at Loyola, Tulane, and Xavier of New Orleans. We also drove by the park and zoo areas and viewed several blocks of stately homes (our Hertz neverlost paid for itself a dozen times over). We finally drove around downtown, scouting hotels for our proverbial "next visit to New Orleans". Finally, we headed to the famous French Quarter. We parked the car and headed on foot into New Orleans's famous French Quarter. We first stopped at Jackson Square for this picture. After Jackson Square, we just took a couple of hours and walked the several blocks, back and forth, and window shopped and took pictures of the famous street architecture. Unfortunately, the sun was so bright that our pictures were too harsh in color, poorly communicating the delightful street scenes around every corner. There were lots of street performers, even in the hot noontime, including a magician (making dollar bills appear in his hat), a few street musicians and a couple of the now ubiquitous  "statue" mimes. We stopped at a museum showing New Orleans history, with very nice dioramas, historical maps, and wall sized copies of historic pictures and post cards. They made a nice attempt to show how the city of New Orleans developed over the decades. We stopped at a couple of souvenir shops, and to have a small snack. Of course, if you were to return during the evening (or certainly during Mardi-Gras) you would encounter a totally different cityscape. But our two hour walk around was very enjoyable and gave us a good feeling for the city. We're anxious to go back when we have more time. After the French Quarter, Dave wanted to get "one more county", so we drove off to the south into the bayous. We had to cross a small creek on a small ferry, and stopped at a small convenience store for some sodas and snacks. After he punched his map, we headed off north and east toward Biloxi and Pensacola. We skirted south of New Orleans, and drove the freeway to Biloxi. We arrived just as sunset and drove along the several mile long beachfront area. We had been to Biloxi in March of 1995, during our relocation trip from Utah to Florida so, of course, Dave made us find the motel we stayed at and the restaurant where we ate dinner. We stopped at a tourist shop (with a six foot tall conch shell in it entryway), and bought T-Shirts and key rings. But we had miles to go before we slept, and the sky had already changed itself from blue to orange to lavender to black. It was time to get going. We grabbed snacks and drove on into the darkness, passing through Mobile and beginning our two day-long backtrack. While Dave drove and Jesse complained, Lyn finalized our reservation at the Courtyard in Pensacola. We stayed at the Courtyard (on points!) and Lyn made several calls about our reservation because the hotel was originally sold out and we would also be arriving so late. Lyn now knows to jot down the person's name during these calls, and commented to me how nice "Kellie" had been to her. Upon our late arrival, "Allison" at the desk lit up and recognized us by name. They had taken extra care of the room for us (without our asking), and took time to talk for over fifteen minutes about their city, their hotel, and themselves. They were delightful and cheered us up after a long grueling night drive. Lyn thought to snap their picture. After a late snack, we hit the sack at almost 1am. Original Web Upload May 2001 Last Update: September 30, 2001