Houmus House and Gardens

The house is set in acres of gardens with fountains, waterfalls, statuary and ponds with swans. The live oaks are ancient and artistically draped with Spanish moss. 

Houmas House is a historic plantation complex in Burnside, Louisiana located on the banks of the Mississippi, named after the native Houma people, who "sold" the property to the first owners. It was established in the late 1700s originally as a trading post and later as a sugar cane plantation. The main house was completed in 1840 in the Greek Revival style. There are 8 building on the property now including the Great River Road Museum, a Hotel, and 3 restaurants. A number of movies and TV shows have been filmed here, most famously "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte". 

Conversation areas are scattered throughout 
the garden, each unique

There was one pair of black swans among the 
white, the female was on her nest.

Scott and I in front of one of the fountains.

It is another member of our Harvest Host program and we had an amazing time there. Our site was at the end of the parking lot and had a view of the river Levee and one of their pretty cottages. The house originally had a long alley lined with live oaks down to the dock on the river, which was the only form of transportation at one time. When the levee system was completed along the Mississippi the plantations lost their access to the river and Houmas lost half of their grand live oak lined avenue and now had a road in between it and the river. 

The lady's parlor (there was a gentlemen's one
next to it)

One of the many beautiful bedrooms

We toured both the house and the gardens, which are very extensive and beautiful. We had originally planned to have dinner at their formal Carriage House restaurant but changed our mind when we heard there was a buffet and dance band in the Dixie Room. What fun and a great meal. There is a local dance instructor who teaches jitterbug/swing and the dance floor was packed with quite accomplished dancers. 

Looking up the entrance way to the river now from the upstairs balcony.

The kitchen seemed very original. The newer
owners installed a new one in a different place.

Some of the paintings were original but most
were copies. Most of the furniture, objects,
mirrors etc. were original. That's me taking the 
photo in the mirror and the beautiful spiral
staircase beside me.

The buildings on either side here were original
and constructed back in the 1700s.

Baby in her site next to the road and levee.

The view from the top of the levee with boats 
going by, 

The next morning we had the breakfast buffet in the same Dixie Room, again excellent. As we were in no rush we walked over to the river and again, through the gardens. It was only a short hour and a half more to our next Harvest Host location - the Wildcat Brothers Distillery. More on my next post!

One section of the garden was orientally inspired.

WWII Immersive

This long ramp leads up to the Battleship USS Alabama. She was the fourth and final member of the Dakoka class fast battleships. After a brief time in the Atlantic supporting convoys to the Soviet Union, she moved to the Pacific in 1943 serving mainly as an escort for aircraft carriers. She took part in Gilbert, Marshal Islands and Philippines campaigns and later transported troops back to the US. 

 Over 3 days we have been immersed in the WWII both in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, LA. Our first day was spent at the SS Alabama Memorial Park in Mobile and then we spent two days at the National WWII Memorial Museum in New Orleans. They complimented each other. At the first we toured the actual ships, the USS Warship Alabama and the USS Submarine Drum. At the second we spent almost 7 hours listening to the men and women who served in the war, read their stories, and saw them on film. We followed the progress of the war in print and film, all from the perspective of America. It was truly an immersive experience!  

Looking back from the bow of the USS Alabama

Looking towards the bow on the USS Drum deck

The galley on the Drum felt so real, although
the dummy didn't!

The corridors were narrow and the bulkhead
doors were hard for Scott and I to manage. In
real life the men ran down these and jumped
through them!

The SS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park was established in 1963 after the USS Alabama was ordered scrapped. After citizens of Alabama, including school children, raised the money, the Alabama was towed from Seattle all the way to Mobile. It was joined by the USS Drum in 1969 and was moored behind her until 2001 when it was moved to land. A collection of notable aircraft and vehicles are on display in an aircraft hanger and on the grounds. Several films and artifacts illustrate parts of the war effort. We were particularly impressed with the film and photos of the Tuskegee Airmen and their contributions, narrated by Morgan Freeman. Another interesting highlight was the stories of the Red Ball Express Supply line, manned mainly by African American soldiers which operated at it's peak 5,958 vehicles after the D-day invasion. 

The Alabama is huge and although very interesting, felt, inside at least, more like a museum than a working ship. It was really a small city of  2,500 officers and enlisted men! Touring the Drum however, we felt we were in the actual thing and it was eerie and all too real. I for one could never serve on such a ship. I felt claustrophobic even in this safest of all situations. All the many movies we've seen of submarine action came back to us and suddenly, we were there!

Major James Ellison reviews the first class of cadets at the US Army Air Corps basic and advanced flight school in Tuskegee, AL.

We stayed for two nights at the Historic Blakely State Park, near Mobile. It is a huge place but the RV section, although very well spaced and all pull through, was poorly maintained and didn't have a bathhouse. It took us a long time to find a spot to park on our site that the RV was capable of being leveled with our boards. One additional place in the area we visited was the very pretty town of Fairhope, where we enjoyed a good lunch at the Dragon Fly restaurant and admired the extensive mini gardens that decorate the town.  

It was a late lunch so we treated ourselves to a
local beer

These little pocket gardens with spring flowers
lined every street and corner downtown.

On the way to New Orleans we stopped at The Shed in Ocean Springs, MS again for lunch. On my Roadtrippers national map, this is one of the little photo highlights so we made a special stop on our last trip west two years ago. It's a huge rambling place with every doodad and memorabilia you can imagine. They have live music a lot and it must be a jumping place in the evenings, but for an early lunch, it was very quiet. The BBQ is excellent. 

Scott and our huge BBQ lunch, enough 
leftover for a second meal. Ribs, brisket, hush
puppies, beans and collard greens.

We were also returning to the French Quarter RV Resort in New Orleans, for 3 nights. This is a very lovely place with a pool and hot tub. Last time we mainly walked all over the area, and again, last summer when we spent 5 days in New Orleans. But this time we concentrated on the National WWII Museum. We spent 3 hours there the first day after lunch at their Backstage Canteen and were so interested in everything that we only made it through half the museum. Happily they have a special price for a second day so we got there first thing in the morning, after a wonderful breakfast at the Ruby Slipper, and spent over 4 hours. Even then, we still missed one section. This is one of the best museums I've ever been to. It takes an enormous amount of material and presents it in an entertaining and moving way. We could have spent a third day and still not seen everything. In most museums we feel we have had enough in two hours at a time - not so here. It was hard to tear ourselves away after 4!

Here's an example of one tiny section of one of the buildings (there are 4) - the China, Burma, India Gallery. There are multiple films, artifacts with explanations, terminals where you can listen to individuals tell their experiences, brief bios of the principal players, and texts explaining the timetable and battles. 

The main hall of the American Sector Building with planes hung from the ceiling. The architecture of the museum is beautiful both within and without.

The courtyard between 2 of the buildings

The exterior of the American Sector Building

Our second night we had a terrific evening with our youngest son Sean's friends Jesse and Sarah. They are in New Orleans for one year with Jesse's job. Sarah is able to work mostly from home. They chose the Peche Seafood Grill for dinner and it was excellent. Later we had a glass of wine in our pergola next to our RV. They had just spent New Year's with Sean and Will up at our time share at Sunday River.

Jesse, Scott, Sarah and I had Peche

Baby and our pergola at the French Quarter RV
Resort - very nice site as you can see.

Today we head for Lafayette, LA for 5 nights, staying at Harvest Host locations, 2 distilleries, 2 historic homes, and one swamp tour. More on my next post. 

The Gulf Islands National Seashore

The beaches are white quartz and stretch for many miles on the barrier island Santa Rosa

The National Seashore was authorized in 1971. The Santa Rosa Island where we've been spending the last 4 days was previously protected as a National Monument starting in 1939. The park has managed to bounce back from successive hurricanes in 2004, 2005 and Sally in 2020, and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010.  It's a gorgeous place, white quartz beaches that stretch forever, with day park facilities and bike paths throughout. We feel so lucky to be here as we had no knowledge of any of this when we made a reservation for 4 nights at the Santa Rosa RV Park. We just needed to spend some more time on the trip as we didn't want to get to Dallas before 2/10 . That's when our grandchildren have vacation. 

Here's our site at Santa Rosa RV Park right after we pulled in. There had been a storm the night before and it was just clearing up - it was sunny the rest of our stay!

And the RV resort was another wonderful surprise. Our site was right on the beach and next to the pool. It was level and had a concrete patio with a picnic table. The weather was cool but sunny every day. A neighbor helped us back in and then invited us to the pot luck happening at the pool - soups and pie! It was all delicious and reminded us of the cruiser life. The next day there was a singer with a/guitar & keyboard, a good musician and sang for 2 hours, mostly all great hits. Many people danced. The staff provided chili and cookies. There was coffee and donuts the next morning - lap of luxury! This does cost however, $130 a night. But the pool was big and heated so I swam laps all 4 days. There were comfortable areas with propane heaters around the pool and in front of the community center where we met people.

Here is the community center and pool with our live music and dancing. There were many more people than shown here all around the pool. 

On a walk around the site we got talking to a very interesting couple from Charlotte, Jim & Shelley, and they invited us over to their enormous motorhome for drinks one night -lovely time, we hope to see them when they come up to Vermont. Again, it felt like boat cruiser time. But we didn't just socialize at the RV Park. Our first full day we explored the barrier island up to Pensacola Beach and back, walking down the "longest pier in the east" and on the beach. We were scoping out the bike paths which are all over the area. Our lunch was at a beautiful place on the beach "Red Fish, Blue Fish" - excellent. We had gotten a little chilled so it was so nice to step into the inside part of the restaurant where heaters made it so toasty. In nicer weather there are lots of tables, fire pits etc. out on the deck overlooking the beach.

Our table at Red Fish, Blue Fish - you can see the water and deck outside

The next day we came back and bicycled down the path in the National Seashore At this point you can see both the ocean side and the sound between the island and the peninsula. Afterwards we explored the Navarre Beach area, which like the National Seashore has extensive public facilities. Finally a late lunch at the Dewey Destin restaurant near the bridge. This was a casual local place where you ordered your meal at the counter and it was delivered. Good fried fish!

Our last day we intended to bicycle again out on the island but it was so windy we didn't. Instead we did all the chores that needed doing - laundry, shopping, refilling prescriptions, cleaning the RV. But we got in a good walk and swim too. The next morning had another swim and we waited till the last minute to leave - at 11 AM. We'll be back here again and next time, we'll stay longer! But now we're off to Alabama.

Yummy fried fish, zucchini and hush puppies.

Dewey Dustin's (in cool weather inside)

Looking back at the beach from the pier.

Several surfers were working the waves. This is
the developed part of the island

A group of fishermen gather at the end of the pier
and said the fishing was good.

Mission San Luis de Apalache

Scott and our first Guide dressed as a Spanish settler. That's the Council House in the background. New thatching is scheduled for installation soon. 

If our journey isn't too long, we look for a place to stop at lunchtime, either a recreation or historical place where we can walk and/or tour. The Mission San Luis de Apalache was a perfect choice. The big parking lot provided a private spot to have our lunch before going in to explore. The Mission San Luis de Apalachee was a Spanish Franciscan mission built in 1656 near Tallahassee, Florida. It was located in the settlement of Anhaica (also known as Anhayca Apalache or Inihayca) capital of Apalachee Province. The mission was part of Spain's effort to colonize the Florida Peninsula and to convert the Timucuan and Apalachee Indians to Christianity. The mission lasted until 1704 when it was evacuated and destroyed to prevent its use by the approaching militia of Creek Indians and South Carolinians. 

Because all the buildings were burnt the post hole locations and boundaries were still visible after centuries helping the reconstruction. The Church and Council House faced each other across the central common and were about the same size 

The Apalachee were the most stratified and populous native peoples in Florida and part of the Mississippian culture of mound builders and had well-established administrative and religious systems. They generally coexisted with the Spanish buy had begun to be seriously alienated by 1698 and when the mission was destroyed, they immigrated in various directions with the largest group moving west, eventually to New Orleans. The tribe has remained cohesive there and has returned several times to view the museum and contribute. 

The grounds were quiet lovely and we were able to get in a good walk.

 The buildings at San Luis included Spanish and Apalachee residential areas , the Franciscan Church and Spanish fort, as well as the native Council House, which was one of the largest historic Indian Structures in the southeastern United States at the time holding 2,000 - 3,000 people! Beginning in 1996 Archeologists have reconstructed the church, fort, Council House and a few residential buildings.  We met several guides around the property that spent time with us filling us in on the history. It was a great break in our trip west, which was a short day to begin with. Next stop, the Santa Rosa RV Park in Navarre, FL. 

Our second guide, the resident blacksmith.

He showed us around the fort and talked about
the soldier's life and the war that caused the 
decision to burn down the settlement. It was the
War of the Spanish Succession or Queen 
Charlotte's War,

Curries, Horse & Lavender Farms

Harpal, Jeannie and Scott outside their home.

After our visit with Jim & Renate in Sarasota we returned to Harpal & Jeannie in Winter Park for one night. They had kept our RV, Baby, for us while we tooled around Florida. Harpal made a wonderful Indian meal for us that night and gave us all the leftovers, which fed us for 2 more nights! Yum! 

Our next two nights were at Harvest Host locations. We've been a member for several years and enjoyed weeks of visits to their hosts. They have wineries, farms, historic homes, distilleries, etc. that invite RVs to spend one night free at their businesses. In return you buy some wine, drink some beer, tour the mansion or just donate at least $10. Our first night was at the Ride Baby Ranch in Live Oak, FL. They have rescue animals and we certainly got to know them - most are free range and friendly. They were even friendlier after Scott fed them apples (I warned him!). We had to retreat inside!

Our second night was a repeat from two years ago to the Southern Grace Lavender Farm in Southport, FL. The couple that run it are so nice. It didn't look as pretty this time as they had harvested all the lavender but we enjoyed their gift shop stocked with their homemade products. They keep quite a few chickens and invite you to help yourself to some fresh eggs. (no photos as the weather was not great) That night though was scary. There was a severe thunderstorm. It was a revelation on why people stay in trailers that are torn up by tornados so often. We got emergency warnings on the phone that a tornado was possible - seek shelter immediately. This was at 10 PM. Our hosts live in a double wide and we were in a group of four RVs of various sizes. There was nothing solid in sight. No where to go. Our solace was that it rarely actually happens. We listened to the violent thunder storm pass over us and it ended in blessed quiet. My heart goes out to so many people that are faced with those odds. Don't worry about us as generally we are in places where there is a good solid toilet facility that we can get into. But it was a lesson.

It was lovely afternoon at the Ride Baby Ranch
 and we sat outside for a while, until it got too crowded.

The horses had their noses right up against our's

And there was a donkey. Our host warmed us to
be careful opening the gate into the Ranch as he
and his horse buddy were "escape artists"!

We had a lovely view of their pond.

The Ringling, Sarasota, FL

Four buddy boat friends - Jim, Renate, Heather & Scott at the Ringling Museum

In my last post I explained the saga of our former buddy boat cruiser friends on Emerald Seas and their quest to make it up from Guatemala. In an amazing coincidence Jim and his brother Gerry arrived in Cortez, FL at the same time as we were in the area. We rearranged our schedule and stayed nearby for 2 nights to visit with Jim and Renate. Jim's brother managed a immediate flight home to Canada and Renate flew in to join Jim the day we arrived. 

This panorama shows the scene under the "Big Top" but this was only a small part of the amazing
scale model of the circus that Howard Tibbais started in 1956 and he's still adding to it!

Emerald Seas was all tied up at the Seafood Shack Marina in Cortez when we arrived - but where was Jim? Phone calls and texts all said "We're (I'm) here, where are you?" Finally, light dawned - we were at the boat and he was out front of the Marina. Hugs all around!!! After catching up (with a beer) with stories of the trip up from Guatemala through Mexico, we took Jim with us to the hotel to check in. We chose the Springhill Suites Sarasota Bradenton to use our Marriott Points and thank goodness we didn't pay cash - what a dump! It was too late to change plans so we just made do. The corridors had automatic scent sprayers plugged in to try and cover the mildew smell, our room was musty, and the breakfast quite awful. The rack rate was $340 - imagine, there were people who paid that!

A close up of the medical tent

And a section of the Menagerie

Dinner however was a great success - we kind of accidently chose the Maemi Peruvian Restaurant and it was a small inexpensive gem. The couple who ran it were so friendly and the food was delicious and very reasonable. I have to say it was the first time we ran a restaurant out of Cabernet Sauvignon (in 3 glasses) but I don't believe they get a lot of call for wine. We spent 2 months in Peru so we can speak for it's authenticity. 

You can get an idea of the scale here but this is 
only a tiny corner of the whole!

A section of Ca' d'Zan, the Ringling mansion
on Sarasota Bay

We returned Jim back to Emerald Seas and he settled in to wait for Renate who was arriving at midnight. By settled in I mean he ended up carousing with the big motor yacht next to him. The cruising life is a social one! Next morning we came over to greet Renate and plan our day. The Ringling Museum was our destination. The John and Mable Ringling Museum is the 14th largest in the country. It was established by John Ringling, the last of the Ringling brothers, in 1937. After a rocky start over many years due to the Depression, his bankruptcy and the reluctance of the State of Florida to take charge, the Florida State University took over and it is a huge, impressive place today. There are a number of individual museums on the property but we visited only 3 of them, and that took most of the day. 

I had to resort to a stock photo as we didn't get a good photo ourselves. This is the courtyard at the Art Museum! It really shows you the scale of this enormous place. The museum's art collection currently consists of more than 10,000 objects that include a variety of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, photographs, and decorative arts from ancient through contemporary periods and from around the world.

The first and to me, the most fun, was the The Circus Museum which has the Howard Tibbais 3/4-to-the-inch scale model of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus from 1919 to 1938. Renate and I especially were fascinated by it and took over an hour to do it even a bit of justice. I loved it! The rest of the museum was great too. Ca' d'Zan was the home of John and Mable Ringling and built in the Gothic Venetian style (the name means House of John - poor Mabel came second here and probably always). None of the five Ringling brothers had children, only their sister (who is buried with John and Mabel not her family!). That probably explains why they had the money to build all of this. The art museum is enormous - one of my favorite parts were the 2 19th C historic rooms moved there from the Astor Mansion on 5th Avenue - Wow! 

Renate took this photo of my attempt at high wire,
half way successful. I'm sorry I didn't get a better
shot of her - she made it all the way across!

Ca' d'Zan from the Bay side

We broke up the long day walking around the huge property by enjoying a late excellent lunch at their on site restaurant, The Grillroom, on the terrace overlooking the gardens. We did justice to this amazing Museum but still missed several of the individual museums for lack of time!

Dinner at the Bonefish Grill

Another section of the scale model Circus

After naps and time off we met again for dinner, our last night together. The Bonefish Grill near their boat turned out to be an excellent choice. It's a chain but very upscale and the service and food was top notch. It was hard to say good-bye - too short a time! But we'll see them again, hopefully this summer at our Second Annual Tortugeezers reunion, probably in Montana.