Woke up fully rested. In fact, some of us are over 12 hours rested, which makes for a happy morning. We slept in with our only “have to” being to pick up the rental car by noon. Our hotel in the city has been fine – clean, enough room for us, free breakfast and courteous staff. But oh my word – The elevators in the mornings! . The hotel is 27 floors (floors 2-14 are a Springhill Suites with their dedicated set of elevators), so we are talking about 12 floors. I’m not sure if it’s spacial or number of guests or what but it is a good 20 minutes of waiting to get on the elevators. And some of the people, Lawd have mercy! I get that I’m not in the south where hospitality is important, but we were about ready to throat punch some of the people! 🤪 okay rant over.

We checked out, scheduled our Uber, and got ready to go back to LaGuardia to pick up our rental car. We headed out to wait with our bags and knew that our Uber would be a black Toyota Highlander. So we waited and watched on the app as our Uber coming our way. Finally we saw it, but it was in wrong lane. Off I run to tap on the window of this black Highlander. Window rolls down and there are 2 young men. “Hi, are you our Uber?”

Thank the Lord for my southern accent because despite their odd looks, they politely responded “um, no.” 🤣🤣🤣

3 cars back we see another black Toyota Highlander… but this one with an Uber sticker. So other than starting my day becoming a potential carjacker, everything’s going great 🤣

New York City traffic at 11am is crazy but we finally made it to the car rental at LaGuardia and off we went in our car for the next couple of weeks, a Ford Durango. We did almost run off the road laughing at these tree signs in East Elmhurst, NY

We traveled over the RFK bridge (and googled to find out that his middle name was Francis), and saw Yankee Stadium.

Then we went over the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. It was really cool to see the difference in each side of the bridge… one side was city and the other all green

Welcome to New Jersey! State #42

After 2 stops to get groceries and supplies… have you ever seen a Walmart with a grocery section but not a produce section? Well, we have now 🤪 We also learned that 2 years ago, New Jersey stores stopped using plastic bags… we have our unbagged groceries loaded in car and off we went!

We finished off our eclairs from Carlo’s for dessert and kept on driving

Rolling on, we made a quick pit stop in Scranton, PA for our favorite paper company, and stopped in at Copper’s Seafood House. Don’t recognize it? Its the location to a little award show called The Dundies!

Back on the road with a little Dunder Mifflin swag, we crossed back into New York and rolled on across the state.

We are scheduled to arrive at Niagara Falls after 9pm, so we started looking for dinner spots. Mike suggested chicken so I started searching. We found a chicken place with good reviews and a great name, Dicky’s Fried Chicky. With a name like that we had to give it try… but as we searched for the location in Victor, NY, we learned that Dicky’s Fried Chicky is a brand/style of chicken instead of a location. But they serve it at The Thirsty Turtle!

Dicky’s Fried Chicky was good. Let’s be honest, if you’re from the south, you probably know how to make really good fried chicken. So it takes a lot for us to say someone’s fried chicken is really good. So it was good, and the chicken wings were good too. Plus we got to watch some of the USA v Uruguay soccer match which thrilled the boys.

We finally made it to Niagara Falls around 11, checked in and ready to explore the Falls tomorrow.

Eight hours of sleep later, we were ready to tackle NYC again. By 9:30am, we were jumping back on the Subway, and headed for the 9/11 Museum.

I can remember my parents talking about Pearl Habor and how personal their memories were. Where they were when they heard about the attack… who they knew that was personally affected… how they felt. And while I could appreciate and respect it, I never understood what they went through. I suppose 9/11 is our Pearl Harbor. Mike and I spent some time telling the boys where we were when we heard about the attack… who we knew that was personally affected… how we felt. And they, like me, appreciated and respected what we said, but I do not think they knew how it truly was until today.

We didn’t make many photos inside, and I don’t think we need photos to remember today, but some were things we wanted to make sure to remember…

After we finished touring the museum, and of course getting our travel tree ornament, we decided to grab a to-go lunch at an old school New York Deli – the sandwiches were AWESOME!

By 2pm, we were headed to Battery Park to catch our ferry out to see Lady Liberty herself. We enjoyed our sandwiches sea-side 😊

Not a bad view for lunch

We landed at the Statue of Liberty and decided to climb the stairs up to the pedestal because the elevator line was crazy… it’s not that high, right? (It is 198 stairs high to be exact.)

The boys crushed it, passing and leaving us in their dust, but we did it. Slow and steady wins the race🐢

Even 198 steps closer, Lady Liberty is still a long way up

WooHoo! Finally, a plaque, and a plaque carved in a cornerstone no less!

Doesn’t get more American than this! 🇺🇸

We hopped back on the ferry to travel from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island.

Can you imagine arriving here so many years ago, alone or even with family, with everything you owned in one steamer trunk or less, traveling across an ocean and then walking into the Registry Room where they put you in one area to enter the United States or another to send you home.

While they waited to be registered as a citizen, immigrants were housed in these dormitory rooms that could be home to 60-80 people with 3 sinks and 1 commode. Makes our hotel room seem exceptionally spacious!

The Registry Room has been restored to what it looked like in the late 1800’s but still very different than when set up to receive new citizens. Ellis Island as a whole has had a lot of changes too in the last 150 years:

We headed out get back on the ferry to head back to Battery Park when the bottom fell out ⛈️ That meant everyone on the ferries’ spacious open fresh-air decks were now crammed into the inside areas. Maybe we just needed to be reminded how the immigrants felt being crammed onto Ellis Island.

Either way, we made it back to Battery Park and walked quickly through the rain to our subway stop only getting slightly soaked…

The boys wanted Asian Fusion Hibachi for dinner. Only in New York could you type in Asian Fusion Hibachi in google map, and boom! Yes, as a matter of fact, there is Asian Fusion Hibachi place with 4.8 star rating less than 10 blocks from your hotel.

And once again, the boys’ learned that being polite paid off… when we arrived at the Asian Fusion Hibachi restaurant, the hostess asked if we wanted to sit at an hibachi table. We told her as long as we could get hibachi food, we were fine with wherever. So she found us a four-top in the front, and away we went with dinner. As we were eating our entrees, the bartender came to refill our waters, and asked boys if they wanted soft drinks? They said no thank you, and about 2 minutes later she comes back. She has a free Japanese beer for Mike and I to try and 2 Japanese sodas for boys.

The Japanese soda was interesting. You had to take off the top and pop the inside of the cap to release a clear marble into the drink. I have no idea what purpose this serves, but watching these two trying to get them open was cracking me up!

Update: thanks to the internet, we now know that the marble seals off the oxygen and keeps the drink carbonated

Finally, the Japanese father sitting beside us showed the boys the trick to opening. They weren’t huge fans of the drinks themselves, but still a pretty cool experience.

We loved seeing all the lights come on as the sun begins to set. Although Michael said he was ready to be where there aren’t so many people… everywhere… all the time.

We have finally dried off from the rain deluge, and our bellies are full. So now dinner is over and it’s 6:45pm. 🤣🤣 We thought we should get something sweet for later – because I know these boys are going to be hungry again in an hour.

I asked them if anyone want to go see more of city? Their response: “Mom, we just want to take a shower, eat a dessert and sit at the hotel.” Okay, early night it is 🤣

As we are walking back to the hotel, we pass Carlo’s Bake Shop (from Cake Boss), and we decided it must be fate!

Back in the hotel, the cannolis, cheesecake and tirimisu are gone, and showers are done… Michael is in his PJs and cannot believe it is still light outside!

9:07pm Leo is OUT

9:18pm Mike is OUT

10:02pm Michael is OUT

12:34am Mom is typing a blog post 🤪

Day 2 is in the books! Totals for today: 7.6 miles and 17,000+ steps.

The boys said they cannot wait for a long car ride tomorrow 🤣 maybe this was all part of my plan!

40 states down.

8 more to go over the next 2 weeks in our quest to see 50 States Before They Graduate.

And now, 19 hours after we rubbed our bleary eyes in NC at 5am, we are calling an end to Day 1 of vacation. ☑️New York #41.

Some of us were happier than others to jump start our vacation so early.

BUT we have 14 days and 8 states, so we have to Clark Grisworld parts of this trip to maximize our time 🤪

Wheels up and on our way at 7:30 am, means we are in NYC by 9:15am. That’s a whole day to jump start our trip! We snagged an SUV (we don’t fit in cabs) and off we went zipping and zagging through New York traffic. Can you imagine learning to drive up here???

Of course as we traveled through the Lincoln Tunnel, we had to have a Buddy the Elf moment… “traveled past the sea of twirly-swirly gum drops and then I walked through into the Lincoln Tunnel”

We made it! Look out New York!

Our room wasn’t quite ready yet, (in the hotel’s defense, it was 10am 😀) so, we dropped our bags and headed out. Boys did their own research and discovered that Pelè has opened his own soccer store in Times Square, and off we went.

Purchases in hand, we headed to the Top of the Rock. They definitely maximized the space in the elevator. 😬

But WOW… these views! We checked out every side (and snapped a photo) and had so much fun finding famous sites from the top. Found the model for Stark Tour, the Times Square ball, Central Park and all my favorite people ♥️

After we came down, we went out through what at Christmas time is a skating rink, and grabbed a picture in front of the golden statue.

We explored Times Square a bit, and then we did a little more shopping… The Lego Store and the Puma store were awesome.

We stopped by the New York Public Library and took a walk through St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful inside, but we could only walk through half of the cathedral since there was a wedding going on at the same time. Could you imagine having strangers taking photos and walking up and down the right aisle during your wedding?

We headed back toward the hotel and stopped for lunch at Handcraft Burgers & Brew. The burgers were huge but no leftovers with teenage boys 🤣

We headed back to the hotel, and while the rooms still weren’t quite ready, we were able to rest our feet and watch some of the COPA soccer matches. Well, we started watching, but some of us decided to nap instead… at the table… and in the lounge chairs.😴

Luggage in the room, (and by luggage, I mean luggage and cooler full of clothes) face and hands washed (finally), we headed out to see the Mets play. We navigated the subway and decided with traffic, this is absolutely the way to get around the city!

We made it to Citi Field in Queens by the 3rd inning and did our best to cheer on the Mets. ⚾️ Let’s Go Mets! ⚾️ We sat in front of what can only be described as the most-New-York-Mets-Loving-Family on the planet. Between the accents and over-analysis of the every play, we were dying laughing by the bottom of the 8th. We also thoroughly enjoyed the 7th inning stretch and the 8th Inning Karaoke of Billy Joel’s Piano Man🎶 Shockingly the boys did not enjoy it as much as Mike and I 🤣

After the game, we headed toward Little Italy for dinner at DaNico’s, and to meet up with our friend, Prue Rudiger. Prue met my cousins about 20 years ago on a cruise. We’ve all kept in touch since then. She is so fun, and we love her accent (and her). Ten years ago when Mike and I came to NYC, we met her for drinks and wanted to catch up this time as well.

Dinner was wonderful and we headed back to the hotel on the subway. But not before seeing a rat on the subway… ☑️ officially New Yorkers now 🤣

And now, here we are back at the Hotel, showered and ready to crash!

I don’t think I have ever heard my boys say “Mom, can we please just go to bed?” But I have now 😊

According to Michael’s fitness app, we covered 7.72 miles and walked ~18,000 steps. Jimmy Maske is looking down on us from Heaven and smiling because we got our money’s worth out of today!

Travel day was (thankfully) nice and smooth this year. No cancellations, no postponements – on time and on the way! WooHoo!

The Shreveport airport is much like Greensboro – big enough for the planes and small enough to get checked in within 5-10 minutes.

We made it for the first leg to Charlotte… I always feel like we’re okay once we hit NC. We can get home from anywhere once we hit North Carolina soil 😀

While we were waiting in Charlotte, I checked my memories on Facebook… wow! The boys have done a bit of growing since e started these trips!!

One last meal on the go…

And home we go ♥️

We made it!

Here’s our stats!

Traveled through 2 states covering

1,096 miles;

2 loaves of bread;

2.25 pounds of turkey;

1 pound of ham;

1.5 pounds of various sliced cheeses;

2 heads of lettuce; and

8 avocados.

Not to mention the bags of cookies, chips, queso, salsa, cases of water, and other meals.

We stayed in 1 AirBnB, 6 different hotels and ate some of the best food we have ever had. Everywhere we went, we made nice folks and saw things we would never see in North Carolina. 10 states to go and only a few years left before the boys head to college 🥹 So thankful for all our travels and so thankful to come home!

Last full day of vacation and we packed it full. We started the day in Vicksburg exploring the National Park and Battlefield.

Vicksburg, like Gettysburg (and probably many other battles), was a turning point in the Civil War. The control of the Mississippi River was central to the Battle of Vicksburg… If Vicksburg went to the Union, the Confederate States would be cut in half and cut off from supplies. The battle began on May 18, 1863. Conditions were harsh with the heat, and food and supplies running out. On the plaques listing the soldiers’ names, you could watch the divisions shrinking as soldiers were killed and unable to be replaced. By the end of the battle, a letter signed by “Many Soldiers” was slipped under the door of the commanding officer of the Confederacy and said “If you can’t feed us, surrender.” The Confederate Army did surrendered to General Grant on July 4, 1863.

Inside the Visitor’s Center, we walked past a kids-area as we picked up our travel tree ornament. A few minutes later after Mike and I watched the movie about Vicksburg, guess where we found the boys…

While the park had an audio tour on the NPS App, we had our own tour guide, who was much better😁

Several States have monuments within Vicksburg NP. Each was different, some very ornate and some simple. The southern states were not financially able to add monuments immediately following the Civil War. Tennessee didn’t add their memorial until 1996. Kentucky actually has two monuments: one for the Kentucky Union troops and one for their confederate troops. Kentucky’s confederate Monument was the most recent add to the Park in 2010.

These trenches were everywhere where each side dug them out for shelter and strategy throughout the battle.

The USS Cairo is here as well after being discovered in the 1962 at the bottom of the Yazoo River. The ship, an Ironclad (meaning it was steamboat ship covered by Iron for protection), was the first ship to be sunk by a mine that was hand detonated.

Now if I hadn’t read it on a plaque, I never would have believed that a bottle of pepper sauce found on the ship was unopened, edible and delectable! But, it was on a plaque, so its gotta be true! (Wonder who the person one who taste tested 100 year old pepper sauce? 🤢)

Last service at Mom’s Cafe until June… 😢

Mike said it was the greatest day – with his family, reading about history in a national park and eating chocolate chip cookies ♥️

The cemetery in Vicksburg is for union troops only and accepted soldiers and spouses for burial up until the Korean War.

The red markers throughout the park represented confederate troops and the blue were union troops… sometimes they weren’t shooting from very long distances.

We loved the story of Adeline Shirley. The Shirley House, known as the white house by soldiers sat right in the middle of the Battle of Vicksburg. When the Confederacy was looking this section of the Battle, a confederate soldier was sent to burn the Shirley house to prevent union troops from using for shelter. Adeline Shirley met him at the fire and fought for the protection of her house. She argued with him for so long, Union sharpshooter was able to get close enough the kill the confederate soldier sent to burn her house. The guy should have known, you don’t mess with a southern woman… especially while standing on her porch!

We said goodbye to Mississippi and hello again to Louisiana…

Brains full of American history, it was time for some pop history. A true “only in America” story…

They’ve a few visitors, especially from the East Coast

The Duck Commander tour was awesome – you watched a movie about Phil and Si’s upbringing. The story of Phil and Kay’s relationship, Phil’s college football career at Louisiana Tech (playing 1st string QB over Terry Bradshaw), and the early years of Duck Commander.

We did not know that LONG before Duck Dynasty fame, the Robertsons were famous for hunting VHS and DVDs starting in 1988. The boys couldn’t understand while people would buy these. This was pre-YouTube. There wasn’t an app for everything then. If you wanted to watch something, you bought the VHS Tape or DVD, or you waited until it came on TV somewhere and tried to figure out how to program your VCR.

We saw Willie’s office (I think Mike is getting decorating ideas for his office); the duck call room where a video by Jas taught us how to assemble our duck calls (Guess how Michael and Leo are getting up Monday morning 🤣); the sets from the movie “The Blind”; had a cooking lesson about biscuits from Mrs. Kay; and Phil Robertson prayed our the visitors as we left (Leo found a replica of Phil’s recliner and made himself comfortable).

Lawd, I hope they don’t want a car like this 🥴

LOVED THIS TOUR – it was heartwarming, cheesy and just fun!

We said goodbye to our bearded friends and headed back to Shreveport for our flight tomorrow. Still frozen fish was unpacked back into the freezer and what remains of Mom’s Cafe supplies are unloaded for unlimited snacking tonight. Michael headed to the gym to work out, and Leo headed to the pool so I could throw a ball at him as hard and fast as possible… no, not out of meanness 🤣 for goalkeeper practice ⚽️

Then we headed out for dinner. The boys have been dying to try Raising Canes and since there isn’t one in Greensboro, it qualifies for a vacation restaurant.

The chicken was pretty good but the Cain Sauce was delicious! We played a few more hands of card to finish off our game of Garbage while we watched the Iowa/UConn game.

Tomorrow we head back to reality, but 2 states closure to 50!

Last morning in our little AirBnB in Gulfport. It was a great little house with 2 front doors? There were so many of these 2-front door houses, that we had to find out why. A little research later, and we learned that 2 door house was a sign of prosperity – you had enough rooms that guests would enter into a formal parlor and residents into the “front room.”

Our plan today was to travel back roads to Natchez and end the day in Vicksburg. So, to break up the drive, we started checking out our locations on the RoadsideAmerica app. One site caught our eye in Hattiesburg, Mississippi… the world’s tiniest museum known as The Hattisburg Pocket Museum. The story goes that the Pocket Museum started during Covid Lockdowns. The nearby Saenger Theater was closed due to Covid and the local convention commission was looking for a way to help people escape from the isolation of the lockdowns.

The group selected the nearby alley and created a few “miniature scenes” and the museum grew from there. Since its creation, the Pocket Museum has had over 300,000 visitors many of whom stick around to explore other parts of Hattiesburg. The tiny scenes are everywhere so you have really look to see them all.

Prepare for picture overload because this place was just AWESOME!

Absolutely worth the stop! Back on the road, Michael and I switched seats, and Mom’s Cafe was once again a mobile eatery.

RoadsideAmerica.com also suggested we check out The Malt Shop in Natchez, Mississippi. The Malt Shop has been in business for 70 years and the milkshakes were amazing!

I have been reading a book called “The Deepest South of All” about the town of Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is home to the most antebellum mansions in all the United States. Natchez did all it could to remain neutral throughout the Civil War, and allowed Union troops to occupy homes without a fight. In return, the Union troops did not burn Natchez as they had other cities. The town is beautiful with at least 50% of the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Every Spring the “Spring Pilgrimage” takes place where members of the Natchez Garden Club and the Pilgrimage Garden Club open up their old homes to visitors… in other words, its a glorified parade of home. Apparently in this little bit of the world, it is very important to be in the right garden club. Friendships and families have stopped speaking due to this. Clearly these women don’t have enough to do! 🤣 I couldn’t resist snapping a couple of photos of these ladies in their hats walking the Spring Pilgrimage. But in their defense, the houses were gorgeous.

Our next stop in Natchez was St. Mary’s Basilica and the surrounding garden. The cornerstone of the Basilica was laid on February 24, of 1842, and the first mass was held on December 25, 1843. I don’t know if the pictures can truly convey how gorgeous this place was. It was like stepping back in time. I cannot imagine going to check here every week.

And look, a plague!

Priest’s Prayer Garden:

Right outside the city limits of Natchez, we stopped for a small memorial called the Forks of the Road. Due to cholera outbreak prior to the Civil War, slave traders were forced out of the city limits. These traders then leased this plot of land to continue their brutal commerce. This small area became the second largest slave market in the deep South. One gentleman in Natchez was dedicated to preserving this site, and worked tirelessly to do so until, finally in 2018 this property was dedicated as the Natchez Historical Park. More buildings are planned, but for now this simple marker conveys the horror of this time.

As we drove on toward Vicksburg, Mike asked if we had time for another stop… yep, so off we went to a side adventure to find the Windsor Ruins. This is the site of the Windsor Plantation. The story goes that a successful cotton planter named Smith Coffee Daniell, II constructed this massive 23 room mansion in early 1861, and died a few weeks after construction was finished. An accident fire detroyed the house in 1890 leaving only these mammoth columns. A sketch of the house by a union solider was discovered by historians in 1991 and is thought to be the only drawing of the original house.

On the one lane road to and from Windsor Ruins, we passed this perfect little Presbyterian Church built in 1824. We wanted to make sure we got a picture as they celebrated their 200th birthday!

To round out our travel to Vicksburg, we drove for a while on the Natchez Trace… think of it like a Mississippi version of the Blue Ridge Parkway (without the mountains). It was beautiful.

Sidenote: We decided not to ship our fish home and instead, try to keep it frozen and ship it home with us… so we froze about 20 water bottles and froze the fish solid. Our last 2 hotels have full-size refrigerators in the rooms, so we can keep them frozen. But Mike and boys did a great job with the insulated packing…

Fish unpacked and back in the freezer, we had a little pool time to work off some energy.

Then it was off to Palmer’s for dinner… not sure what we will do next week without fresh seafood. Food was great, and you could keep you plastic cup with Palmers Seafood on one side and Palmers Maintenance on the other. We wanted t-shirts but they were sold out

Tomorrow is our last full day of Spring Break, so we’re checking out some history…both real and pop. Let’s see where the adventures lead…

Wednesday morning and we headed out for a little fishing with Capt Sonny on the Salinity Matters. Since a couple of us don’t do well with too much motion, we fished in the Mississippi Sound. The storms yesterday pushed our start time back a bit (which was fine with us to get another hour of sleep 😴), to avoid choppy seas. We ended up with the calmest water we’ve ever had but we kept a wind that seemed like it was coming out of an air conditioning unit 🥶. But given the choice between seasick or cold, I’m going cold everyday! .

We literally dropped our lines in the water, and the trout were on our lines! The larger fish were not as active as the smaller ones due to the colder water, but they were large enough to keep… and eat! 😉

We got tickled that the bait was as large as the fish 🤣

Leo wins for weirdest fish caught!

After 10 or so modest trout, Michael hooked a monster and the fight was one… he fought until finally this monster popped up – a 30 pound red drum!

Not to be outdone, Leo did the same thing… wrestling this 20 pound beast!

Mike caught an “eatable-sized” flounder that we kept, and good size catfish, who we threw back. (Delicious but slimy 😝) Otherwise, Mike and I just caught little trout.

And a tiny fish that was so fancy, you had to hold up your pinky finger 🤣

Perfect fishing for us… in the ocean, catching fish, and no sea sick! And even the wind cooperated and died down enough that we didn’t freeze. It was a great 4 hours on the water!

Back at the dock, the boys unloaded their monsters and posed for a few photos before Capt. Sonny took over with cleaning (well worth the money for this added service!) The trout were the perfect size for fish tacos (see later photos).

We headed to Walmart to re-stock Mom’s Cafe and prepare for tonight’s dinner special “Fresh Fish Tacos.” Then we headed down to enjoy the beach. The boys tossed a ball around, found a stingray and jellyfish, and reminded me that they are still little boys at heart by literally burying their head in the sand and diving into the pier trying to catch a ball 🙄🤣

Not the ideal beach day… It was a little chilly and that blowing stinging sand, BUT I got a few hours at the beach with my boys – yes please, Anytime!

Back at our AirBnB, it was time to repack and freeze most of the fish for the trip back to NC, and then open Mom’s Cafe Special Edition – Dinner Time! For everything the lunches have become, this dinner was AWESOME! (And yes, I do say so myself 🤪)

Bellies oh so full – time for a few hands of garbage, and then we were done for this day!

Tomorrow we are heading up to Natchez, Mississippi and then on to Vicksburg. Nothing definite planned so we will see where to road takes us…

We said goodbye to N’Orluns this morning and hit the road with the strongest coffee we have ever tasted. Seriously, we were afraid to pour it out on ground for fear that genetically modified supergrass would grow or that the spot would be dead for carbon half-life… Look, there is a skull in the coffee if you look closely 😳

We crossed decades-old bridges and watched the New Orleans riverfront fade away.

Our last stop for now in Louisiana was in Slidell, Louisiana for the Cajun Encounter in Honey Swamp.

Should we be nervous that the boat’s name is Gator Bait?

The tour was definitely less dramatic than our last gator interaction, but it was fun and pretty interesting (Leo said we couldn’t get too sciencey on Spring Break… of course, he also asked why I took him to museums and made him read on break too 🤦🏻‍♀️). The guide, Capt. Matt, was a former marine who was stationed in Jacksonville, but originally from Slidell (properly pronounced SLY-Dell)

And then the alpha predator showed up, and started swimming right to us.

These alligators were much smaller than the ones we saw back in Natchitoches, but these are wild and not fed hotdogs on a daily basis. We also learned that if we came back in about 3 months, these gators would be about 30 pounds larger. When the water is less than 70° the gators don’t eat. At less than 70°, the gators stomachs can’t metabolize food so anything they eat will sit in their stomach and rot. In light of this, the gators were not terribly interested in the food we were throwing out.

Now, the raccoons on the other hand were VERY interested in anything we were throwing to them. They were so cute and not at all scared of people, who they clearly associate with food. We were fascinated by them, especially the sibling pair who wrestled over food, and their human like fingers/digits.

Capt Matt told us the story of the Whiskey Tree: Moonshiners and bootleggers used this tree as a marker when they were running whiskey during prohibitions. Of all the places officers were patrolling, Honey Swamp was probably the safest place for a bootlegger.

We saw blue herons who are the biggest threat to baby alligators. These birds will swoop down and take the baby alligators in their beaks. And Woodpeckers who were not the least bit concerned by the boat floating right underneath him (or her?)

These fishing camps can only be gotten to by boat, but this one may have been our favorite. The sign said, “It’s not crooked, you’re drunk.” 🤣 and this one was like a catch-all of all random of yard-art.

Once we finished our tour, the boys went to explore the old drawbridge and Mom’s Cafe opened for business!

State number 40 – Mississippi!

As we drove toward Gulfport, Mississippi, our RoadsideAmerica App suggested a detour to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi to see the Angel Trees. According to the plaque (so it has to be true), in 2005, when Katrina made landfall in Mississippi, seven people remained in the Bay Town Inn. Four of those folks were rescued by the afternoon but 3 people and their Scottish Terrier made to this tree after the storm surge and clung to the tree for hours as the eye passed over. The trees were saved after their and brought to Waterfront to be memorialized. Absolutely worth the stop!

Welcome to Gulfport, Mississippi!

All Michael and Leo have wanted to do since we left home was get to the beach. Once we checked into our AirBnB, and started a load of laundry, off we went. I don’t know how they swam in the water, it was freezing on land. They swam and wrestled, and tried to throw a frisbee which was impossible with stormfront. But they didn’t seem to notice the temperature or the wind.

Showered and ready for dinner (with another load of laundry in the washer), we headed out for dinner at Half Shell Oyster Bar. We all agreed that of all our meals so far, tonight was the best. In fact, we had serious discussions, that this may be the best meal we have every had on vacation… although they have all voted that my picture taking is out of control 🤣 (I love that they think I am going to stop 🤣🤣🤣)

Tomorrow we are headed out into the expected choppy water for inland fishing, so hopefully we are grilling our own fish tomorrow night 🎣Wish us luck!

We started today oh so slowly with coffee and rest… which was nice since it sounded like they were rolling dumpster down the alley by our window at 5am 🥴 After we finally got moving, we headed out for breakfast at the Zesty Creole.

We may not do anything else on our vacations, but we always eat well. The boys had seafood omelets – I think we’ve created some crawfish loving monsters! Bellies full, we headed out to do all the touristy things of New Orleans despite the complaints of the teenagers, “could we look anymore like tourists?” Um, we are tourists.

Canal street ✔️

Street Cars rides ✔️✔️ (Double check for embarrassed teenagers)

Very cool New Orleans architecture ✔️

French Market ✔️

Jackson Square and Saint Louis Cathedral ✔️

Cafe Du Monde ✔️

Aunt Sally’s Creole Pralines ✔️

Bourbon Street ✔️

We have to be the most efficient tourists ever. We had a list of spots, and other than 2 that were closed, and 1 that we decided we didn’t care to see, we saw them all!

We came back to the room and were so so lazy. We watched an ESPN special, the Big Bang Theory, and had an unexpected visit of some folks who were also assigned to room 310… glad it wasn’t the middle of the night. Thankfully, they were really nice and went back down to the lobby to get their correct room.

Since yesterday was Mike’s Disney day, tonight was for the boys as we headed to the Smoothie King Center to watch the Pelicans v. Suns NBA game.

We decided to truly sports’ fan it up and have dinner at the arena – Chicken wings and fries with souvenir cups (we can add that our collection). We checked our wingspan and despite my suggestions, the boys would not get their photo with the Pelican Cheerleaders 🤣 Of course in New Orleans, we have some jazz before the game.

The Introduction of the team was quite the opening especially when Zion Williams came in…

If possible Zion Williams was even bigger in person, and Grayson Allen was even more of a whiny baby.

Pelicans tried to comeback after a 30 point deficient and got it within 7 but it was too little too late. We still had fun and I even caught a shirt they threw into the crowd (although technically I picked it up off the floor when a guy behind me deflected the throw 🤣 but whatever, I still got a free shirt).

We also managed to get a great photo of the Superdome, home to Leo’s New Orleans Saints. We couldn’t tour due to construction and remodeling inside in preparation for them to host the Super Bowl next year, but a great photo nonetheless

Tomorrow, we say goodbye (for now) to Louisiana and head over to Mississippi… one step closer to 50!

We headed over to New Orleans this morning, with the entire day set aside for the National World War II Museum. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how we would spend an entire day at a museum but everyone assured me that we would… and we did! This museum was outstanding… it was as well set up as any Smithsonian.

Originally, the museum opened in 2000 as the D-Day Museum, and since then it has added 5 additional buildings. This was Mike Brown’s Disneyland! ♥️

We started on a mock train – traveling like the enlistee after their enlistment, and then went through a typical home during World War II with their ration books and cookbooks, and the Blue Star flag reflecting that this family had a member currently serving.

We saw the treatment of Japanese Americans placed in internment camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Imagine officers showing up at your door and giving you one hour to leave our home with one suitcase each… and then watching other go into your home and take your things as you left.

We saw what it looked like from the Nazi’s western wall overlooking the beaches of Normandy.

Each significant battle was given its own area and accurate decor – Battle in the Pacific Ocean including Saipan and Guadalcanal in its jungle setting; and the Battle of the Bulge in its snow.

Remember the McIlhenney family who own the Tabasco company? Found the helmet and Navy Cross belonging to First Lieutenant Walter S McIlhenney.

The Boeing Center was really cool with as many planes as we saw at the Smithsonian. And getting to see the planes at different levels helped understand how huge these planes were.

Looks a little like Captain America shield 💙

Nothing says childhood like a toy atomic bomb kit 😬

So glad we spent the day here. We were all a little history-drunk by the time we left but the museum was a definite must-see in New Orleans!

We left the museum and once we were checked into the hotel, we caught the second half of the NC State/Duke basketball game. Apparently, the good luck voodoo was not with the Pack in the first half, but man, did it come on strong in the second half! And the Wolfpack is headed to their first Final Four since 1983!!! ♥️🐺♥️ It took all we had not to yell in the hotel room!

Still grinning for our W, we headed out for dinner to a nearby spot, Gallier’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar. Now, we have eaten well on our trips, but this is probably in the top ten of best meals of our lives! Charbroiled Oysters, Red Snapper, Jambalaya, Cajun Penne Pasta and Seafood Pasta – every single thing was fantastic. Then because we apparently wanted to be miserably full, we split cheese cake and caramel sauce and chocolate mousse pie. We are all miserable and it was all worth it.

As we left, we couldn’t help be complete tourists and get a photo with the police in the background… because hey, it’s N’awlins!

Tomorrow, we are sleeping in and going to all the touristy spots of the Big Easy! Wonder what kind of adventure awaits 🤣