Honeymoon Day 7- February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
The next morning morning we ended up sleeping in a little, and I think that was partially due to the fact that we had just switched time zones, and we were looking mostly at the clock, and not on what our bodies were telling us. We decided to have a light breakfast of yogurt and fruit in our hotel room. I have a special story to tell about that: We didn’t have much plasticware to eat with on the trip, and though I had SOME…we didn’t have a set of plastic spoons to eat the yogurt with. Jordan went downstairs to look to see what I did have, and came back up carrying a packet of plastic ware…that had 2 spoons in it! It was amazing to us how the Lord decided to see to even our small needs.
After our breakfast, we headed downstairs to check out of the hotel. When he had checked in, Jordan had told me that there was a plaque on the wall to that particular hotel from the Secret Service team of Laura Bush, thanking them. When we checked out, I was able to get a picture of it, knowing full well that Mom would LOVE to see that! 😀 After checking out, we went to the nearby Target to get a small cooler for our anniversary cake that we picked up from Mom and Dad Tamblingson while stopping through Ocala. Very shortly after that, we headed to a gas station and filled up on gas, and got ice for the ice chest for the cake. Also while we were there, Jordan got me an Alabama Keychain to add to my collection. I was really tickled because I didn’t recall an Alabama keychain in my collection. I ALMOST got a Mosquito Trap, so that I could make my own Mosquito fur coat, but decided that I didn’t want a mosquito fur coat, so I passed that up. :p
We were very close to the state line, so it wasn’t long until we were riding along merrily in Mississippi. (An amusing note here is after we got into Alabama, Jordan kept calling it “Mississippi”, and when we got to Mississippi, he was making comments about Alabama, to the point to where even I was getting confused! :p) Fortunately, both Alabama and Mississippi are very easy states to travel through, especially if it is just the tip that you are traveling through. After having traveled through Georgia (North and South) it made the Alabama/Mississippi trip seem very short.
During our ride through Mississippi, we stopped at the Gulf of Mexico, just off I-10. It was really neat to see the Gulf from another perspective!
On the drive to the Gulf, we passed some fairly desolate places, including buildings that looked completely abandoned. Jordan was amazed at them, until I reminded him that they were probably from the hurricanes.
We drove along a residential street along the Gulf, and there were some beautiful homes, and in striking contrast, there were some very desolate homes. It was very interesting, because on the way, we passed what appeared to be an abandoned safe, with the huge, steel, rusty door hanging open. After we had stopped at the gulf and walked up to the beach and back, we drove slowly by the object again so that Jordan could see it. He confirmed that yes… it was an old safe. We both marveled over the seemingly unusual, lone object, and why it was there, and unused.
One of the locations that we stopped at in Mississippi was the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, near the Mississippi/Louisiana border. It was a very random stop, and it was neat to go and see. They do a lot of Engine testing there at the Stennis Space Center, and to see their facilities. The reason that they chose the Mississippi/Louisiana property was because it was so sparsely populated, and they needed a lot of spread out land to test their engines without a lot of people knowing. We spent about an hour and a half there. One of the neat things was, while we were there waiting for the shuttle to take us around the base, we met another couple who had just gotten married…only She was from Tucson, AZ and he was from Orlando, Florida, and they were on their way back from Arizona, moving her to Florida! We just found that very amusing, as I was from Ocala, Florida moving to Tucson Arizona with MY sweetheart who was from Tucson.
I’ve learned that Jordan is very off the beaten path when he wants to be. To travel on a whim is something that I wasn’t very familiar with. After getting into Louisiana, we saw the signs heading towards New Orleans, and saw signs for the Superdome. Jordan decided to take a side trip to go see the Superdome (or rather, to show me the Superdome), and on the way, we were going to look for a Subway, one of our favorite places to eat.
We got off of the interstate, and followed the signs. We ALMOST stopped at a little Subway that we saw along the way, but my southern ways of “If it looks unfriendly, don’t go there” kicked in, and I decided I didn’t want to eat at that particular Subway in that particular neighborhood. So we kept going, and eventually ended up passing right by the Superdome, right in front of it. It was really fascinating to see such a huge place, and what was even more bizarre is my fascination in things that I really don’t have much interest in, except for the appreciation value that I have in knowing that even if the people I know would love to be there can’t be, I can be there for them, and tell them about it.
So we decided to get back on the interstate, but ended up traveling through downtown New Orleans, because of traffic flow and following the road signs. It was really neat to see the various buildings, and traffic, and the people walking around in the city. I will have to admit, I am more of a country girl!
As we were traveling through New Orleans, all of the sudden, we hit heavy traffic, and we couldn’t understand why. It was a Saturday, and we just couldn’t figure out what was going on, until we figured that there was probably a car accident along the way. As we kept going, we realized that we were correct…sort of. As we passed by, it looked like there was a little city mini travel vehicle that had just barely hit what looked to be something like a Hyundai Sonata, or a similar car. There were police vehicles, an ambulance, and all sorts of people standing about. When I looked, there didn’t seem to be any sort of damage to either vehicle. I was puzzled, but okay. It’s New Orleans, I’m not going to question what they do.
After passing by that “Accident”, the traffic seemed to flow a bit better, but it was still heavy. As we were following the flow, we ended up going by this busy looking building…and then I realized WHY it was busy looking: It was Harrah’s, a casino. (The name sounded familiar, but I think that is because I’ve looked through travel magazines, and I’ve probably seen the name before.) I was glad to get passed that though! But just when I thought that we were done, and getting out, we hit our worst snarl…as we discovered that we were passing through The French Quarters.
I have never seen people so unconcerned about traffic before! They just walk around, expecting these huge city busses to know what they are doing, and apparently they do, as they travel in normal speed around the crowds standing on the edges of the street! There were quite a few horse and carriage rides offered there in the French Quarters, and though the lights would change to red, the tour guides would just let the horses keep walking or trotting right in the middle of traffic, right through stop lights! Often, we’d watch the tour guides just talking to the people, barely even holding the reigns and not even watching as the horse guided itself through the busy traffic.
We crept through the French Quarters, stop and go traffic, and we saw this crowd of probably 200-300 people standing on the side of the street, at a mini-amphitheatre spot in the city where it seemed that this person was doing tricks and such of the sort. Jordan and I were both worried that someone would misstep backwards onto the street and fall into one of the oncoming busses!
Just when we thought that it couldn’t get worse, suddenly there was a policeman on a motorcycle that appeared and stopped traffic (which didn’t make TOO much of a difference, the only speed slower than what we were going was stopped.) As we sat there and tried to figure out what was going on, we heard this mini band, and as we looked, out of a side street came this 5-6 piece band…and right behind them came this bride and groom, their bridal party, and the guests! We watched as they marched across the street, and up the bridge where the crowd of people had just dispersed from only minutes before. After they crossed, the police opened up the street, and within minutes we were out of the French Quarters, and finally went on our way! We were on the interstate for a few minutes, and decided that we should get something to eat before going too much further. After spending just a few minutes looking for a Subway, we decided to not push our luck, and stopped at the best Taco Bell that I’ve ever been to! Jordan and I were both thoroughly impressed with the friendliness and promptness of the staff, as well as the cleanliness of the place. If I had to go eat at a Taco Bell…anywhere in the world again, I’d love to go back to that one!
We stopped in Lafayette for the night. Once again, we were relieved to stop for the night. We had had a very full day of traveling, and seeing sights (whether it was our plan or not) and it was good just to get some rest!