The Big Easy

We had heard our RV friends talk about the wonderful RV park just off the French Quarter in New Orleans, so we had been wanting to go there for a while. Then we heard about the AARP convention in New Orleans (Sept. 20 – 22). We looked at the impressive programs and speakers and decided to go as part of our trip to the Country Coach International rally in Charlotte. New Orleans wasn’t exactly on the way, but we enjoyed every mile. The French Quarter RV Resort is two blocks off the French Quarter and the New Orleans skyline is is a dramatic sight.                                One day was “trolley day” and we rode most of the system. The St. Charles Street trolley in the Garden District was our favorite due to the mansions, universities, and general beauty of the area. We biked in Audubon Park and enjoyed the biking under the giant live oaks and seeing the graceful Greek Revival and Victorian mansions.                       
     
     
     
The Riverfront line runs from downtown to the open air market.
     
Bicycling was high on our agenda.  In addition to biking in Audubon Park, we caught the free Algiers ferry across the river. The ride gave us a great view of the New Orleans skyline, but the big lure of Algiers is the bike trail along the river. We had planned to bike in the French Quarter, but we found the streets to be too narrow and rough with too much traffic.  We also enjoyed bicycling along the river front on the New Orleans side of the Mississippi.      
     
               
     
           
     
We enjoyed two great restaurants in the Garden District, a Vietnamese and an interesting taqueria.  One day we went out to Metairie to enjoy the “real” New Orleans cuisine at a neighborhood seafood restaurant. George had a classic Oyster Po Boy while Irene had pecan crusted grouper.                
     
                
We enjoyed seeing the giant diesel powered pumps we had seen on TV that the Corps of Engineers built along with a new levy system to prevent New Orleans from flooding like it did during hurricane Katrina.
     
At the AARP convention which was held in the convention center we saw VP candidate Paul Ryan live while President Obama was streamed live via satellite. We heard political commentator couple James Carville and Mary Matalin live, and by the way they live in the Garden District. Also live was New Orleans chef Emerald Lagasse interviewed by Today Show host Hoda Cotb.  The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and other groups also performed, calling forth some real “movin’ “ on the dance floor.      

                          
 
The convention had great vendors and seminars and will be held in Atlanta next October. We will probably go again.

Exploring Skagway

 

Skagway  is best known for White Pass and Yukon RR.  Though built for the gold rush, the railroad was finished too late to help the prospectors.  Today the train brings thousands of tourists to Skagway each season, serving almost 400,000 passengers in 2011.

     

We rode on the last car in our train, the Nakina River, stopped here in downtown Skagway.  Like many places in Alaska, there were colorful container gardens at the station – perfect for the short growing season.

     

Irene walked around Skagway and, of course, went in the shops.  The buildings reflected the age of the town and stood out against the mountains in the background.

           

           

           

           

After exploring Skagway, Irene walked back to the Coral Princess where George had attended a very interesting talk by Libby Riddles, the first women to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

     

Heading to Vancouver - and Then to Rome

 

On our last day at sea, Sunday, July 8, 2012, we enjoyed the inside passage scenery and the ship’s amenities and took a few more photos including these two of the view from our balcony and a shot of our cabin.  And, of course, we repacked our suitcases.

                           

      

Early Monday morning, July 9, 2012, we arrived in Vancouver, passing under Lions Gate Bridge. We had great views of Vancouver and the train station after docking.

      

      

      

We said good-by to the Coral Princess and headed to the airport, leaving around noon,to fly to Seattle where we boarded a non-stop flight to Atlanta. George snapped a photo of Mt.Ranier from the plane. 

            

We gained 3 hours flying east so our arrival at 10:30 p.m. was 7:30 to us.  We drove back to Rome with heavy rain for a while and stopped at Krystal in Cartersville just after they closed at midnight.  Fortunately, the drive through window was open so we ate in the car. 

What a trip we had!  After talking about going to Alaska for years, we finally made the trip and it was fabulous.  But two weeks is only a brief sampling of Alaska – I guess we’ll have to return!

Ketchikan in the Rain

 

Ketchikan, our last stop on the Coral Princess (7/7/12), lived up to it’s reputation – it rained all day. The average annual rainfall is about 15 feet.  Despite the ”liquid sunshine” as locals call it, we enjoyed seeing this charming little town on our trolley tour.

      

The town stretches 31 miles long but never more than 10 blocks wide because of the terrain. Historic Creek Street, a boardwalk road built over Ketchikan Creek on pilings, has shops as well as Dolly’s House.  Can you guess what Dolly’s was?  (It’s still raining as you can see from the water drops on the camera lens).

     

The highlight of the trolley tour was visiting Saxman Native Village where native people were erecting a new totem pole.

     

It was quite interesting to see how the men moved the heavy totem pole from the building and anchored it in the ground.

     

     

                      

This little guy held on to the the rope too as his dad helped pull the totem pole in place.

                       

There was a brief ceremony after the new totem pole was erected.

                        

The new totem pole joined a “garden” of poles of various types:

    

      

After returning to the Coral Princess, we enjoyed afternoon tea, nice and hot after our wet and chilly excursion.  We got one last view of this charming town as we sailed through Tongass Narrows heading south to Vancouver and the end of our cruise.

     

Juneau, Alaska’s Capital

 

On Friday, July 6, 2012, we disembarked in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, to see purple iris blooming near the dock – flowers that bloom in Rome in April or May.  We took a look back at the Coral Princess before boarding our bus for a tour of the Alaska State Museum with much history of Alaska.

                         

                         

From there we went to Mendenhall Glacier about 12 miles from downtown Juneau,  Approximately 12 miles long, Mendenhall is a retreating glacier unlike Hubbard which is advancing.  We heard an informative talk given by the ranger before going to the Visitor’s Center to learn more about Mendenhall.

           

           

           

           

Our next stop on the tour was Juneau Rainforest Garden, a small but attractive garden thriving in the very wet climate of Juneau and containing wildflowers, ferns, swamp cabbage, iris, and other native plants.

   

From the garden, we returned to the Coral Princess and enjoyed the sights and ship board activities.