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New Orleans, Louisiana

Natchez, Mississippi

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Our favorite stop with the Hop On Hop Off bus in Natchez was the Rosalie Mansion, a pre-Civil War mansion built in 1823, now a museum, a remarkable home handed down through the generations.  A granddaughter kept everything as her grandma had it, and that’s exactly what we saw in 2019.  No photographs were allowed inside the place.

But we could take pictures outdoors from the veranda.

The furniture included exquisite trundle beds so a mother could have her baby close at hand, chamber pots that were fancy wood-carved pieces, other ornate furniture created from their native cypress trees, a large set of matched china for special dinner occasions, to name only a few.  See the river next door?  Wealthy landowners lived on this side of the river.  The flat farm lands were on the other side.  Slaves and others reached the other side every day via a hand-pulled ferry.

The kitchen was usually housed in a separate building, and food was brought to the main house through a breezeway.

Before heading back to the boat, we hopped off the bus at King’s Tavern, built in the 1760s.  Allan ordered Baked Oysters.  I had Bacon Wrapped Artichokes.  Delicious.  I didn’t take pictures of the place because it was raining.  Warm, but wet.

The boat’s captain was checking out the wildflowers next to the American Queen.  Look how close this huge steamboat pulls up to shore.

In Baton Rouge, we visited the LSU Rural Life Museum, which is under the aegis of Louisiana State University.  We were speechless to see the largest collection of “stuff” that we’ve ever seen in our lives, including an early printing press (above), horse drawn carriages, farm equipment, funeral coaches, utensils, bathtubs, tools, wheelchairs, kitchen kettles, the list is long.

This is a horse drawn hearse, where people could see the body inside.

This museum also has a collection of outhouse holes.  You can’t ignore them.

The outdoor part of the museum included one-room cabins where slaves lived and slept on the floor, a commissary replete with coffee makers, corn shellers, flour and sugar bins, and a church where the “stained glass windows” were simply window panes that were hand painted like a multi-colored chess board.

Inside the church were the original primitive pews, or benches.

This is the State Capitol built by Governor Huey Long, who spent a lot of time in a hotel downtown and had an underground tunnel built to another hotel where his mistress stayed.  Huey was assassinated in the capitol in 1935 at the age of 42.

Then we toured the USS Kidd, which was floating next to where the American Queen docked.  We learned the Kidd was one of America’s most famous fighting ships, a destroyer in World War II.

It was hit by a kamikaze pilot, killing 38 and wounding 55.  It was named after Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd Sr. who was killed on board the USS Arizona during the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor.

I didn’t like being on that destroyer.  It was hard and cold and gray with very narrow steps and tight sleeping quarters and heavy duty artillery.

I took this picture from the museum, gift shop, and library that is next to the USS Kidd destroyer.

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On Board The American Queen.

We woke up in New Orleans on Saturday morning, March 16th, opened the slats in our stateroom and saw the bright shining Riverwalk neon lights staring back at us. 

It was raining and cold and below 60 degrees.  Allan donned his rain jacket and I put my umbrella in my purse and we walked to the French Quarter for old times sake.

We’ve visited New Orleans a couple times in past years.  Also for old time sake, we went to Pat O’Briens for “hurricanes.”  This local libation was created with rum at Pat O’Brien’s during World War II when whiskey was hard to come by.

Little boys on Bourbon Street played on their “drums” — five gallon plastic pails that worked pretty well for them, especially when I dropped a dollar in their direction.

We didn’t do a horse and carriage ride this time around, but they always beg a couple pictures.

They were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

On Sunday morning we caught a cab to the 9 a.m. Mass at the beautiful and historic St. Louis Cathedral, which was also familiar to us.  A girls choir was visiting from out east and they sounded like angels.

This was the first time I was able to use my laptop — as long as I plugged in at the Hilton Hotel across the street from where the American Queen docked.  Since it was still cold and windy , this wasn’t a bad option.

Back at the ship we started emptying drawers and packing up.  We had to have our suitcases packed and sitting outside our door by 11 p.m. that night.  Our river cruise had ended.

We found our suitcases outside in the morning, called a cab, and spent most of Monday at the New Orleans airport where I, again, found strong wifi so I was not bored in the least.  Allan was happy I was happy.  You know how that saying goes!

Azaleas were bright in bloom!

I used a typewriter like that when I was the secretary for the Sociology Department at Briar Cliff College.