Florida 2014

Jacksinville airport is pretty cool, it has a lot of art work.  The picure below shows a mural called The River which is behind the baggage area.                                                                                          

                 

           The River, Jackinsonville, Airsport

I  had not seen my brother Don and his famiily since the family reunion in Wisconsin four years ago.  Don lives in  Neptune Beach, four bocks from the beach.

     Don is standing on the beach at the end of his street

Every morning I got up early to collect shells and see the sunrise.  I also saw shore birds:  sanderlings and spotted sandpipers.

                            Sunrise Neptune Beach

                       Sanderlings Neptune Beach

Once I arrived in partial darkness to find a man grinning at me like a maniac.  I later realized he just wanted me to appreciate his art work.  

The artist startled me but I think he was a basketball fan who wanted his team to play aboard the ship again.  

Don has lived in Neptune Beach for over 30 years and has a comortable guest room.  He has made much of the furniture in his home.  

      Here is where Don makes lovely furniture. 

                       This is the car that Don will restore "some day"

Serious rain barrels.  Don uses the water he collects for washing clothes and watering the garden. 

Don is fortunate in that all his children live close.  I got to reconnect with my neice Dainya and she as sweet as she was as a little girl.  Her husband Kendell is a great guy.  

Don often baby-sits his grandson Alex, son to Don and his wife Yamina (sorry if I  mispelled it) . Don and Yamina gave me lots of compunter advice, some of which I remember.  

Awesome Alex practicing the piano.  He had one at home and at Grandpa's 

Alex Cisler practicing for the Jaguars.   Like first graders everywhere, he was capable of endlessly tossing the football back and forth.  

                                  Donald, Alex and Yamina Cisler 

     This is a gecko, they were everywhere.  Don says that they are not native.  

In Neptune Beach, they have black, not grey squirrels. 

One of my travel goals was to see St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., if you don't count, Acoma, the pueblo in New Mexico.  It's fort is the most impressive I have ever seen.  It is made of coquina, a combination of shells and rock.  When it was struck by a cannon ball, it only dented, the rock does not shatter. The fort changed hands by treaty but was never captured.  

This furnace is where they heated the cannon balls so it would set the ships on fire.  

I overheard the ranger talking about the firing squad wall and Don and I found it.  The ranger said that the soldiers must have been poor shots because some of the bullet holes are very high.  My pool mate worked as a travel agent and had seen other walls.  She said she had been told by guides that the reason bullet holes were high was because some of the soldiers did not want to kill.  

Firing squad wall.  Notice how high some of the bullet holes are.  

Yamina works for a hotel and she was able to get us free passes to all the sites.  We saw the colonial quarters and the old school house.  I was glad that I didn't noitce until I left the school that it was held up by gigantic chains.  

We rode the Old Town Trolley and saw many hotels and mansions built by the oil baron, Flager.

                                               Old Town Trolley 

We also visited the Jail Museum.  We saw a cage where they put naughty prisoners.  They hang the cage from a tree.  This is why prisoners are called jail birds.  

This cage was used for punishment. 

Don had to pick up medication at the naval base and took me and Alex along.  They allowed pictures.  

This is a floating barracks.  Sailors can stay here if they don't have other accomodations.  Alex was impressed by the Pepsi machine.  

On another day we went for lunch a a charming seaside resataurnt.  It included a museum where the owner exhibited his model ships.   

     Museum at seaside restaurant. 

Fishing boats at seaside restaurant.  Don lives on the outer islands.  You need to take a ferry or bridge to get to the mainland.  

    From the restaurant you could see pelicans, on the post and comorants diving.  

On Sunday Don and his friend Ed took me to a Jaguar game.  They lost miserably to the Dolphins.  The home team dominated the field but two interceptions that led to touchdowns, did them in.  Otherwise, Miami did not seem to be making much of an effort.  I had a great time!

                               Juguar Game

Don indulged me by taking me and Alex to the Guana, Tolomata, Matanzas to look for bird.  We got lost  but Alex was a real trooper.  We found a great blue heron, king fisher, black vulture , boat tail grackles and from the spotting scope in the museum, a bald eagle.  When we got home I had Alex write his name and the date next to the pictures in my bird guide.  The next couple of days Alex asked to write his name next to birds he saw on the play ground.  (I cannot support the accuracy of these sightings.)

                                                Bird Hike.

Close to Don is the Beach Museum.  There is an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Dora.   There is a Episcapalian Church that was moved four times, that is a favorite place for local weddings and a train used to transfer lumber. 

On the way to the beach the first morning, I saw a bottle tree.  Bottle trees and not found in the midwest.  When Terri my friend in Missouri  said she was going to show me one I thought I was going to see a real tree.  By far the best examples were the ones build by Terry, the Cartographer. 

Then I saw another at the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans.  I went to take a picture of the one on Don's street and Don, Alex and Dainya came along.  

Play attention Terri! 

Bottle tree is between Don and Dainya in background. The owner and artist, Michele Whitley came out and for the first time, I got an explantion.  She confirmed that the origins date back to the colonial period.  The bottles were suppose to trap evil spirts.  Michelle asked us if we wanted to see the project she was currently working on.  As soon as she explained that it was a stepping stone, Alex stepped up on it and ruined it.  Michele was gracious and insisted that she could repair it. 

       Artist Michele Whitley

Michele explained that she was a surrogate bee keeper.  She kept the hives but her neighbor maintained them. 

                          In back by the fence are Michele' bee hives.  

     Don, Alex (destroyer of stepping stones) Michele Whitley and Dainya.  

I saw Michele on the beach most mornings when I collected shells.  One day she introduced me to the mayor of Neptune Beach.  Every morning the mayor takes a picture of the sunrise.  

Harriet Pruitt, mayor of Neptune Beach preparing to photograph the sunrise with Michele Whitley at her side.  

I got my shells home without any undo trouble including the horseshoe grab.  

      Collected on Neptune Beach 10/14

The leaves on the maple tree outside my balcony had turned color.  

                 Home 10/29/14

When I unpacked I discovered that Alex had put some little gifts in my suitcase.

New Orleans 2014

When I left Berwyn, the cherry trees in front of the condo and the magnolia viewed from the balcony, were in full bloom.  

   

                                       Cherry trees in front of Berwyn condo

           View of Magnolia from balcony

I took the Metra train a block from my condo to Union Station where I was to board the Amtrak.  What a fine building!  

               Union Station Chicago

 

While waiting for the train, I met two sisters from the state of Washington.  We were all staying in the Garden District.  They suggested we might run into each other.  I thought this unlikely but I saw them again when I waiting for the ride for the swamp tour and when leaving City Park.  They were going from Washington, to Chicago, to New Orleans, to San Antonio, to Colorado, to San Franciso and then home all within 30 days for $400.

They still call the train from Chlicago to New Orleans The City of Chicago.  I booked coach.  I wasn't able to sleep in the seat but on the Observation car, I found that I could almost stretch out when I used two seats together with another placed on an angle.  

                            My bed on the train

I had expectations that I could take pictures on the train but it was moving too fast.  On the observation car there was an oriental family of four that was madlly snapping pictures.  Next to me the elderly man took about 15 minutes to arrange a still life:  two shoping bags from Chicago stores, an Amtrak  coffee cup and a bag of snacks.  I wanted to take a picture of him doing this but I thought it might be viewed as disrespectful.  Another problem with taking pictures from the train is the view is usually obstructed by a line of trees growing next to the tracks.  When we got to Tennessee, the train passed a small red bulding that had printed in black letters "The Dirty South".  Both there and back I wasn't fast enough to capture a picture.  I did get a picture of planted fields that looked like corn.  A guy from Vicksburg explained that it was corn and it was a subsidized crop because it would be used for ethanol.  He also gave me advice about what to see and eat (mufullato) in New Orleans.  He was on his way from visiting one of the many girlfriends he had met on internet dating.  

                                                 Fields of corn in the south

The sunrise woke me up on the observation deck.  Approaching New Orleans, we passed a least two hours of swamp.  When I looked down I could see animal footprints in the mud next to the tracks.  

I saw hawks, cattle egrets, ducks, heron and black buzzards.  In the south the Magnolias were spent, only one or two blossoms left.  

My hotel was next to Coliseum Square where I would go most days to smoke a cigar.  The oak trees looked as if they were designed for the sole purpose of providing shade.  

                                Oak trees in Coliseum Square near my hotel

The St. Charles street car was a few blocks from my hotel so, expect for one bus, this was how I got around.  Noisy but fun. They can be dirven from the front or back.  

In the Lower Garden District, when you pass wisteria, the smell stops you in your tracks.

     Strange blossom on tree in Lower Garden District

I passed by a gardenia bush on the parkway and picked one for my room.

                                Stolen gardenia on my bedstand

 

                                           St. Charles streetcar

Technically, I stayed in the Lower Garden District and I could have walked to the World War II Museum and Lee's Circle but the street car was right there and for $3.00 you could ride all day.  

The Lower Garden had great architecture:  shotgun homes, double galleys, victorians, creole cotages.  

                                                 Shotgun homes

     Double Galley, note white bust and 2nd floor, left side

                  Ash Cultural Center near my hotel

         Cat clinic a block from my hotel

The guide book said it was dangerous to tour cemeteries on you own but I was naughty.  LaFayette Cemetery was within walking distance.  

         LaFayette Cemetary three weeks after Mardi Gras

I like that they provided the stone vases.  St. Loius Cemetary Number 1 was two street car rides away but very interesting.  There were many sites in disrepair but I saw two family groups grooming a grave site.  

                        My favorite mortuary statue in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

My guidebook said these statues were decapitated during the making of Easy Rider but I find this hard to believe.

When I left St Louis cemetary, I noticed that Old North Church was open and I went inside and sat in back.  There was an open casket funeral taking place.  People turned around and stared at me and I left before anyone could ask me how I knew the deceased.  The next day I realized I lost an opportunity.  If I had waited across the street, I might have seen a famous New Orleans funeral procession.

           Funeral at Olld North Church

I think I walked most ot the French Quarter and ate a Mufalatta in the French Market.  A spent a lot of time listening to street bands.  Here you will find store front places to buy cups of liquor.  If Manitoba has the strictest drinking laws, New Orleans has the most liberal

                   The French Market

                                   Street band in the French Quarter

    I spent several hours listening to this group but I could not idenity the type of music.  

                        In New Orleans the carriages are pulled by mules

New Orleans has a lot of public art.  The Sculpture Gardens in City Park is free.  City Park claims to be bigger than Central Park.  

                                    Swans in City Park

 

                        Sculpture Gardens

                                           Sculpture Gardens

                                                Sculpture Gardens

                                                          Sculpture Gardens

  Sculpture Gardens, the figures crouch on each other and extend back into a arch.

                                                     Sculpture Garden

I expected the Swamp Tour to be in the bayous but the captian of the boat explained that it was canals dredged by oil companies that we were passing through. The canals would eventually silt up.  He was able to call the alligators to him in much the say way we called the cows to come home for milking in Wisconsin:  "Come on, come on etc."  Then he tossed ice cubes into the water. They responded to the vibrations.   Captian Joey said that he gave tours this last winter in 28 degree temperatures. We saw red eared turtles, bull tongue grass flowers, green herons and palm cypress with Spanish moss hanging from them. 

                                 Boat for swamp tour

                                                      Swamp Tour

For the swamp tour, I waited for a bus with a doorman in front of a hotel on St Charles.  A black Catepillar made it's way across the sidewalk.  The doorman cautioned me not to pick it up.  He was at a outside party when one fell out of the tree onto his arm.  He brushed it off but there were sores where the catepillar landed and his arm became numb.  A nurse was at the party and used scotch tape to remove the poison.  

Mardi Gras World is quite a bargain.  For twelve dollars, they pick you up from Spanish Plaza.  You get a guided tour and then can wander around taking picures and watch the craftmen work on next year's floats.  You can go out on the deck and watch Mississippi River traffic.  

                                                  Mardi Gras World

                  Mardi Gras World

                  Mardi Gras World

                                                 Mardi Gras World

I had some examples of softer southern speech.  When I asked the guard at the World War II Museum if I needed to check my bag he repllied, "You don't look like a terrorist."   When I entered St. Louis Cemetary the security guard greeting me with "How ya doing sweet cakes,"  A sign near my hotel said, "Private Property, Others will be towed."  "Others" is so much more gentile that "violators".  On my way to the zoo at 9:00 a local bar welcomed me with this sign.  

            9:00 on Sunday Morning

I recommend the Audubon Zoo. I got in free because it was Mother's Day.  They had live music.  They have a white tiger that is a mutation, not an albino.  The Swamp section is good but the best is the Maya Ruins where they exhibt their jaguar and spider monkeys.

                                     Spider Monkeys at Adudbon Zoo

Terri look at this, a bottle tree in the Swamp Exhibit at the Audubon Zoo

                                                    Audubon Zoo

I walked along the Misssissippi River and watched them load the Natchez.  

                                            Loading the Natchez

There was information about streamship travel.  It was only 50 years that steamships ruled transportation.  Then the railroads took over.  One placard mentioned a female steamboat captain.  I think If you are going to be a female steamship captain, you should be named Blanch Leathers.  If I ever have to go into a witness protection program I want to be Blance Leathers.  

The ride back was less exciting.  The train passed Yazoo, Mississippi with mountains of lumber, junk and old tires.  We had gotten a record amount of rain since I had been gone.  

                       Flooded Illinois fields viewed from train window

One week was just about the right amount of time for me to see New Orleans.