It has been nearly 35 years since I walked the streets of New Orleans!  I did have a Hurricane ‘beverage’ just for old time sake…LOL  It seemed stronger this time!  We happened upon spring break and that made our experience a bit more ‘lively’ than it might have been!  Beads were being tossed from the balconies all through the town like it was Mardi Gras again and adult beverages were being consumed quite early in the day. Carriages were lined up on Bourbon Stlike taxis are in New York City Great buildings Bride and groom walking alongBourbon St ThisRead More

   Abita Springs is a neat little town in Louisiana!  The streets are lined with antiquated live oaks and the houses are mostly 1900 style cottages.  One fascinating thing about this town is the history of its healing waters…clip borrowed from the internet) Healing Waters Of Abita Springs It is said that this town holds a rich source of powerful, healing waters in its rushing waters. This water, which was used for medicinal purposes by the Choctaw Indians for centuries, is said to give new life to all who use it. Some of the stories of the waters invigorating effects haveRead More

Check out the ‘bay doors’ Awesome cafe in Biloxi…designed around an old gas station…great food!   M-iss-iss-ipp-i…I used to love spelling that out loud as a kid…LOL      Carl and I had the opportunity to walk through a few of the Gulf towns that were part of the Hurricane Katrina devastation back in August of 2005.  Even though New Orleans was the ‘hardest hit’, life here in southern Mississippi was disrupted substantially requiring its residents to have to rebuild their homes, businesses and their lives overall.  One man, who experienced the camaraderie that happens when disaster strikes chose toRead More

   ***Apologies to Vinny and Johnny for this post being 2 and a half months late!  For the first time in almost 2 years, I lost my BRIGHT SPOT notebook!!!  I didn’t want to just make up the story, so I didn’t post anything!  I FOUND IT!!!  LOL     I was craving a really super colossal fabulous pizza before we got on the road from Myakka State Park, so I went ‘Google crazy’ reading reviews of all the spots in Sarasota that had pizza.  Over and over again, this place kept showing up with top notch comments, but itRead More

  The front (bow)  The rear (stern)  I was shocked at the sheer size of this ship…the USS Alabama.  My reaction to it was similar to the first time  I stood next to a cruise ship.  It’s incomprehensible unless you experience it in person. This battleship was commissioned November 1, 1941.  It’s a little over 680 feet long and is registered at 35,000 tons!!!  Under battle conditions…45,000 tons (90 million pounds).  During WWII, she earned 9 Battle Stars and shot down 22 enemy planes.      The tour was extensive.  There were rooms for every possible physical need from eatingRead More

   MARDI GRAS!!!  So much fun!  Beads galore!  Moon pies!  Toys!  Streamers!  Stuffed animals!  Carl even caught a teddy bear for me that looks so much like my ‘Frazzle Fur” bear that I’ve had forever!  Some people had small rakes that they were using to pull items to them from the other side of the railing!  Others had butterfly nets trying to catch things in the air!  The floats were great and of course the school bands and dancers were wonderful as well!  The pics include a pre-Mardi Gras parade the weekend before and a few shots of the town.Read More

         I had no idea how far back Carnival and Mardi Gras went!  The celebration in Mobile, AL is the oldest in the country.  It started here in 1703, 15 years before New Orleans was founded.  Originally, Carnival (carnevale, in Italian…meaning “put away the meat”) began as a celebration of life that involved costumes and masks and much feasting for Catholics who were preparing for Lent when no meat could be consumed.  The concept spread to other Catholic European countries until finally the French brought it to America.  The rest, as they say, is history.    InRead More

   The Mobile Carnival Museum – WOW!   We weren’t sure exactly what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised as we walked through the halls and up and down the stairs of the Carnival Museum  gazing awestruck at the ridiculously gorgeous costumes worn by past kings and queens of Mardi Gras!!!  The workmanship, detail of design and overall ingenuity of the long, long, long capes was nothing short of extremely impressive!!!  There were so many.  I got pics of quite a few, but just a sampling of the total.  Go…whomever had the creativity, skill and patience to whip upRead More

   127 Rose St. in Georgiana, Alabama…where a young boy and his $3.50 guitar began his journey to becoming a country music legend.  I was never a huge Hank Williams fan, but respected his work and the impact he had on the music world.  It is pretty impressive how much he accomplished in his short life of 29 years.  The guide at the museum shared that his positive connection to music and the joy he got from playing his guitar early on was oftentimes his way of escaping from the hard times his family experienced.    One of the guitarsRead More

     This grotto consists of a landscaped hillside studded with 125 small stone and cement structures…some religious and some non religious.  These amazing miniatures were created by Brother Joseph, a monk at the Abbey.  He has been called a ‘creative genius.’  His work began in 1912 and his final miniature of Lourdes Basilica Church was constructed in 1958 when Brother Joseph was 80 years old.  The majority of the miniatures are made of stone and concrete.  All the materials used for embellishment were donated…things like broken plates, costume jewelry, ceramic tile, beads, marbles, seashells, etc.  The pictures I tookRead More