Atlanta, Georgia

 Civil and Human Rights Museum - Really fascinating to see. Not only about Civil Rights and Martin Luther King Jr., but also about the Human Rights violations that are happening around the world and what we can do to help.

Coco - Cola World - This was a pretty interesting place. They make it seem like Coca-Cola is what can bring the world together peacefully. There advertising is moving, involving family and community. But, a bit incredulous. 

 I am not much of a news watcher, but after visiting the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, I do think that if I had to chose a news station, I would pick CNN or one of their affiliates. 

Huntsville, Alabama

My favorite part of visiting the NASA or the Marshall Space Flight Center was getting a flight uniform for a Halloween costume. It can be very stressful finding a good costume, so I was very excited when the flight uniform fit me. I even have a winged name badge. Can't wait to try it out next year.

Birmingham, Alabama

The Birmingham Civil Rights Museum was very interesting. They did not allow photos, but they had a moving display on the children killed in a church bombing that happened in Birmingham. I learned a lot from this museum. 

Pensacola, Florida

There were two main reasons we went to Pensacola, Florida. The first was to see the Blue Angles Air Show, and the second was to see the white soft sand of the beaches here. The air show was great. We went Friday night and Sunday day. The Friday night show was great because all the planes were lit up and had fire and firework spectaculars. But on Sunday, we actually got to see the Blue Angels fly.

This Helicopter was one of my favorites. It's name is Otto. Here he is flying backwards.

This is the largest group of planes that fly together. These planes were also made from kits by individual people.

 

Blue Angels. In some instances the planes are only 18 inches apart. Yikes.

 

Fat Albert - the carrier plane for the Blue Angles.

 

Then, we also enjoyed the white soft sandy beaches of Pensacola. I don't think I have walked on sand as soft and fine as the sand here. Also, with sand bars near the shore, you can walk out really far and the water would only be at your waist. On one of my morning walks, I saw this bird in the water, sneaking up to catch a fish. He did it. It reminded me of a stalking cat.

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile, Alabama

The highlight of Mobile, Alabama was going to Memorial Park to see the USS Battleship Alabama. This battleship was used during WWII, and shot down 22 enemy planes. We got to tour all around inside and it was fascinating to see living quarters, engine rooms, and even weapon rooms. There was also a submarine there, but we ran out of time.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Halloween is in a few days, and we are headed for New Orleans. That should be a fun city to celebrate Halloween. One of the first things I did was rent a bicycle for the week so in my free time I had a way to get around the city. My first stop was the Insectarium, where I saw many incredibly gross bugs and also learned about how mosquitos and Yellow fever wiped out huge portions of New Orleans.

 



I also got to eat a bug. Can you believe it, I ate a bug. It had some kind of taco seasoning on it. Let's just say I took a huge drink of water afterwards and ate some candy to get the taste out of my mouth. But I DID IT!!!!

 

 

A few other things I did on my own was take a trolley car out to the Garden District to see some mansions. A few had some great Halloween decorations.

 

 

Also walked around the city to see some famous sights, such as Jackson Square, Cafe du Monde, and Preservation Hall. Waiting to have some beignets, there was a huge line, but it went quickly and was totally worth it. YUMMY!!!

 

 

 

 



As a group we got to go visit a Civil War museum and an incredible WWII museum. We also went on an airboat for a swamp tour. Unfortunately, the bigger alligators were making their nests for winter so we only saw smaller creatures.

This is the guy I got to hold, but its mouth was still held shut with rubber bands.

 Swamp tour was fun and LOUD!!! I actually held a small alligator. The tour guide had a BIG spider in his pocket that he offered for me to hold, I gently replied NO THANK YOU as I ran away down the stairs.

 

From the WWII museum, this was President Roosevelt's Speech after Pearl Harbor was bombed.

 

 



HALLOWEEN!!!!

 

The night before Halloween, there was a parade which was, to say the least, interesting. There are some "Interesting" people in New Orleans. Then on Halloween, we went to SHOCK HOUSE, which is this haunted house place that has been open for 21years and this was its last year open. I was really worried about walking through the haunted house, I DO NOT like to get scared. But, I survived. I was dressed as a pirate with a plastic sword. I gripped the sword in front of me the whole time, thinking it would somehow protect me. 

Boo Krewe Parade

 

House of Shock for Halloween night! EEEKS!

Here is my sword to protect me. The haunted house is behind me. It was the longest haunted house I have ever heard of. We were walking inside its maze or corridors for at least 20 minutes.  

 

Plantation Tours

 

We went on a plantation tour that took us to two plantations. One was Oak Alley Plantation, which looked like your typical antebellum plantation. The other was Laura Plantation, which is a Creole Plantation. I really enjoyed seeing both. The Oak Alley plantation's highlight was the row of Oak trees leading to the plantation. A picture perfect view of what you think a plantation in the south should look like.

 

 

Then we went to see Laura Plantation, which is a Creole Plantation. Creole Plantations are not your typical southern plantations. They are colorful and not as big.

 

Sugar cane was the main crop of both plantations, not cotton like many other Southern Plantations.

One resident was my favorite there. Ahhhh! Cat in a box, nothing cuter.

 

 

The last thing I did while in Louisiana was to finally go see a New Orleans cemetery. This is my third time to New Orleans and I had never been to the cemeteries, so I was determined to go this time. Cemeteries here are interesting because you can't bury people below the ground due to the water level in the ground and the fact that parts of New Orleans is below sea level. There are a couple of really popular tombs that people go see. The first is Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau's grave. Many people leave "tokens" hoping to have their wish granted. I left a dollar coin since I had just bought a Louisiana Lottery ticket, only 321 million in the pot.

 

 

The other tomb visited quite often is not even "occupied" yet. It belongs to Nicholas Cage who would like to be buried here when he dies. The city of New Orleans, especially the historical society, isn't happy with his tomb because it doesn't fit with the historical décor of the cemeteries.

 

Those are lipstick kisses all over Nicholas Cage's tomb. Lovely, eh.

 





 



Little Rock, Arkansas

We had a layover day in Little Rock, Arkansas on our way to New Orleans. I'm glad we made the stop. I got to go see the Clinton Presidential Center. They have a replica of the Oval Office, his limousine, and an interesting display of the acts done as the President.



But, the best part of our visit was after we left the Museum we passed by a really step hill that cardboard all along the bottom. We figured out that the cardboard was used to slide down the hill. So, we took turns sliding down the hill.

 

There is also a lot of history here about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, which I think is such an interesting part of history.