Day 17 - Travel to Hot Springs

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Posted from: Treasure Isle RV Park, Hot Springs, AR
Miles driven: 462
Total trip miles: 3523

Today was another long travel day. It is also the day we enter our 48th state, Arkansas. 

The route from New Orleans to Hot Springs takes you off the main highways and down some backroads. 

Leaving town, we were on a bridge for several miles. I didn’t keep track of how many, but it went on for a long time. I can only imagine how much it costs to maintain miles of bridges. Someone at the local place Matt and the kids went a couple nights ago told them there was a bridge out of town the way 25 miles long and at one point you can see land in any direction. We already had a long travel day, so we didn’t go that way as it would have added quite a bit of travel time. 

Thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. I’m not sure we could have both fit down this narrow road. 

The roads were curvy and hilly. 

And then we started to see tree damage. Most trees were pulled off the streets, but it was clear the storm was recent and several places did not have power. And the. We started to see these trucks rolling in and staging. They were coming in from everywhere.



Unfortunately we came upon this scene. The trucks were parked on both sides of the road fixing down lines and a semi came around the corner too fast and side swiped several trucks before hitting the back of another and stopping. Soon after passing this scene we saw an ambulance going their direction. We prayed everyone is okay.

This is the bridge we crossed to drive into Arkansas. 

After driving through a parking lot with a high bump at the exit, the brackets that hood the spare tire on nearly came off. Matt found a place to stop so he and Cameron could pound it back in place. 

[Inside story: I actually led Matt to a small gas station where he had to pull into a neighboring parking lot so we could make sandwiches for lunch. It was in that parking lot where we just about lost our spare. The parking lot where we stopped to fix it was at a lovely large gas station with separate pumps for truck and trailers…so oops. Again, my navigation was lacking.]

Once we got to the campground and got set up, Matt and Grace went on a quick grocery run. On their way they saw this place with cool old signs and cars, so they pulled in. After they pulled in the automatic gate 



Cameron needed to chill after a long day of travel. 

We really liked this campground. It was beautiful and right on the water. We were glad to be back to the National park part of our trips. We maybe had a little too much cities on this trip. 

No idea what this guy is doing, but if he’s happy, I’m happy. 



After brats, salad, fresh fruit and Grace’s favorite pasta salad for dinner, we went on a walk while the kids did dishes. 

We ended the day with a swim. 

Yesterday was the first day of summer. The sun set at 8:00 yesterday in New Orleans. Tonight it set at 8:30 here in Arkansas, and almost 9:00 back home in Iowa. 

Day 16 - New Orleans / Bayou Airboat

Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Posted from: French Quarter RV Resort, New Orleans, LA
Miles driven: 50
Total trip miles: 3061

Today looks like another hot one. We are headed south of town to go on an airboat ride. 

Bridges on the way out of town.

We have never been on an airboat, so we thought this would be interesting to try. Outside of the city felt cooler and there was a nice breeze. 



There were LOTs of alligators! Likely because they feed them marshmallows and hotdogs.



Here is another airboat headed our direction. 



The area was actually very beautiful. It was like scenes in The Princess and the Frog. Matt pulled up the area on Google Maps and it actually had a marker for the location of the Princess and the Frog filming. So we may be seeing this area again when the film comes out.





Interesting story: Hurricane Ida hit this place very hard two years ago. They are still trying to recover. Some areas never got power back. Schools are still closed. They just got a small grocery store in the past few weeks. A lot of the green you see in the picture below wasn’t there before he storm. It broke lose and now the area looks completely different than it did before. 

It was very loud. The ear protection was definitely needed. It was also windy, so hats on backwards boys!

These power lines broke in the hurricane and were never repaired. The lines are still hanging off the towers. It is unlikely they will ever be repaired. 



The boat was overturned during the hurricane. 



Our little dragon fly buddy.



An albino alligator at the airboat place. It was kind of sad to see him here. 



As a result of hurricane Ida, houses are being put up on stilts. It costs $200,000 to lift a house on average, so some are lifted while their neighbors are not.



When we got back to the camper, Matt and Grace walked two blocks to tour the St. Louis Cemetery 1. 

It was very hot and there was no airflow in the enclosed cemetery. Here they are standing on front of Nicholas Cage’s monument he pre built for himself. 

It’s very interesting to hear about how people are buried within these vaults. I’ll spare you the details, but if interested, you should look it up.

The most famous tomb here belongs to the Voodoo Queen. 

Once they returned from the cemetery, we all walked around the French Quarter for a while. 

Jackson Square. It was late enough that most of the artists were gone for the day. 





More music.

Lots of masks.

I ate at this restaurant the last time I was in town in 2019. It is like a hidden treasure. You walk down an alley to an open courtyard. I wish I had remembered this place before now. No one was hungry when we walked by. 

We went home and enjoyed one more swim before we leave tomorrow for Hot Springs, AK.

Day 15 - New Orleans / WWII Museum

Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Posted from: French Quarter RV Resort, New Orleans, LA
Miles driven: 2
Total trip miles: 3011

This morning we continued our self guided food tour with a stop at Cafe Du Monde. This place really only sells two things: coffee and beignets, which are little square powdered doughnuts. It was busy as usual, but we were able to get a table right away. 

Yum!


Lots of good music playing on the steets.

After Cafe du Monde we walked to the National World War II Museum. Thankfully, we were told that it takes several hours to see the museum. 

You start out with dog tags that tell the story of someone in the war. You scan your dog tags at stations throughout the museum to learn more about your person. Caleb found out that his person was in the first dog unit in the military. Perfect for him! 



This museum was so engaging and so well done. 


There was a Girl Scout uniform and a description explaining that Girl Scouts couldn’t sell cookies due to flour and sugar rations, but they did sell war bonds and start victory gardens. 

We went to the soda shop for a quick lunch. The kids were all sitting in a row waiting for their food and it cracked me up. Grace noticed as I was taking the picture. 

The Boeing Room was an impressive display of planes.





Wall of heroes.

They created scenes for various battles, locations, and points of the war. 





Umm Caleb, I don’t think that is a good idea…






The building has expanded. The 4D movie narrated by Tom Hanks called Beyond All Boundaries was very immersive and intense. It was worth the extra $7 per person. 

We definitely recommend this museum. Just make sure you leave enough time! 



We left the museum and caught the green streetcar to get back to the French Quarter. 







We went to a restaurant called Mambo on Bourbon Street for dinner. The food was good. As we were wrapping up dinner a parade went by, so we went outside to watch and follow along. 





The lady on stilts was pretty impressive. She stayed up despite people bumping into her.



They apparently decided to have a mini Mardi Gras. There was a rather insane amount of beads being thrown. 

We walked into the Carousel Bar and Lounge because I wanted the kids to see the bar with the moving floor. 





I took pictures of a few of the houses in the French Quarter neighborhood on our way back to the campground. 

We took a quick detour to see Armstrong Park on the way home. It is a beautiful park!


Tonight Matt, Grace, and Cameron drove into town to find some music while Caleb and I stayed at the campground to swim. Caleb made a friend at the pool and they swam until almost 10:30 while I chatted with his dad. It was fun. 



Matt and the kids found a local bar with a “beer it forward” board. You could buy someone a beer and add the criteria to the board. Some were pretty obscure…