Day 52 - Biloxi to Pensacola: Bingo night and southern rock in downtown Pensacola

We woke up in the Davis Bayou campground after a good night's sleep. This is a very beautiful park with people taking walks and bicyclists cruising the trails. This would be a nice place to spend more time, but we have our reservation in Pensacola so heading out this morning.

We have a nice pull-through spot in the Perdido Key RV resort new Pensacola, very full so lucky to get the last spot! It is a park full of snow birds and some contract workers (based on the work pickups we see in the overflow area). Clean and organized RV campground. Once settled (around 7:00 pm) we head to downtown Pensacola to check it out!

This historical downtown is not that big, so after a walk we see most of it. We considered seeing a concert of one of Bob Marley's sons, Stephen, but then opted to go to the Seville Quarter, a big building with 7 themed rooms and music all evening. We watched a fun band from a distance, but unfortunately all the tables were taken so after a while noticed that another room was having a bingo night. This is the first time we've played bar bingo and it was really fun! Lots of crowd comments and after a winner gets a prize everyone throws their crumpled up bingo sheets at her. As we enjoyed the games at a certain point Francesca won! She won some bar bucks and we bought a serving of fries to go with our beer :) Later the tables thinned out a bit and we watched the end of the concert, including a few final jam sessions with other musicians from the crowd. A fun evening!

Southern rock

Jam session

Bar bingo

Francesca wins a bingo match!

Bingo crowd

Day 51 - New Orleans to Biloxi

The Davis Bayou campground is a state park, right by the Mississippi river. We love to stay in state parks,because they are more economical, they are quiet, and they are in nature.

The levee for the Mississippi has a very tall wall, with a cement gate that closes during floods. On the other side, there are house boats to rent.

We had to buy a King Cake with the baby Jesus hidden in it before leaving this area. It was made with praline and pecans. Yummm!

Day 50 - New Orleans: The Whitney Plantation

While we were at the Houmas House plantation, we saw a sign that was encouraging us to visit another plantation, where slaves' lives and history is presented in its entirety. It was the Whitney plantation.

I found on YouTube a video from CBS this morning that describes this place very well.

The Whitney plantation opened its doors as a museum in December 2014 (!!!?). 

A trial attorney from New Orleans, John Cummings, had bought the plantation with its 2000 acres, but after getting to know the history of the place, decided to dedicate the entire property to create this museum. He spent a total of 8 million dollars to research, transport historical buildings, commission sculptures, memorials and create buildings. He took him 15 years.

The director of research is a Senegalese scholar, Ibrahima Seck, who has done much work on the history of slavery and has written a book about this plantation, "Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860"

The first location we visited was the Antioch church that had been built by slaves and whose name comes from the bible but also the sound of the words "anti-yoke".

Much of the information for the plantation exhibits and memorials came from the Federal Writers Project (part of the new deal WPA 1935 - 1943) in which journalists interviewed people who had been slaves. Since by that time the interviewees were older, their recollection was primarily from when they were children living in slavery.

Antioch Church

Clay sculptures of the children that lived here

At the start of the tour, our docent made it clear that the purpose of this place was not to make anyone feel guilty. It was here to remember those who suffered and did not have a voice.

All through the tour I felt a heavy heart. That's the best way I can describe it. I felt the same when my aunt took me to Mauthausen, a concentration camp in Austria. I think this feeling is brought up to anyone when the head and the heart cannot process such evil actions perpetrated by other human beings. We try to reason in ourselves what went on, and we cannot find a logic for such abominations.

Memorial to the victims with names and where they were born

Memorial to the children who died very young

Original cabins

Jail similar to that used in the slave market in New Orleans

Blacksmith

Big House kitchen

The plantation house

Sculpture in honor of the German Coast Uprising

Ibrahima Seck by the memorial to German Coast Uprising victims.

The visitor center had a museum showing the history of slavery from the very beginning to the end.

I did not know that Christopher Columbus was the first to start all this. I knew he had done terrible things to the natives, but I was oblivious to this little known fact. I can't believe we still have a day for him! 😒 

In the book store I bought the book written by Frederick Douglass "Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass". It is his autobiography and he wrote it in 1845. I read it to Bill while driving. At one point in the story I had to skip ahead because I couldn't stomach it.

Day 49 - Baton Rouge to New Orleans: Mardi Gras Parade

Bayou Segnette State Park is near New Orleans, but far enough to be a quiet location.
We were going to skip New Orleans because we had already been here 17 years ago. But what the heck. Laissez les bon temps rouler ! (Let the good times roll!) It's the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. Today there are three parades scheduled, one in the afternoon and two in the evening.
We park the rig in a hurry. We want to make it to the French Quarter before the start of the walking parade by the Krewe of Cork. It's all about wine.
There is a phone app that tells you where the parade is advancing in its itinerary.
We situate ourselves on a curve to have a long look of all the participants. This is so much fun!

After dinner we are ready for another parade. This one is going to be bigger with real floats. We buy tickets to get a seat on the bleachers. We wait a couple of hours from the scheduled time start time.
Finally they come. It's a cacophony of people screaming, blaring music, and engines revving. There are cowboys on horses, exhausted girls in glittering outfits, high school bands wearing the funkiest outfits, and then the floats. The crowd goes crazy, because that's when we get the beads.

We heckle them with 'HEY!'... and here comes a shower of trinkets. We get necklaces, rings and tiaras with flashing lights. The tiaras even have settings for three different blinking modes. We get stuffed animals, plastic hand slappers, wands, hula hoops, small backpacks with surprise gifts, and then beads ...and more beads in all kinds of colors and sizes. Sometimes they throw a whole bag of beads and it makes a big noise when it falls on the metal bleachers. I want the necklace with the biggest beads. I reach to catch one and it bangs on my pinkie finger. It's another girl's loot. Necklaces fall on the ground and break. The trinket plastic wraps, discarded on the street, twirl in the air like a mini tornado, going up high toward the skyscrapers.
We are not impressed with the floats. They all seem shaped the same and pretty commercial with  statues of animated film characters like Buzz Lightyear. Only the colors are different. Were they all made by the same people?



At 11 pm both parades are done. We walk on the street and it's a total mess. There is plastic, beads, discarded cans and bottles. It's a total mess. Bill and I are in shock, like when you drink a lot and then you regret it when you feel sick.
We take pictures and videos. We can't believe that the city of New Orleans in the year 2019 allows this to happen from January 6 to Mardi Gras, several times during each weekend!
We wonder down to Bourbon street. Lots of drunks with giant drinks in plastic cups.
I can't get past the waste. I am disgusted and I can't get over it.
On the way to the car, we see a crew of 50 street sweepers following a couple of sweeping machines. All will be cleaned up by morning.

We read more about this issue. It has been known for a long time and it's getting worse. There is even a documentary on the exploited young girls in China that work in the bead factory.
According to this article, the city has already sent 620 tons of debris to the landfill this year alone, and it's not over yet. Last year, the Mardi Gras period produced 1,300 tons.
I feel bad. I want to recycle my beads. There is an association that does just that.