Friday - Jan. 15th - New Orleans

Off we went to venture over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway - (25 miles long) into New Orleans.It was overcast and windy.

After we parked and found a place to get more maps...our first business was to find the Cafe DeMonde for the all famous benyets (sp)...with hot choc. It was about 40 degrees or colder...so this sounded and looked just perfect.

I'm in 4 layers of clothing...and now I have lots of white powdered sugar all over the front of me...but WHO CARES....these are SO GOOD.. Just what the two of us needed for a mid morning snack. This is a slow time and with the cold it was not very busy...we were seated within a few min. I can only imagine how busy it is when the weather is favorable.

The Siverman - street dancer... There's just so much to see inside and out..

This is the ceiling of the St. Louis Cathedral. We took many many photos. Everywhere you looked it was more beautiful.

St. Louis Cathedral from outside in the courtyard... Can you see Keith peeking through the palms?

The statue of Andrew Jackson in the middle of the square.

It was so cold that none of the boats were running....and even tho the ferry was running..it was just too cold to make that ride.:(

Keith and I really wanted some GOOD seafood for dinner... Again..so many places were closed...we just kept walking and looking...When we got to the end of the River Walk...Sure enough, there was good old Harrah's Casino...and we all know that casinos always have good buffets.. Beings it was Friday...it was the seafood buffet... Plus we couldn't beat the price.! $9.99 for all the seafood we wanted..Ha. After our long dinner...we took the trolly back to the parking lot and made our way back to the RV...after sitting in traffic for 45 min.. Thank goodness for our GPS or we NEVER would have found our way in or out of New Orleans. There is so much construction and closed streets and one way streets...Well, we just needed our "RITA" (our name for our GPS)

Jan. 14th - Moving West

Left Alabama and drove to LA.....here's just a few shots of what we saw on the way.

This is the view from the hot tub....it's just so relaxing and after a days drive and a beer tour....we needed this.

The hot tub is outside and heated to about 103 degrees.. We enjoyed it the afternoon we arrived. FEFT GREAT. Now, I don't have a photo of it...but, we saw that the local Abita Springs Brewery had tours on Wed.- Fri. at 2 p.m. We only had 10 min. to get there, but found it was only 3 miles away...just made it in time for the tour and it was well worth the trip. A neat company...learned all about it...and Keith had at least 3 glasses of beer. They let you go behind the bar and help yourself to any of their taps...about a doz. AND I got to enjoy the root beer they make.mmmmm The funny thing is...Keith hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and so he was feeling NO PAIN... It was a good time:)

We arrived at Abita Springs LA and this is the Abita Springs RV Resort in Robertsdale. Our site was large - on stone. It's an RPI resort and we would recommend it to other members. Got TONS of information from the office about what to do in this area... Many bike and hiking trails...But we were interested in the Causeway into New Orleans. She gave us maps and so much more and we were so thankful.

Tonight the computer has a mind of it's own..sorry

I started to post the photos from today.....The 3 that are below just popped up as published...so I'll have to try again tomorrow...:(
We had a very full day today...and will be going to New Orleans tomorrow.... Having a BALL...:)

Wed. Jan. 13th - Gulf Shores

Another very cold morning...our water supply from the park pipes froze. Keith took care of that with some hot water and the sun did the rest. We were back in business with water by 8:30 a.m. We decided to drive down to the Gulf Shores for the day.

The outdoor pool which of course we didn't use was so pleasant to look at here at the park.

The indoor pool and hot tub. We used the hot tub our first night here..felt great.

The fire pit down by the river.

The beach down by the Styx River. We could only imagine how much this would be used in the summer.It was just a short walk from our camp site.

Another shot of the river...it was really movin' along.

The oranges were just so sweet and delicious....we were so glad we stopped and gave them a try. What a deal!!!

The white sand beaches are just so beautiful, but more beautiful in warmer weather!

The trees looked like they were just snapped off.....this was from the hurricane several years ago. The sky seems to be almost as blue as the paint on this tower.

Flags are placed every couple hundred feet with one of the colors on this sign... Today is was yellow. The State Park was amazingly full of RV's... We drove all thru the Park area...very interesting.

Even tho it was cold we just had to walk the beach ....IF only it was warmer:)

Even tho we didn't eat at this diner....we just had to include it in the blog... At first look you really thought that the diner was crashed by a train...

Jan. 12th - Robertsdale, Alabama

O.K. I got all this wrong so please go to the bottom of Jan. 12th and work your way up!!! sorry:)
Foley Alabama is about 30 miles south of our Campground; Styx River RV Park which is an ROD for you campers. It's an older park but very neat and clean...Keith and I used the hot tub tonight ....the indoor pool was too cold for us. Anyway...back to Foley. After parking the RV and getting set up, we were very hungry as it was getting on to 1:30. So we drove to Lamberts' the home of the THROW THE ROLLS!

It's hard to describe Lambert's, except you will not come out hungry! We highly recommend this place to everyone...it was on the Diners, Driveins and Dives. It's even better seeing it in person. We brought home enough food for another meal.

In the summer there's a 4 hour wait to get into Lambert's....they don't take reservations. Outside there are plenty of "toys" for the kids to keep busy until it's their turn to go in. Oh, and they only take CASH or CHECKS

As soon as we walked in the rest. they threw us hot rolls...yes, they throw the rolls.!!! They are sooooo good...and huge.

Our waitress was so cool...she gave us a complimentary book about the Lambert family and a complimentary dessert to take along home... We were so stuffed.

We stopped at the visitors center in Alabama and picked up all the brochures we needed to keep us busy for the next 2 days:)

Crossing the Pensacola Bay Bridge....leaving Florida and arriving in Alabama. This was such a beautiful sight...wish you all could have seen it with us:)

Jan. 11th - Left Orlando - Heading WEST!!!!

Pulled out of TT Orlando at 8:45... It was 28 degrees when we got up at 7 a.m. The sun quickly warmed the RV and the sky was clear and the sun was shining.:) Drove to Panama City/Fountain Florida to Pine Lake RV Park, arriving about 2 p.m. central time. It's an RPI park and the manager/owners couldn't have been more helpful. We topped off our LP since it's to be 20 degrees tonight. FYI to campers: the sites are nice, the roads are narrow, the pull thrus are level. Oh, this park is 14 miles south of I-10 Exit 130.

We're all hooked up for the night. Tomorrow we'll be on the road again...headed for Alabama. The temp. is to be 30 by 8:30 a.m.:)