Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

The museum chronicles the African American military experience in America’s great wars: the Revolutionary War, Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII and others.
We have had the opportunity through a number of museums, especially ones in the west to see pieces of the history of the African Americans in the military. This museum has done an excellent job in putting the history of their many contributions together. The Buffalo Soldiers got their name while fighting the American Indians in the West. They kept this name until the military was integrated. The story goes that the American Indian called them Buffalo Soldiers because they fought fiercely, like the buffalo, and many had the curly hair like that of the buffalo.

Johnson Space Center

Space Center Houston, the official Visitors Center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center is owned and operated by the Manned Space Flight Education Foundation and is a non-profit organization.
They have done an excellent job through displays, videos, and a tram tour through parts of the NASA Space Center to illustrate and explain the Space Program starting with the Goddard Rocket through the International Space Station.
Johnson Space Center occupies more that 1600 acres and employs more than 14,000 people. When you think back to Glenn’s first trip to outer space, it’s hard to believe that we remember it so vividly today. There were many trips to outer space and until you see the history in front of you, it is hard to remember the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Sky Lab,
Space Shuttle and now the International Space Station.
The size of the space capsules, at the beginning, were very small in comparison to the International Space Center of today. The number of countries involved with supplying components for the Space Center was impressive. You can see, from the Center, how the development of technology has improved our lives from the Space Program.
When the Space Program began, the engineers and scientists were in their mid-20’s to their early 30’s.

Houston-Galveston Area

We are camped between Houston and Galveston and the area is as busy as Bob remembers it from his travels here. After Sue spent time with Alan Avery-Peck, the Jewish Scholar at Holy Cross, we have made it a point to visit Holocaust Museums and memorials as we travel through this country. The Houston Holocaust Museum was established by survivors of the Holocaust who relocated to the Houston area. The tour guide did an excellent job of explaining the museum and the horrors of the Holocaust.
It is an excellent museum but we were definitely impacted more by the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.
It has been less than 2 years since Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and the Houston area. We took a ride down through Galveston and there was still obvious signs of the destruction from the hurricane. The Gulf of Mexico and the beaches are definitely an attraction for Galveston. The Galveston Bay allows for much port activities both in Galveston and the Bay area towards Houston. The oil industry is obvious from all of the refineries that are visible as you look from Galveston towards Houston. There were a number of nice campgrounds in Galveston and we did gather some literature for future reference.

Big Thicket National Preserve

We arrived at the Visitors Center here at Big Thicket and after looking at the exhibits I thought of how similar the Preserve is to Congaree National Park in South Carolina.
We watched a video in the Visitors Center about the history of Big Thicket which emphasized on the individuals who worked so diligently in making this site a National Preserve for future generations to enjoy and to protect the land.
Big Thicket National Preserve shelters remnants of the unique Big Thicket of Texas, protecting critical habitat for many rare and endangered species. This unusual assemblage of animals and plants includes mixed hardwood-pine forest, savannah, flatland palmetto hardwood forest, and floodplain forests with baygall and cypress slough.
We enjoyed the lovely 2 mile walk we took on the Kirby Natural Trail. A self-guided booklet helps to guide one along the way and points out particular sites of interest and explains what you’re seeing in detail. We ended our visit by having a picnic nearby.
The weather was lovely and it was a very peaceful place to visit this time of year.After being in New Orleans for a week it was nice to get out and walk in the woods.
Plants and animals characteristic of many regions live together in the Big Thicket, largely because of the Ice Age. Continental glaciers, far to the north, pushed many species southward. Conditions were varied enough that when the glaciers retreated many species continued living here.

Fat Tuesday

Fat Tuesday
Fat Tuesday is always the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. This is Mardi Gras. Until you experience this event in person it is hard to believe how serious people here are about this day. We went with a group from the campground to Metairie which is a suburb of New Orleans to attend the parades there. We arrived at 7:00 a.m. so that we could get a good viewing spot along the parade route. There were people already lined up on the parade route drinking, eating and having a great time. The campground brought grills along and food and we joined them in the partying. The first parade started at 10:00 a.m. and by the time that the 3rd parade had ended it was after 3:00 p.m. It made Sue happy to see that Rachael Ray was the Grand Marshall of the parade. It was a sight seeing the people waving and dancing for beads, stuffed animals and other favors being thrown from the floats.
Between all of the parades that we have been to we now have a large bag full of beads.
On Ash Wednesday we went to Mass at noon time and it was pleasant to see the church full of people. Fat Tuesday, may have been all about partying, but the people in this area seem to be very religious.

Mardi Gras, New Orleans

Mardi Gras, New Orleans

Mardi Gras, New Orleans
The French Quarters in New Orleans has changed since Bob first was there over 30 years ago. The French Quarters had sustained very little damage from Hurricane Katrina. The buildings are old and most look like they are in need of repair but this was true before Katrina. One thing that definitely can be said of the French Quarters is that there are plenty of fine restaurants and many bars and some not so fine as well. Between the Saints winning the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, New Orleans is just one big party.
The parades, with the floats and people all decked out, are a sight to see. There are so many people in New Orleans during this time of year that you have to wait hours in line in the restaurants and cafes. We definitely are enjoying the party atmosphere and have taken in a lot of parades and events. Everyone, in the area, celebrates Mardi Gras.
Listening to the politicians you would think that New Orleans is back in full force. The local people have a different view though. There were 980,000 people before Katrina and now there are about 460,000 people here. The thing that struck us was that many of the commercial buildings are now just vacant and no repairs have been made to them. There is a hospital that was never repaired or reopened, mainly because the people have not returned. Most of the apartment buildings that were damaged have not been repaired but they have built some new complexes. There are many subdivisions where between 25 and 50 per cent of the houses, remain vacant and damaged. Where there are buildings that were totally destroyed, the trash has been removed. Many of the buildings that are now vacant should be torn down but there is very little effort to do so. I cannot imagine living in a nice home where half of them in the neighborhood are still boarded up.

Biloxi

Biloxi, Mississippi
We decided to take a walking tour of Biloxi. There were 20 stops on the tour which pointed out the historical sites of the city. The devastation caused by Katrina was obvious as we walked through the city. There were many buildings that were just boarded up with no signs of renovations in place.
There is a Katrina Memorial on the site of the Biloxi Town Green. The memorial is 12 feet high and that was the height of the water wave when it reached this location. We took a boat ride in the Bay and the Captain indicated that the wave height in the Bay was 27 feet high. The City of Biloxi was under water and the damages sustained will never be totally repaired. The crew member on the boat had a home that was destroyed. The home could be rebuilt, but even being built to code, a 1200 sq. ft. house would cost $9,000 to insure.
The people who lost their homes just could not afford to rebuild them to code and pay the insurance costs, etc. It was less expensive for them to just rent elsewhere. The crew member who owned a house had used it as a rental but if he rebuilt it, he could not charge the rent to cover the costs. He is fortunate in one way that the property is desirable for a casino and he is in the process of selling the lot. It will take time before there is enough money in the area to buy building lots along the coast. The only employers, in the area, are the casinos and the fishing industry neither which pay high wages. The fishing industry is still a large industry in the area, the only thing is that they do not process in the area. After hurricane Camille the processing plants were destroyed in the area and they relocated elsewhere and will not return to Biloxi. The local residents say, if it wasn’t for the casinos, the City of Biloxi would not thrive.
We drove West down the coast to Pass Christian and the further you got away from the casinos the more devastation you saw and less rebuilding.

Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi District

Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi District
The barrier islands at this end of the National Seashore are about 10 miles out. The National Park, that you can get to from land, encompasses Davis Bayou Campground and salt marshes. We did not realize that l/5th of the fish caught in the U.S. is along the Gulf Coast. Someday, if time permits, we will camp at the National Seashore both in Florida and Mississippi as these are 2 beautiful areas.

Mardi Gras parade

Mardi Gras became an official holiday to Christians in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII sanctioned it and placed it on the 12 month Gregorian calendar that we use today.
He placed it on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which begins Lent. Prior to the pope’s making it official, there were celebrations by nobles being held by invitation only. The French brought Mardi Gras to the Americas in 1699.
Mardi Gras parades are held all along the Gulf Coast and not just on Fat Tuesday. We looked at various schedules and the earliest parade that we saw scheduled was on January 29 in Mobile, AL.
We decided to go a small town Mardi Gras parade in Orange Grove, MS on Sat. February 6. This is a town just north of Gulfport, MS. The parade started at 2:00 and we arrived about noon and people were already lined up along the parade route. We did not realize how serious the people are about Mardi. The parades, balls and parties are a happening for all to partake. It is impossible not to catch beads along with various souvenirs. The people on the floats just keep throwing them and if you don’t catch them you can get hit by them. There was plenty of drinking and partying done by all.

Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library

Jefferson Davis was a U.S. Senator, Congressman, Secretary of War and the President of the Confederacy. His home and library are on the Gulf Coast between Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. The ride along Highway 90 on the Gulf Coast made it obvious of the destruction that Katrina caused. They are still rebuilding many of the walls along the beaches and bringing sand in. The debris has been cleaned up but many lots are vacant with only foundations remaining. We had the opportunity to speak to a woman who lost her home along the coast. Her husband and her built a home away from the coast since theirs was totally destroyed and they lost everything. The homes along the coast, prior to Katrina, were mainly on concrete slabs. The codes now would require them to be up on piers and many people could not afford to build to meet the new codes. It still will be years before this area completely recovers. It will people with the financial means to buy the lots along the coast and build to the new codes.
Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederacy, visited Beauvoir twice during the mid 1870’s. Impressed by its natural beauty and serenity the aging leader accepted the current owner’s invitation to write his memoirs at this estate. He eventually purchased the estate for $5,500. After his death his widow, despite many lucrative offers, in 1903, sold it for $10,000 to the Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans. The sale required the property to be used by Confederate veterans along with their wives, widows, servants and orphans. The state ran the home for 54 years, building structures so that there was a capacity of 288 residents. The facility cared for approximately 1800 individuals, almost half of the residents are buried in the Confederate cemetery on the grounds. The Veterans’ home closed in 1956 and is now a museum. The only structure remaining is the original home. As with many structures along the Gulf Coast the museum survived many hurricanes until Katrina. The main house was heavily damaged but was not totally destroyed since it was originally set on piers.

USS Alabama Battleship - Mobile

02/02/10 The tour of the Battle Ship, USS Alabama The ship was commissioned on August 16, 1942 and is l680 feet in length, with a beam of 108 feet, 2 inches. She is registered at 35,000 tons but under battle conditions, she weighed in at well over 45,000 tons. Her assigned crew was 127 officers and 2,205 enlisted but she normally had a crew of 2,500 men aboard. She earned 9 battle stars and shot down 22 military planes during WWII. As with any battleship she was a self-contained city. Bob got to tour with a Navy retired person who served aboard the USS Alabama. The gentleman had thorough knowledge of the battleship, especially the guns. There were 3 turrets with 16 inch guns (45 cal.). These guns fired 24,300 lbs. every 30 seconds up to 21 miles. The gentleman indicated that no matter who you were, this was an impressive sight to witness. Big and tall people would have a hard time living aboard ship. The bunks were small and the individual space on board was very limited. One fact that Bob did not know was that seamen had to wear fresh clean uniforms when they went into battle. The reason for this was to limit infection if someone were to be wounded in combat.
The submarine, USS Drum, was commissioned on November 1, 1941. The ship is 311 feet,, 8 inches long with a beam of 27 feet, 4 inches and displaced l,526 tons. Her crew consisted of 7 officers and 65 enlisted men. She earned 12 battle stars during WWII. Bob definitely would not have fit in the Drum.

Gulf Islands National Seashore

Gulf Islands National Seashore
On a sunny day we decided to go through Pensacola over the 3 mile bridge through Gulf Breeze to the area designated by the National Parks as part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. The National Seashore runs from Florida to AL and then onto MS. The drive along the National Seashore is outstanding since there is water from the Gulf on one side and the water from the Bay on the other side. The white sand definitely stands out. After the 7 mile drive you come to Ft. Pickens where there is a lovely campground and the remains for the Fort.
Only one of the 5 sections of the campground was open due to Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and the other hurricanes in 2005. All 5 areas should be open this year in 2010.
After the War of 1812 it showed how vulnerable the ports were and congress decided to build forts to protect the ports. The fort was begun in 1829, completed in 1834 and was used until 1947. It took over 21.5 million bricks to build this fort. There were a total of 4 forts built in this area to protect Pensacola Harbor. This is a lovely area and we gathered enough information on the campground to possibly come and stay at a future date.

Mobile AL

Mobile, AL is a very protected port due to the bay and the outer islands. In its hey day much of the cotton produced here was exported from the port. When cotton export dropped off the port had to scramble and began importing bananas from South America.
The port is still very active and there is a large cruise terminal here as well.
We started our visit to Mobile at Fort Conde which originally was established as a French fort. The remains of the fort are right in the downtown area. Part of the exhibit was a photo gallery of the people who made up the city of Mobile from the beginning. There definitely was a great slave influence in Mobile. Once the slaves were freed many of poor blacks and whites became sharecroppers. Mobile claims to be site of the first Mardi Gras celebration. It is interesting to note that Mardi Gras parades and celebrations are all along the Gulf Coast. There are weeks of parades, balls and parties in locations such as Pensacola, FL; Mobile, AL; Biloxi, MS and, of course, New Orleans. The Bay and the Gulf of Mexico make this area very attractive for beach goers and hosts a lot of water activities as well.