Susanne Gunning

Our route from New Orleans, Louisiana to Grayton Beach State Park, Florida - 269 miles.

When we arrived there was an old sign just behind our camp which had faded and was illegible and the day before we left it was replaced with this fresh sign.

This was a fun trip because we shared it with Sharon and Inaki. Grayton Beach State Park is on a stretch of coastland along the Gulf of Mexico where the sand is sugar white and the sea shades change from the coolest blue green to a deep teal blue towards the horizon. It is stunning! The location is about 20 miles further on from Destin and we caught our first glimpses of the beautiful beaches as we drove though Destin; I was oohing!! and aahing!! as we drove over the long bridge and on both sides clear blue-green waters were dotted with boats and water skiers.

Inaki and Marty

Our campsite at Grayton Beach State Park

Stopping for a break along the way from New Orleans to Grayton Beach State Park

Ladies at work!

When we arrived at the State Park where we were to stay; I was a little downhearted as it was bordering a lake and I couldn’t see the beach, but Marty and Inaki went off on foot and found it and the next day when I saw it, the sand and water was every bit as beautiful as what we had seen in Destin!!!

Our days were spent swimming, walking the beach, exploring the nearby holiday centre of ‘Watercolour’ and eating all sorts of delicious food like fried dill pickles, drinking margaritas, and sampling gulf prawns that looked pink and cooked when they were still raw- we ate them fried and they were sensational.

Sharon and Sue swimming...

A drink by the sea!

Happy days!

Squirrels are still our friends!

Goodbye Grayton Beach ...

Sunset on the lake, Grayton Beach State Park, Florida.

Friends, Sharon and Inaki kindly took us to see the more spectacular plantation homes near New Orleans.

First stop was ‘Laura’.  If you would like to read more about ‘Laura’ – click on the following link and it will take you to the website: Laura: a creole plantation.

‘Laura’ is a Creole Plantation home. Creole is the cultural lifestyle that flourished in Louisiana before it became the United States. The culture was made up of French, West African, and Spanish influences. One can quickly pick a Creole Plantation home from an American Plantation home as the Creole home is colourful like ‘Laura’, whereas the American Plantation home is white like ‘Oak Alley’. Our tour guide said that slaves were treated no differently whether they were enslaved by Creoles or Americans.

'Laura' painted in shades of yellow, purple and deep red.

Inside 'Laura'

The kitchen in the main house with walls showing the brick and timber construction

Inside 'Laura'

The slaves’ cabins were at the back and some distance from the main house. Our tour guide spoke of slaves being expensive and how the owners of ‘Laura’ bought slaves, particularly with a view of breeding more slaves, so they would not have to purchase as many of them.

Slaves' cabins

Lists of slaves and their purchase prices ranging from $10, 000 to $100, 000 per slave

Kitchen items in the slaves' cabins

Uncle Remus stories of Br'er Rabbit were first told in these slave quarters

As ‘Oak Alley’, an American Plantation home is largely famous for its magificent drive of majestic live oaks, we drove to the front gate and took photographs of the entrance and also stood and viewed the nearby swollen, Mississippi River from the levee.

Mississippi River in front of 'Oak Alley Plantation'

Café du Monde is probably one of the best known café’s in New Orleans. It’s the place for breakfast, brunch or morning tea and it serves little else than beignets and coffee, so what did we order? Café au lait and beignets of course. Beignets taste like an old-fashioned doughnut freshly golden fried, unlike a doughnut they are not round, nor do they have a hole. They are a square shape and they are served in threes with heaps and heaps of powdered sugar or icing sugar.

Here is a link to the website: Café du Monde

We indulged on two occasions; the first for brunch on a Tuesday morning and the second on Mother’s Day after mass at St Louis Cathedral with friends Sharon and Inaki.  Yum….

Cathedral – Basilica of St. Louis King of France, founded in 1718 – established as a Parish in 1720 and designated a Basilica in 1964.

The streets of New Orleans always held surprises; around the corner were buskers, further along the narrow streets of the French Quarter, mules and carts carried tourists, and further on you could stumble across an antique shop, or a small art gallery and second hand book store. And usually there was an opportunity to stop in between and taste the varieties of praline and sample mississippi mud pieces.

I'm forever blowing bubbles ...

Yosemite National Park will surely remain one of the highlights of our trip for a number of reasons: the sheer, high rock face of El Capitan, cascading waterfalls like Bridalveil Fall, our hike to Yosemite Falls the tallest waterfall in the USA at 2435 feet, and camping with good friends Sharon and Inaki.

Yosemite National Park - El Capitan on the left and Bridalveil Fall on the right

Yosemite Falls - the first tier of the three tier waterfall

Mirror Lake Yosemite National Park, left to right - Inaki, Sue, Sharon and Marty