Biloxi, MS

We did not expect to find such a gem when we put Biloxi on the route for this year. I had no idea that Biloxi had so much to offer and were we disappointed to be leaving after just a few days. We took a short ferry ride out to Ship Island, which is part of the Gulf Island National Seashore. The island is the site of Fort Massachusetts which was set up as part of the the coastal defense system for our new country. It also played a key role as the staging point for the two battles for New Orleans. Interesting history that was new for me. Danelle enjoyed a good beach day on the beautiful sands facing the Gulf of Mexico. We also visited Beauvoir, which was the home of the first and last president of the confederate states, Jefferson Davis and also houses his presidential library. It was refreshing to be in an area where the locals embrace their history. The day we visited Beauvoir, they were having their annual celebration to honor the confederate ancestors and soldiers lost in the war. We capped our time in Biloxi with one of our best dinners ever at Mary Mahoney's. I would highly recommend stopping in for either a lunch or a dinner. Try the stuffed red snapper and have a cup of the gumbo...

Gulf Beach RV Resort, Biloxi, MS

New RV Park right across the road from the beach. The location is great to see the sites in Biloxi. The pool and community/party area has a fantastic view of the beach and the ocean. They have the standard shower, bathrooms and laundry service. The wifi worked decent, which is always a surprise and a major plus. The sites are all back in and concrete. The sites were long enough to handle our 43' coach, but parking our car was a challenge. We were fortunate enough to not have a neighbor on our passenger site. However, our awnings on the driver side were almost touching our neighbors car and their awnings. The negative to this park is how narrow the sites are to handle a large 5th wheel or RV and a vehicle. I liked how new the park was, but when my bay doors could not open fully without hitting my neighbors car or furniture outside of their RV, the sites are too close. We rate this park a 3 out of 5.

N'Awlins

N'Awlins

N'Awlins, New Orleens or NOLA- take your pick.  Every "native" will tell you it is pronounced "like this".  I just say it is one of my favorite places to visit.  If you like to eat, drink, shop and learn, this is the place for you.
The French Quarter offers it all.  Bars, restaurants, haunted houses and shops galore.  I have been there twice, for a total of just about 2 weeks and I still feel like I haven't even scratched the surface.
We were only moving a little over an hour down the road from Baton Rouge so we felt like we had a lot of time to mosey around, have dinner and hit our first tour (the haunted tour) upon arriving. Boy, were we wrong!  We wandered a bit, I bought a few things and then we were scrambling for someplace to eat.  We found a popular place but I left hungry (shocking) so we found a phenomenal bar that also had tapas (yay for me!) and got ready for our haunted ghost tour.
Our tour guide was super funny and very impressive with his knowledge of all things haunted.  There are so many haunted places in NOLA and so much history, I'm sure it takes a lot of studying to learn it all.  We had a fabulous time and even got to stop on our "break" for a Hurricane!  Yummy!  Apparently "American Horror Story" bases their shows on stories out of the FQ and if that's true, I never want to see it!  Yikes!  ;)
The next day we took it easy and marveled at how being a tourist in a city while staying in a hotel room vs. staying in your home is much different.  Being in your home you wake up, have a leisurely breakfast, peruse social media ;) and then finally get ready.  Because of this we didn't get to the National WWII Museum until around noon.  By then the lines were incredibly long, the 2 featured movies were sold out so we decided to wait until another day.  Instead we went to Mardi Gras World which is the place where they make the floats for the various Mardi Gras parades AND they provide the cows for Chick Fill A's billboards.  We learned so much from this tour.  We used to think Mardi Gras parades only happened on Mardi Gras but we soon found out there is about a 2 week season called "Festival" that happens before actual Mardi Gras when all the parades happen .  We have put this on our bucket list and will be back one day to experience the whole shebang.
The next day we did a food tour.  We were so excited for this since it's food (DUH!) and because the last time we did it, it was phenomenal.  We were a little disappointed in this one but we did learn a lot about NOLA since our guide is a native and never left NOLA for the first 40 years of her life.  Can you imagine??  Did you know as the various ships enter into the port of NOLA there is a River Boat Captain that has to board the vessel coming in and navigate the bend in the Mississippi River that leads into NOLA?  This is a job that has been handed down for generations from father to son and so on. I found it a bit odd that Navy Admirals nor Merchant Marine Captains can get this job, you have to be born into it.  Especially at $400,000+/ per year.  Definitely odd.
The next day we were looking forward to our cemetery tour and were not disappointed.  They bury their dead above ground.  The Catholic and VooDoo religions are very intertwined here thanks to a lady named Marie Laveau.  We learned all about her on our tour and if you ever want to be heavily engrossed in a story, definitely look her up.  She may end up being one of my heroes.  ;)
Our last day was spent at the WWII Museum  We had been before about 5 years ago but boy has it changed!  They have added buildings and exhibits and stories and on and on.  We could have spent all day there and still not have seen everything.  They are in the process of adding even more and we look forward to visiting again and watching the progress of this spectacular place.  It is only fitting that we honor those that sacrificed so much for the rest of us to enjoy a life of freedom that we do today.  Being a from a Navy family though I still have to say, GO NAVY!!  :)

New Orleans, LA

One of my most favorite places to visit in the US. We were able to enjoy this city for a week about 5 years ago and we were excited to get back to continue the party. The area has so much food, music and fun that we ended up running out of time and talking about what we plan to do when we return next year. We started off the week with a day spent wandering around the French Quarter. We went to dinner at a local oyster hot spot and ended the day on a ghost tour that was not so much ghost, but a lot of great history that had a stop for a hurricane towards the end!!! The second day was spent at the Mardi Gras float museum and we ended up on Frenchmen street listening to great music and drinking far too many cocktails. We even cut up the rug a bit at one of the clubs. The next day was a marginal food tour around the quarter that was once again great for history, but didn't have very good food. The following day was shopping and a cemetery tour that was very interesting. In New Orleans, they put the body in a sealed tomb for a year and a day, because the voodoo religion believes that the soul hangs out around the body for that full time. Then when the year and a day is up, they open the tomb, scoop up your bones (the rest has melted away in a full summer of New Orleans heat) and dump it down the chute at the back of the tomb. They have tombs where up to 1000 people have had their bones dumped down the chute. Interesting. Our final day was spent at the WWII museum. Wow, just wow. If you do one tourist thing in NO, go to this museum and plan for most of a day. The sub experience was cool, but might not be worth the time, but the show narrated by Tom Hanks was an hour long and phenomenal. They have a ton of construction going on right now adding building and content and they tell us the experience will be very different in just another couple of year. I wish we had spent more time at the museum, but we got hungry and our favorite lunch spot was waiting. We hustled over to the Canal St. edge of the quarter for the best po-boy and muffuletta in NO at Mike Serio's Po-Boys. We had our lunch and spent an hour talking with Mike at our table until the doors were locked because they were closed. A great lunch with a legend and character of NO for the last 40 years. When you go to NO, stop in for lunch here. You won't be disappointed.

French Quarter RV Park, New Orleans, LA

Location, location, location. The park is just two blocks outside of the French Quarter, which is the draw. Being within walking distance was nice, but for the price and lack of amenities, I would recommend staying a little further out. Walking around near the edge of the quarter after dark is not recommended, so you will most likely be taking a cab or Uber back to the park when your day is over. Given that you will most likely be taking a car on the return to the park, it is worth it to be another mile or two further out. The park staff was not very friendly for us. Nothing bad, but then again, nothing good. The sites are all backin, pavers and with a decent spot for your tow vehicle. They had a small laundry, bathroom and shower, but the wi-fi didn't work at all. Given the $120 a night price tag, I am not impressed with the sites, the park or the staff. We give the park a 3 out of 5 based upon the location and the sites being big enough for large RVs. We will be staying elsewhere when we go back to New Orleans.

Baton Rouge