BLUE ANGELS AIR SHOW at US NAVY MUSEUM in PENSACOLA, FL

A note to the two very young boys sitting next to us at the Blue Angels Air Show today:
You were so interested in watching the Blue Angels today that we wanted to share our pictures with you.  We have been traveling full time in a motorhome for seven years, and write a Blog to share the sights that we see.  You can enlarge these pictures by clicking on each, one at a time.  You can also copy them for yourselves. To look at more of our travel pictures click on the dates off to the right side of the Blog.  You can also leave a comment at the end of each Blog. Some of our most awesome scenery has been April through July of 2015.  So enjoy!!

For the rest of our friends, enjoy another session of the Blue Angels.  It is so difficult to take these as they are past so-o-o fast!  It is also difficult to get them right when they roll! Their wing tips are just 18 inches apart when they fly in formation. They passed going opposite directions and flew over us at 700 mph once!! And plane #4 had to drop out before the last formation flight. Not sure why.

They are in a roll, with one right side up and one upside down.

We feel like we are back home since we have wintered here twice already.  We enjoyed meeting with our class at Olive Baptist on Sunday, surprising them.  We hope they will plan a social sometime this month while we are here so we can catch up on all of the news. In the mean time we are making plans with some couples, one at a time.

We are enjoying a little respite in weather yesterday and today (in the eighties and sixties at night).  It should stay this way for several days.  I have not used the lawn lounges yet, but I will.  We are sorting and cleaning to prepare for storing our unit here for Oct through Dec while we visit Ohio. Gary is outside right now cleaning tires and covers while it is cooler.  He cleaned the roof the other day in early morning. A little each day!!

FROM ARKANSAS ON TO LOUISIANA

Love the pipe organ!

After church our Sunday in N. Little Rock, we went to Red Lobster.  I always love that as I love lobster, but guess what!!  I did not order lobster.  I have never used the word decadent before, but there is a first for everything!!

And I even shared it!!

I ordered soup and salad so that I could order this desert and even took the soup home!!  Our waiter was a gem and gave us both kinds of soup since I changed my order from clam chowder to potato and bacon, since can can't stand clams!  And he also gave us four more biscuits to take with us. Another meal for home!!  And he got a good tip from Gary, certainly not our usual.
From there we went on to visit with Kelli and the kids for a while.  Sunday is Andrew's busy day and this was certainly no exception.

On Monday, August 17th, we moved on to Marksville, Louisiana for a week.  We are in an RV Park behind a casino.

It is very nice and clean, with good trees and green grass.  It is not a busy park right now, but they say that some times they are clear full.  The weather since arriving here has been rainy for three days. Gary does not mind as that is an excuse to go into the casino to pinch pennies!!  He goes early in the morning while I sleep in and he just went back a second time today as he is bored. They have shuttles driving through the park, but who wants to spend a dollar on that when we can put it in the slots?

We watched the storms rolling in
and home that we would be back home first!

Walmart is down the road about a half mile so have made a few runs to that also. Otherwise, we spent much of our time in front of the boob tube through the rain.

Thursday was finally a clear day so we went in to Alexandria to see the Kent Plantation House. The house and all of the other buildings have been moved to this location to show as a museum.  It was interesting and we sweltered through it even though it was climate controlled.  The furnishings were not from the actual Kent Plantation, but were actually from the same time period and donated by local people.

Slave quarters on the left, constructed of brick
made by the slaves.  Very few slave quarters were
made from brick.
Second from the left is a cook and laundry building.
Third from the left is the Plantation House with a milk house,
sugar processing plant to our right.

This was one of the slaves who helped build the
slave quarters.  She lived to be 114.  The top left
photo shows that the original roof was sheet metal.

Our tour began with a guide through the main house.

Fly catcher, with lure of sugar or homey water!

Sideboard with secret drawers in the center rounded
section next to the center doors.
We could not see them as they were
not able to be opened any longer.

Tea imported from the orient in block form.
It was then shaved off  for use and kept in the box next to it.

Sewing table where materials
and scraps were dropped into
the bag below.

Since the family was Catholic
there were several prayer benches
such as this.  

Homemade Pew Doll, made from
material only so that they could be
played with in church without any noise.

On to the cook house --

Many cast iron utensils used in that day
were on display.

This was a tin rotisserie used in front
of the fire.

Herbs being dried all of the time for cooking
and medicinal use also.

There were three herb gardens,
one for cooking, one for fragrance, and
a third one for medicinal use.

I just had someone ask what this was on FB.
Here I saw it again!  And I do remember
those days!!

I often see these at Craft Shows, but had
 never heard  what they were made for.other than
decoration.  Here I heard that they were
made clear back in the 1700's for the
whistling sound that came from them
in the wind.

Bag that was carried on one shoulder for the
cotton that was being picked.
I could imagine it getting pretty heavy when
full and if a child was resting on it.

From here we went on to the sugar plant --

Fire built behind these doors with the hottest being
at this end.

Thus the sugar cane after being crushed began it's process
with slaves stirring by standing over the kettles at the
location of the brick and jar that you see here.
It was then ladled with buckets on a pole
to the next step closer to the intense fire.

There were four kettles, back to front, with each one getting smaller in size to the smallest one with sugar crystalizing over the hottest heat source.
Before the process was begun the cane was crushed in this crusher when it was placed in the center opening.

Live oak of the south which has small oval leaves.  This one is over 150 years old --

Most plantations had cemeteries for their own, much like this one.

From this tour we went back to Marksville hoping to see a Mom and Pop restaurant on the way.  But we did not so stopped at Pizza hut for their deal of the day.  Thus we will be eating pizza for several days.  Yum!!
We also stopped in a couple thrift shops but only found two books that tempted me.
Since we can not find any other things of interest, we will move on tomorrow.  Pensacola, FL here we come!!  Just in time to join our friends at Olive Baptist Church on Sunday.

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S MUSEUM AND TROLLEY RIDE ABOUT LITTLE ROCK

It looks like all we do is eat!! But what better way to visit??

On Friday, August 14th we met up with Andrew, Kelli and the kids at Larry's Pizza.  This came about when I suggested that we go for pizza at CiCi's, but Andrew suggested Larry's instead.

It was so much better and we sure enjoyed it and ate our fill as well!!  We will have to eat very light for days to off-set that intake.  I even took a second piece of peanut butter/chocolate chip behind Gary's back!!

There was a game room which the kids enjoyed and we had more conversation time while the kids played!!

Cole, Kelli, Olivia and Andrew

Too bad it wasn't Gary in this
instead of me.

We got up Saturday with no plans made --
But that did not last long.  We knew that the kids needed to do school shopping yet, so we took off to see the President Clinton Museum across the river by ourselves.   When we saw all of the traffic there and the kids, we were not sure if it had been a good idea or not.  But we did find a parking spot and got past the crowds of kids who were signing for and picking up their free back-to-school backpacks.
The museum was interesting, but so much to read!
After checking though security scanners, the first thing to see was the Oval Office and the Cabinet Meeting Room.

These are just a couple of things on display:

The guys were disappointed that Monica's dress was not on display.  Shame on them!

When walking back to the car we would have walked right past the Streetcar Trolley end-of-run stop. So we decided to hop on for 50 cents a piece and take a trip around town.  Did it last year, but it was pleasant and a good way to spend some time.  We had a dud for the guide though!

Crossing the bridge over the
Arkansas River into North
Little Rock.

Picture from the bridge.

We stopped at Taco Bell for lunch on our way back to the RV park, and now we don't feel so bad vegging out the rest of the day. We sure have been doing a lot of reading since everything else is packed away.
Yesterday we stopped at Lowe's for Gary to pick up some new drawer latches, but it turned out that they did not fit right. So that was a lost cause though Gary did get some exercise.  Our walking to and from the museum was good for us today!!
Tomorrow we will be going to the church where Andrew is director of Youth Ministries.  So will see the kids one last time before we head on south on Monday.