Good times continue

So when did I become such a scaredy cat? Oh yeah, I’ve always kind of been one. It’s just that when I’m in, what feels like a safe or familiar place, it isn’t as apparent. I’m also not that fond of big cities, especially driving in them. I’m a country roads kind of girl. So what do we have here? New Orleans…big, unfamiliar, not always the safest city. Why was I excited to go? Oh yeah, Bill wanted me to experience it for myself, I was curious about it, had moments of excitement, and I really did want to go, but then my mind got to work and fear crept in. “Renew my mind, Lord. Help me enjoy this part of the journey.” I’m so glad, I can ask Him for or about anything.

We ended up having a wonderful time in New Orleans (3/14). Beautiful day. Arrived early afternoon. We set out to find the beautiful gardens Bill remembered from years and years ago. We found the New Orleans Botanical Gardens located in City Park which is the most amazing city park I’ve ever seen. Bill wasn’t sure it was the same one, so instead of shelling out some big bucks to see the gardens (which didn’t look all the impressive from what we could see) we chose to wander the park. So lovely. We stumbled upon a sculpture garden. I thought the bushes and trees were going to be sculpted but instead we found some amazing, mostly, metal pieces. I took a bunch of pictures and if someone would tell me how to get them on my blog, I would be most grateful.

It was now time to head towards the port and the French Quarter. So grateful for GPS. Of course, we had to turn down the narrowest street and wonder if we would ever find a parking place. Thank God for a huge public parking lot just where we wanted to be. We walked around a bit, took a short ferry ride across the Mississippi River to Algiers Point and back. Then walked down Canal Street to the French Quarter where we planned to have dinner. Okay, so I’m a bit nervous again. Even in my younger years, I wasn’t crazy about crowds milling around going in and out of shops and bars and restaurants. It was fun to experience it; but once is enough for me. I can now say I ate at the Hard Rock Café on Bourbon Street. (Never been to a Hard Rock Café before either. Very tasty.) After a few wrong turns (road construction, again), we headed out of New Orleans. Another wonderful, blessed day. Almost forgot, we encountered a youth group wearing bright orange shirts passing out free water bottles at the park. They were on a spring break mission trip and each morning and afternoon they were doing something around the city to bless others. Love the people we are encountering.

On our way to New Orleans, we stopped at the Infinity Science Center/NASA Stennis Space Center. Stennis is the largest NASA rocket testing center in the US. Bill was pretty pumped about this place. Me too! I’ve always loved the space program. Infinity serves as the welcome center and has hands on exhibits. This is also where you register (with a picture ID) before you can board the tour bus that takes you to the Stennis Space Center which sits on 13,500 acres. There’s an additional 125,000 acres that serves as a buffer zone. Apparently those rockets make a lot of noise…dah. Needless to say the Stennis Space Center doesn’t take up all 13,500 acres, there’s 30 other government, private, and public companies and agencies that are also located on the property. Not sure what they do when the rockets are tested. We stayed on the bus for the entire tour except one time when we were allowed to get out and take pictures of a couple of the rocket testers. I got a great picture of Bill in front of one, but still waiting to figure out how to put them on the blog.

We’re still in the RV Park in Gulfport and we’ve seen a lot of people come and go already. Some people are really on the move. Me, I like staying in one place for awhile, a week, at least. So I was happy when Bill said that was what he was planning. The couple right next to us have been to AirVenture many many times and have good memories of Oshkosh. That’s always nice to hear.

Tuesday was a “work” day for me. So I spent a bit of time in the morning working for His House and Bill just puttered around. The afternoon took us again to those white sandy beaches on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. This time we didn’t just drive up and down the coast. I wanted to walk on the water’s edge and listen to the waves (one of my favorite things to do) which is exactly what we did. So beautiful. So relaxing. So wonderful. Once we sat down, Bill, of course, fell asleep. He definitely is taking advantage of this whole retirement thing. Good for him. Praise the Lord! We did a little shopping and Bill even said he enjoyed walking through the huge mall. Now, that’s a first! We’ve been looking for a grill that is compact and meets all Bill’s requirements (not an easy task). We’ve also been looking for a collapsible portable chair with a foot rest for Bill and one with a canopy for me. It appears that we will have to order them on line and have them sent to wherever we plan on being depending on the shipping time schedule. This could be interesting.

Okay, so there are some challenges to living on the road, but we’re really enjoying it. I’m still amazed that it really feels like home. We do all the same things in our home now that we could do on Ohio Street; just in a smaller area. We have all we need and for that we are truly grateful.