Travelling on the I-75 north fromNorth Fort Myers was familiar to us. When we turned west on I-10, we were in new territory. We had often talked about looking into Panama City and Beach, but never made it until this trip. We stayed overnight in Panama City, walking to the Gulf waterfront and remarking on the unexpected industrial port shipping facilities that we could see. The next morning, we rode along the shoreline until we came to an amusement area on that part of Panama City Beach. Strong winds did not keep young folks from trying to play volleyball. The waves were high. You could see that the beaches were excellent and extremely well-used in Panama City Beach. Continuing, we travelled northward back to I-10 and drove along the delta and shoreline of Alabama and Mississippi. There were many bridges over wetlands, and the shifting, sandy shores were unexpectedly close to the roadway. It was a moderately long day on the road and I-10 took us right into Louisiana and downtown New Orleans. Our first stop was to our prearranged dog sitter for our 13-yearold Cairn Terrier (the Wizard of Oz dog) Toto. Using Rover.com, we were able to find a well-referenced dog sitter near our hotel, leaving us free to enjoy our three worry-free nights in NOLA. We used an app from a company called VIATOR to prearrange a familiarization tour of New Orleans parishes and sites the next morning. A guided tour is a good way to learn the history of an area and identify sites at which you may want to spend more time. Watching YouTube videos over the weeks before we left Florida had educated us regarding what others found important to experience, and made it easier to recognize the sites as we drove through New Orleans. Our tour went through the beautiful largehome Garden District, and we stopped for a walkabout in one of the above-ground cemetery sites. These sites were often family plots and when toomany were in the above-ground crypt, they would collect and bag the bones of the longer dead, to make room for a recent family member, placing the bones in a hole in the floor! Continuing, we toured through the French Quarter and in the large City Park, we had NewOrleans exclusive beignets (a white powder-coated doughnut) at Café duMonde food service. A favourite tour stop of mine was the location of the first break in the levee during hurricane Katrina. We could see that the water on one side of the repaired levee was in line with the much lower roof eaves of houses on the land side. No wonder things were destroyed by floodwaters. Engineers felt that they had it right, but nature was underestimated. Fascinating storyboard information and an actual home devastation was set up like a museum to the loss, for us to experience. On return, the tour bus dropped us off and we independently chose to spend more time in Jackson Square, attend mass at the beautiful St. Louis cathedral, visit the French Quarter market, have a beer and shop on Bourbon Street, lunch onmuffuletta, gumbo and jambalaya at the highly recommended Napoleon House Restaurant and end the first day at Louis Armstrong commemorative community park. Lunch, Napoleon House restaurant Jackson Square, St. Louis cathedral, French Quarter, New Orleans Burial chamber, St. Louis cemetery no. 3 CSANews | SUMMER 2022 | 23 Travel
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