Road Trip Pt 2

In Part 2, Wendy and Garner drove across Texas taking NO pictures and successfully staying only 1 night. The 13-hour day was worth it!
So these pictures start in New Orleans, Louisiana go on to Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.
We end with 2 pictures of us at Diana's new house in Greenville, NC after a wonderful 10-day road trip across the southern U.S.!



DAY 7: (Above Far L) We stayed on Royal St. in New Orlean's French Quarter which fortunately looks the same as always, filled with colorful local characters (Above L statue of a apparently famous butcher), tourists who walk around with alcohol-filled "to go" cups, and jazz bands (Above R) playing all day and night. Of course we stopped for a Cafe Americaino and beignet at the French Market, preserved by Major "Dutch" Morial (Above Far R a plaque dedicated to him). Unfortunately, not all of New Orleans fared so well. Houses in the Lower 9th Ward (Below L & R) have 1 or 2 houses that have partially recovered, surrounded by still-condemned neighboring homes. Very sad and according to locals, totally unnecessary because the Army Corps of Engineers failed to build the seawalls correctly whose collapse precipitated levee failures.


	*DAY 8: Onward to Savannah, Georgia...*

That damned Yankee, General Sherman, did destroy much of Savannah, but much gentility survived including the tradition of houses built around squares and lots of old architecture . (Above Far L) Our hotel, the Plantation Inn, is a converted post-civil war business building across from a square dedicated to John Wesley (sign Above L). A few blocks away, Chippewa Square (Above R) and nearby is a park with a huge fountain (Above Far R).


(Above Far L) Garner stops for a brief rest in the shade of another lovely square, then we pause at the stone (Above L) memorializing Savannah's 1st Jewish cemetery which was approved by religiously-tolerant James Oglethorpe (statue Above R), founder of the colony/state of Georgia. Due to post-civil war rebuilding, Savannah's architecture ranges widely from colonial to Victorian, including hints of French in its iron-worked balconies (Above Far R), window, and fences.


Garish Victorian homes (Above Far L) are neighborly with Federal-style row houses (Above L to Far r). One interesting architectural note is the round iron plate (Above R) which apparently enables an iron beam to be inserted and/or adjusted underneath the main floor to straighten a house which settles at too much of a tilt.

	*DAY 9: Next stop Charleston, SC*

Our last city tour is on a mule-drawn carriage. We're told mules are stronger than horses so clearly (Above Far L) deserve better care. Our ride takes us down a cute shopping street with a store named for Wendy's daughter Diana (Above L). We pass many historical sites such as (Above R) a powder magazine dating pre-Revolutionary War and another historic pre-Civil War building (Above Far R).


The "shotgun" house style (Above Far L) is very popular because in the "old days" taxes were based on house width facing the street, thus often a house was situated sideways on a plot of land with just one room and door fronting the road. The term "shotgun" derived from the fact that if you opened both the back and front doors, you could shoot straight through the home. Homes along the Atlantic Ocean (Above L & R) were often as impressive as the views. The rooftop from our hotel, the Market Pavilion, overlooked (Above Far L and Below L) modern bridges and container shops as well as the early 1800's Exchange Building--quite spectacular.


*DAY 10: Final Destination* We ended our road trip at Diana's newly purchased townhouse in Greenville, NC (R in front and Far R inside her living room). This was a totally delightful journey from start to finish!!!