I was great online between 2:30 and 4:30. I got a bunch of photos uploaded and just as I was posting the update was "All aboard" time. I could literally feel the slow of the WiFi as everyone picked up their tablets after coming home from their shore excursions
In my best broken German I told them that I had the room on the other side of the boat and just wanted to look at the shore for a bit. They seemed OK with that and went on to ignore me.
Um... well, at least you tried to be friendly.
This bridge was off in the distance and I heard a group of guys all excited to see the stacks retract to go under the bridge. The boat could make itself as low as 55ft tall for low bridges.
Wow! That would be cool to see!
Those who followed the house Saga remember that there were some nasty neighbors who wouldn't approve our building plans (it's a historic district). Well her friend painted their house, but they shunned the historic committee and painted it the color they initially wanted and not the one that was approved. The commission said they would let it go if no one complained. One. Person. Complained. They had to repaint. I laughed because I know just who it was. Our next door neighbor. Isn't it funny what a small world we live in?
Definitely a small world!
don't think anyone fancied having Prince Naveen for a starter and everyone went for the Shrimp and avocado tower. There was a small problem though. It appears they misjudged their clientele. Hardly anyone fancied Prince Naveen for a starter.
So what do you do with a literal boat load of frog legs that nobody wants to eat?
Again the wine was flowing, but Fran kept a better handle on it. At one point they ran out of the red wine and had to break into a more expensive bottle. Nigel got a glass of it and I said that I wanted one. The waiter said, "She told me you were done!"
we both tried to keep it light again but couldn't resist what looked like Beignets on the buffet.
I was going to say something about how you did keep it light by going with beignets...
We couldn't have been more wrong. They were not light fluffy little pillows of goodness, they were doughy little boulders of evil. Well, something to look forward to in New Orleans. Fran’s Plate.
But then I read this. Sorry they were disappointing.
As we climbed the hill, our guide explained that back in the day (1800s) for someone on the bluff, it would be scandalous to have traveled down to the river's edge, as that was a den of sin, with gambling, drinking and women of ill repute. So just another day in the life!
Sounds like my kind of place!
The Indians were here first.
This could be the first line in the history of literally every city in the US.
It never recovered in the area after that because once the boll weevil was wiped out, they had overfarmed the land and leached out all the nutrients in the soil. Rotate your crops people.
And that is why you apply fertilizer. Although I'm sure soil sampling for fertility and gridding out the fertility of a field was probably some science that came along after the boll weevil. I'm guessing the plantations also didn't have sufficient livestock to help with fertility either.
Hey! I stayed there when I went to Disney World.
It really shows you how well detailed the Disney resorts are though. That definitely looks like something straight out of Port Orleans.
Really? No pictures? What secrets are they hiding?
They spent 9 years building the house and Frederick Stanton lived in the house 9 months before he passed.
Seems like that's how the story goes for a lot of these large mansions.
His wife was left to run the house and plantation three children. He left her $200,000 which she converted to confederate dollars. When the war ended she had to sell off much of their property just to cover the taxes on the house owed to the US government. She lived until she was 86 in 1893. And when she died the children tried to live in the house, but it was such an impractical home, it was sold and became a girl’s school. The classes were held downstairs in the living room and the girls lived in the bedrooms upstairs. When the house was going to be torn down two women of the garden club (who were schooled in the house) convinced their husbands to pool their resources and purchase the house. It was run as a B&B, but they had to add bathrooms out on the patio. Then it was purchased and turned into a museum.
Interesting story. I'm glad they managed to save it. So much history there.
Another fun fact! This house served as the inspiration for
Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion! Take another look.
Yep... Disney does their homework and makes things authentic!
We also pitied the poor sod who had to tie the boat up today.
Hope he brought his hip waders.
Then we got a brilliant idea to make mini sandwiches out of the rolls and corned beef on the buffet.
Good idea!
I found it interesting that all these houses were built on stilts.
I guess you learn after the first few floods.
This was a house that at one time was a plantation manor, but the original house burned down in the Civil War. In the 1890s, it was rebuilt in the Victorian style. The homeowner still lives there and leads the tours herself. She only gives them for passengers on the American Queen. She is a descendant of the original owner
Wow! That's cool!
Can you imagine riding up this impressive drive in your horse and carriage?
Amazing. Wouldn't it be something to see these places back in their prime?
With the boll weevil wiping out the cotton crop, they had to find new income. They realized that there was a market in charging for tours of their grand house. Between the cost of admission and a merchandising plan, which included selling postcards featuring their father sitting on the porch waving to the guests, they were able to squeak out a living until they died in the 1950s.
Hmm... smart move!
When the family was away summering in Saratoga Springs NY
Wow... going all the way from the deep south to NY in the mid-1800's. To think of the time and money it would have taken just to make that trip back then.
Martha Washington cross stitched this for the couple as her sister’s great granddaughter married the Turnbull’s son who was killed crossing the Mississippi at age 27.
Wow!
Another look at the slave staircase.
Tight squeeze. Hope you're not claustrophobic.
I decided to try and do laundry again. There was loads running in the washer but they only had about 10 more minutes so I ran down to the room (not really, my legs were too tired to do that) and got my hamper full of dirty clothes. When I came upstairs the person using the machines was just finishing up, so I got both machines and started my whites in one machine and the rest of the load in the other. I set the timer in my phone to sync with the washer and went back to the room.
I'm glad you were finally able to do your laundry. I was afraid you were going to say that you got back up there and someone else had taken them.
