Friday, June 3, 2011

Mobile, AL to Destin, FL

Actually, it's Fort Walton beach, but Destin is just to the east a few short miles. Easy drive today from Mobile.

Here's what we look at out the window:
 The sand is white and the water is quite warm, I'm told. I haven't been in.

That's it for now. More later.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Baton Rouge to Mobile

This was a short trip, relatively, but much of the day was spent in downtown Baton Rouge.

The first stop was the State Capitol. I've been in many capitol buildings, as part of my work at one time, but Baton Rouge is one I had never  before visited.
Louisana Capitol Building

This is a 34-story building with many offices, the Senate and House chambers and an observation platform on the 30th floor.

There are 48 steps leading up to the entrance, each with the name of one of the original 48 states and the year of entry. The last two states, Alaska and Hawaii,  did not result in additional steps, but rather their names were added on either side of the name on the top step (Arizona).













Both the Senate and the House were in session, so we went into the visitor gallery.
House chamber

Senate chamber
The House was debating a bill about judicial appointment.












The Senate was debating to which organization a call should be in the event of a disturbance on Fish and Wildlife property, the Sheriff or F & W.










The observation platform is a walkway outside the 30th floor, with railings that are about 4 feet high. It looks like an ideal suicide platform! The view was spectacular, though.
View looking southwest

The view to the north was almost exclusively oil refineries, to the northwest, the Mississippi, to the southeast, business buildings.

This is a view southwest, showing the park in front of the capitol building and a bit of traffic on the Mississippi.






Next was a visit to the nearby State Historical Museum, a well done view of significant contributors to the Louisiana culture, such as Huey Long, oil, Louis Armstrong, agriculture and much more. It is fairly new, being built in 1996.
State Museum
Exhibit of Louisiana Purchase

This exhibit is one of the very many skillfully illustrating an important part of the Louisiana history. The Purchase brought into the US about a third of what is now the 48 contiguous states.

We also drove around the LSU campus, a beautiful campus with many trees of various types. Live Oak and Magnolia predominate.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

San Antonio to Baton Rouge

Today's trip was a full day of driving, some 500 miles. The wind has died down, thankfully, and the sky was overcast part of the day, making it less uncomfortable for a while.

We stopped at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, in Portal, TX, just east of Houston. There is a memorial column dedicated to the battle fought here on April 21, 1836.
Memorial Column

The column is 576 feet high and towers over the 1,200 acre battleground. A Museum of History is in its base with exhibits, pictures and a video. All are free but the video.

Construction of the column was begun in 1936, commemorating the 1836 battle.

There is an observation deck at the top.












The base of the column has inscriptions describing the battle and the events leading up to it.