Road Trip: South - Capitals Tour
Day 3: Friday, May 19, 2017 - Mobile, AL
Weather: 87, partly cloudy
Steps: 13,816 (Steve); 13,543 (Linda)
Drove: 185 miles
We woke up to a continental breakfast. This hotel had a nifty machine that allows you to press a button and two fully cooked
pancakes fall off a conveyer belt, on request and freshly cooked. Much like the make your own waffles, but fully automated.
After breakfast, we packed up the car and headed out to the
Mobile Carnival Museum (aka the Mardi Gras Museum). We traveled
through what looked like a wealthy area - some very nice and large old-money looking mansions. We were told otherwise by the docent
at the museum, but frankly, I don't believe her because the homes looked too nice, too big and in too good of condition.
We spent a good two hours going through the museum. After a short
film there was a simulated float with costumes available for picture taking.
The rest of the museum had costums, artifacts and decor.
In addition to the costums, there were also long trains worn by the kings and queens from quite a few parades and ceremonies. In the
videos, you could see some of the people wearing the trains walking while clearly leaning forward some, obviously struggling to tow
the trains behind them. Here are some of those (these are very elaborate - and if you look at the first sample in purple, you will
see the initials of the family members that wore the train), of which some are behind glass and have a reflection.
Of course we had to hit up the gift shop...
Since we did finish early, we asked the docent about the area. She mentioned an old Catholic church on the next block
over. It was called the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. So we went to take a look at it.
The dome on approach and the front, including a close up of the iron work in the front gate.
Pictures of the front altar as well as some nice staind glass windows. Even the doors has stained glass on them.
The pipe organ.
While walking amongst the pews, we suddenly spied a spiral staircase going down. Under the
altar area, or at least under the front of the church, was a small chapel.
Across the street from the church was a quaint little park, called Bienville Square. There was a
man playing a trumpet on the outskirt of the park too. We were told the tall pointy building in
the background on the left is the tallest building in Alabama.
And across the street from the park was the church... But across
another street from the park was the Porter House, which was now closed.
We happened upon a pop-up art gallery while walking about too. They were in the middle of changing the displays.
The display being replaced was that of some glass work.
Did you get a class ring from Josten's? I did (still have it too [who doesn't still have their class
ring?]). This is either a store - which I had never seen before - the actual single location they make
them all or a store and they make the mass orders off-site somewhere else.
We had a sightseeing map that highlighted a couple other sites for us to look at. We continued down the street
further to see some historical places, and saw some nice architecture and sites along the way.
Some murals (one store had a mural on the front, on both sides of the door; and a mural on another building).
When we hit a spot that seemed like a far way away from where we started, let's say about 12 blocks, we just happen to find a
barbeque restaurant called Moe's Original Barbeque (in case you
were wondering, yes, the stop was planned). There was some minor communication issue or an assumed understanding, but we did
not get prompt service. It turns out that you are supposed to place your order at the register, they give you a number and you
wait at your table for them to bring it. Linda had a grilled mahi with marinated slaw and pickles sandwhich while I had the
large order of ribs. I was considering the small (4 bones), but since the large (6 bones) was only two dollars more, I just
couldn't pass it up. Someone in the kitchen can't count, but I'm not complaining because I got SEVEN instead. Along with a piece
corn bread, baked beans (that had a good amount of pork in it giving a new meaning to pork and beans), and marinated slaw.
Across from the restaurant was an old fire house that was converted to offices.
When we first were arriving at the Carnival Museum, we passed it. So we drove around the block to get to
the parking lot. While doing so, we saw a fountain in a park. After lunch, we headed back toward the
Carnival Museum where the car was still parked. We walked on another street that ran parallel to the street
we took to the restaurant. First we came across a sculpture in front of the School of Art.
I said "I wonder where that fountain is that we saw?" pretty much while taking the above picture. Literally
five seconds later I said "Oh, there it is!" It turned out to be Mobile's Spanish Fountain. The park
that contained the fountain also had Friendship Arches, Famous Monuments of Spain and Concrete Benches.
We trudged back to the super hot car and headed out of town. This afternoon's adventure would take us south of Mobile
to the Bellingrath House and Gardens. It was a surprise for
Linda and we owe thanks to my coworker Cheryl for the recommendation. After we finally found the place, we started to
make our way to the house - a quarter mile back. We came across some flora before and after the rose garden.
We came upon the rose garden that had some retaining ponds and a fountain. As we passed by
most of the patches of roses, they emitted a nice aroma that was really strong.
In the rose garden was a hot house with some really nice orchids and some other flora.
We almost got an exclusive personal guided tour of the house, but someone showed up about a minute after we started so there were
just the three of us. The owners, the Bellingraths, were Coca Cola bottling franchise owners and they had great wealth - from the
early to mid 1900's. The house was really nice and a couple of the rooms were quite spectacular. And all the furniture is original.
These porcelin items include figureines, tea pots, sugar holders and other oddities.
After the house tour, we continued to explore the grounds. Right outside the back of the house was a patio overlooking the river.
There was a porcelin display from Edward Marshall Boehm (pronounced "beam").
Yes, porcelin - the material you are probably more used to seeing in tea cups and toilets.
The grounds were vast. We walked and saw a lot of flora.
We even came across a boardwalk that circled a river inlet. There were quite a few salamanders too.
And the gazebo garden.
And a japanese garden. With koi in the pond.
We did a lot of walking around the grounds and saw a number of sites.
There was even a chapel on the property.
After almost four hours at the house (including the tour), it was time to head out. We had plans to go to a
location called Hacienda San Miguel. Right
up the road, on the way in we passed an old church. On the way out, we stopped to take a picture of it. It
was a First Baptist Church. Linda said "It looks like THE first Baptist Church."
Google Maps indicated we had a good twenty minute drive to the restaurant. However, we got to the end of the road we were on,
turned right to go north, and poof, on the right was the restaurant. Sort of. It turns out there are five locations - so it
was serendipitous that we stumbled on this one - saved us more than a half hour of driving. Also, while there are five
different locations, qualifying the establishment as a chain, we felt that since it was a local group of restaurants and not one of
the national chains (think Burger King, Taco Bell or Domino's) we still satisfied our attempt to not eat at a chain. It was Mexican
(in case you couldn't tell from its name) and Linda had the shrimp taco salad (two fish meals on a Friday) and I had the chicken
burrito (no fish meals on a Friday [not that it is a non-Lenten obligation, just something we usually try to do year round]).
Time to get back into the car and drive. Another couple hours - or 150 miles - to go. While we could have
hopped back on Route 10 - afterall, Route 10 connects Tallahassee with LA and passes through New Orleans and Baton Rouge -
we chose to take Route 90. Route 90 hugs the coast. And by hugs the coast, I mean we drove through Biloxi,
Mississippi, and there was sand on the road from the beaches - and hurricaine Katrina - to our immediate south between
us and the Gulf. We also came across a lighthouse - which we were told was pretty much the only structure remaining
standing after Katrina came through.
It was a leisurely drive with traffic lights, some heavier traffic in spots - especially Biloxi, which was loaded with casinos,
and some slow areas due to small towns, but it was a nice ride and we got to see parts of the coutry we may never see
again. These shots, in the Biloxi area, include the city line going into Biloxi, the Gulf, and the Visitor's Center.
We stopped in one of those small towns right across the Lousianna state line to bring some wine back to the room.
We arrived in the Cressent City by about 9:30. We made our way to our room and settled in for the night. Since we were staying in this city for two nights - the only city we spent more than one night in - we were able to unpack a little. Very little - just hung some clothes up. We stayed at the Treme Hotel. It is a little older, but generally nice. There were a couple things we were not crazy about - such as a lack of an iron and ironing board, no hair dryer (for those that have seen me or saw me in any of the pictures here, you will know this wasn't a problem for me), and a lack of shelf space (for toiletries or towels) in the bathroom. This was the first hotel - and hopefully last - where we had a little visitor. A visitor of the entomological kind (roach). It was a little on the large size - I'd say at least an inch in length, and probably closer to two - but nothing my sneaker couldn't take care of with one shot.
We left the bathroom light on for the duration of our visit.
FUN FACT: Mardi Gras really started in Mobile, though New Orleans has made it a destination.