Topic starter
24/09/2013 3:24 pm
Normally the humidity here doesn't bother me, but we've had such glorious dry weather at home, it really hit when I arrived Monday. This actually feels more like summer than a late September day in NOLA.
The river is low, about 3 feet. It had dropped to 2.6. The sandbar is emerging again by the Moonwalk, but it has gaps in it yet so I'm not going to venture out on it unless it dries out more this week.
1) Here she comes...
2) There she goes. Look closely and you'll see the sandbar ahead of her.
3) It is amazing to me that this sandbar can appear just a few hundred yards away from the deepest point in the river in Algiers Bend. Last night it was showing about 141 feet in the area we traversed...the NATCHEZ is in the distance upbound around the Point in this pix.
Topic starter
24/09/2013 3:28 pm
More aboard the NATCHEZ
1) Sitting midships on the Hurricane Deck upon landing, Capt. Don Houghton out on the wingbridge.
2) This is the submersible ship SWIFT, which is getting set up to take on more towboats and barges to be shipped overseas. Pilothouse window trim gets in the way, sorry.
3) Passengers and crew are taking pictures during the dinner trip of the Dukes of Dixieland and a special guest singer last night....
Topic starter
24/09/2013 3:31 pm
Nightfall on the NATCHEZ
1) That special guest singer was Dick VanDyke, who was riding in anonymity until the Dukes called him up to do a number with them. He used to live in NOLA and worked at a local TV station.
2) The city at nightfall.
3) The city from behind two stacks...
Topic starter
25/09/2013 3:29 am
Tuesday was mostly inside in a/c
Today was supposed to be rainy all day so I decided it was finally time to tour the WWII Museum, which I knew would take most of the day. The place is unbelievable - even if it were only the first building with the short movies and displays, it would be something. But then add the Boeing building almost like a hangar which displays several aircraft suspended from the ceiling, the bomber My Gal Sal being the largest; the American Sector restaurant, the Soda Shop in 1940s decor, and the two huge movie theaters showing a 4D Tom Hanks movie and one in a submarine (neither of which did I think I a claustrophobic could handle), and it is really a complex. Ever since it opened, we have seen an increase of tour groups on the NATCHEZ who have come to town specifically for the WWII Museum. I only hope that as the Greatest Generation leaves that we don't lose interest in that era. After spending most of the day there, I went back to the river, to the Westbank specifically, thinking I'd photograph the NATCHEZ coming around Algiers Point. Two problems: the afternoon gully washer struck just as she was appearing, and the batteries in my camera were dying. So here is one distant shot of her approaching the landing, as she blends in with the FQ buildings in the background, and a pix of the brick I bought to honor my father at the museum. I was one of the first to purchase I guess, as it lies just a few feet from the main entrance...and one taken from the 3rd floor catwalk looking down on the Boeing lobby and plane display - I couldn't stomach the 4th floor one, this was high enough!
No special celebrities on the dinner cruise, just the usual magnificent sounds of the Dukes of Dixieland under the leadership of Kevin Clark...
I should add that since the wi-fi wasn't working in my room, I was forced to come down to the bar by the pool to use my laptop. And since I didn't want to look like a freeloader, I bought a glass of wine. Oh, the tough life that is New Orleans....
