Great River Road

[finnbay]

Beth and I were fortunate to have a couple of weeks to go on a road trip. Just got back a Sunday evening. We traveled the entire length of the Great River Road, starting at Lake Itasca and following the Mississippi all the way down to the Gulf (or as close as we could get). Lots of interesting stuff along the way. Here is an introduction, and I'll be posting some small photo essays over the next couple of days showing our entire trip:

We started at Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi:

And went through the following states over the next few days:

[Deitz Dittrich]

I cant wait to see the photos of this trip.. On the edge of my chair.. Thanks for doing this Ken!

[finnbay]

......

Finishing as far as we could drive south of Venice, LA:

Picked up Arkansas on the way home:

Great trip and lots of adventures!

[Steve Foss]

Fun stuff, Ken. Definitely looking forward to more!

[dockothebay]

Great start, can't wait to see and read more...

[finnbay]

Things to see along the Great River on the way down.

Although we had several days to travel, you'd need a month to stop and see everything. Was difficult to pick and choose what we wanted to spend time at. So, these are a few of the highlights.

CAUTION!!! I was just a tourist photographer with many shots in these essays. A quick grab shot here and there appear, as well as some that I tried to set up. Hope you don't hold that against me!

Itasca State Park itself is a great place to visit:

Would have liked to have eaten at the "Big Fish" but it was closed for the season:

Really wanted to see the bluff country and southwest Wisconsin but we hit that in a snowstorm (over 9 inches before it was done) so most of what we saw looked like this:

Started out day 2 and the first thing we came across was "Holy Ghost Park" in Dickeyville, WI:

Stopped to get gas in Leclaire, IA and as I was pumping noticed this car in the alley behind the gas station. Asked the teller if it was really "American Pickers" and she said it sure was!

Lots of great overlooks of the Mississippi along the way:

Took a much needed break in Hannibal, MO and visited the Mark Twain historical part of that city:

Sorry guys, did not visit Graceland on our way through Memphis, but we did go by it:

Spent our last road night on the way down in Vicksburg, MS. Visited the Civil War battlefield there. More on that in the next post:

[finnbay]

Siege of Vicksburg.

Vicksburg National Park and National Cemetary. Very interesting morning spent here.

Battlefield armaments, positions and stories all through the park:

The Shirley House. Oldest remaining original building associated with the battle. Union used it as a hospital during the siege.

Memorial from the state of Minnesota:

Looking into the entrance to the memorial from the state of Illinois:

Union soldiers attempted to take this position by charging into a solid wall of fire as they went up the hill:

U.S.S. Cairo - Union armoured gunboat, sunk only a few months after it was commisioned. Raised and partially restored, I believe in the '90's:

Vicksburg National Cemetary:

U.S. Grant overlooking the battlefield:

[finnbay]

A word on the weather. We saw a lot of flooding, both on the way down and on the way back. We went right through Cairo, IL on the way down and the water was almost on the road leading out of that city at that time. We missed all the tornados. The closest was about 125 miles north of where we were staying. We saw some of the rural tornado damage in Mississippi and stayed in a motel in Oceola, AK that had lost phone and internet due to the storm and hadn't had it repaired yet.

Driving across the Mississippi in Iowa:

We call the lady that speaks to us on our GPS, Lois. She got really confused when we got to this:

This is where Lois sent us to get around the closed highway:

[finnbay]

One of the first sightseeing tours we took was of a cane sugar plantation called "Laura". This was a "creole" plantation which meant it was owned by a French family as opposed to an "American" plantation. You usually could tell the difference right away because a creole mansion was painted with bright colors, and an American plantation was white.

Awesome gardens:

Slave housing. This building was built for slaves in the 1830's and was occupied continuously until 1974:

The overseers house:

[finnbay]

We were intrigued by the Mystery House in Abita Springs, LA. Call themselves the "UCM Museum"!

Curator said a spaceship hit their Airstream!

[Dbl]

What a great experience! That looks like it would be a ball! Thanks for sharing your trip Ken.

[finnbay]

Critters. I couldn't go on a trip without taking some critter shots!

These are made by "mudbugs". What we call crayfish!

Is this a loggerhead?

[finnbay]

How 'bout some gator action!

Our guide got this fella to "dance" by sticking his fingers in the water and letting the gator chase his hand out. I think his name was "Stubba"!

[Grum]

What a great adventure! thanks for sharing it with us. Very nice photos.

[finnbay]

South to Venice. Our plan was to dip our toes in the headwaters of the Mississippi and then in the gulf. Unfortunately, you can only get so close to the gulf by land. Venice is at the end of the road and that is about 75 miles south of New Orleans. So, we got as close as we could. We talked to one shrimp boat captain as he was getting ready to go out and he said it would take 45 minutes to an hour from there to actually get to the gulf.

I was looking for Forrest Gump, but couldn't find his boat:

EVERYTHING is built on stilts down here!

Cemetaries are built above ground:

A look down the Mississippi from the end of the road towards the gulf:

[finnbay]

Ah, the French Quarter! Merci!

Having a beignet at Cafe' Du Monde:

[finnbay]

Take this with a grain of salt. We took the Haunted History walking tour of the French Quarter. This was our guide:

One of the places that is supposedly haunted is Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar. While we stopped there, I took a photo of Beth sitting at one of the tables:

When she looked at the photo she took (at the same time), this is what showed up on her phone camera:

I'm just sayin'

[finnbay]

Bayou Country.

We took two swamp tours while we were down there. The first was geared more for the tourist, but we got to see a lot of nice stuff. The second was a little more serious by a guy who contracts with companies for work in the swamp. He's worked for National Geographic, IMAX, surveying companies, professional photographers, oil companies,etc. When things get slow, he takes us tourists out to see his swamp. Most of these shots are from just west of Huoma.

[finnbay]

Swamp people.

The fella on the left was our guide. He lives on the edge of Bayou Black and has a "camp" in the bayou itself. Besides his airboat work, he hunts, traps and fishes in the swamp.

Well, that's about it. Hope you enjoy the photos!

[captainshane]

Awesome stuff Ken. Looked like a fun trip!!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

NOOO, you cant be done..... Im addicted now!!!! MORE!!

[Jim Almquist]

Looks like a great time Ken!

I was just telling the wife that I would like to take a road trip down that way someday. Start at N.O. and head to Florida.

[micpic]

Now that's what I call a great vacation! You got a little bit of everthing that's for sure. Great viewing and reading! Thanks

Mike

[St_Croix_Banks]

I enjoyed the journey. Thanks.

[dockothebay]

That was awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing. I loved our trip through New Orleans a couple of years ago and your images brought back some great memories and gave me a few more places to visit on our next trip

Thanks again--