From Tallahassee, we went south west to Destin, Fl on the gulf. This town is booming like no other we have seen yet. I counted about eight huge 20-30 story resort and condo's being built in different areas. We then seen a historic factory outlet built way back in the spring of 2005. Admission was free, but they still got our money. The kids almost caused a mutiny, but order was finally restored.



We stayed in Mobile, Al then took in the USS Alabama battleship and the USS Drum submarine. Both served extensively in WWII. The aircraft hangar and the planes inside suffered extensive damage from hurricane Katrina. In fact, the battleship was used as a hurricane refuge for 18 families during Katrina. We were not able to get up close to the planes, which included a Blackbird, Corsair, Mustang, Hornet, and Eagle.




From there we headed back along the coast. We tried driving US90, but too many bridges are still out. The bridge on I-10 had temporary iron sections put in on the concrete bridge. We booked a room in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Now we just need to get in there. Traffic is totally blocked, and we have moved about 300 yards in the last half hour. We did see a dead alligator alongside the road. When I got out to see what was going on, which turned out to be an accident, the lady behind us said with a smile, "Welcome to New Orleans". The accident was two Nissan Titans and a Dodge Hemi Ram, with one Titan and the Dodge totalled and the other Titan perhaps not totalled but quite a bit of damage.