N'awlins et al.: Mobile

On May 13, 2021, we drove from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama, to spend a day and a night.  Although our primary goal was a tour of the battleship, USS Alabama, we found many other delights, as well.  We left the freeway as soon as we reached Mississippi and drove the road that followed the beach. Jonny told me how much he loves the Gulf Coast, and I liked it so well that, as we drove along, I searched the RCI database and reserved a condo week in Biloxi, Mississippi, for April 2022! 

The Biloxi beach is rated by Southern Living Magazine as one of the best in the South.

In Mobile, we stopped for an hour at GulfQuest, the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico.  My favorite exhibit was a huge globe that could be programmed to show different sets of information.  With the flick of a guide's switch, it showed the surge of plane flights around the world going in different directions during different times of day.  With a flick of the switch again, it showed what the world looks like from space, with lights flashing on around the world as day turned into night.  When we return to the Gulf Coast next spring, we will certainly spent more time at GulfQuest. 

I am the daughter of two naval officers, and I love ships.  Because of or in spite of his four years in the Air Force, Dave also loves military paraphernalia of all kinds, including both ships and planes.  There are just two aircraft carriers on display in the US—in New York City and San Diego.  We have visited both.  Battleships are part of the retinue accompanying aircraft carriers—the next biggest ships to the carriers. 

We took the three self-guided tours around the ship, from the boiler room at the bottom to the big guns on top, passing through the woefully crowded enlisted men's bunk rooms and the storage areas for the bombs.

I thought of my father, who spent 1942 in Princeton teaching naval officers to shoot the big guns on battleships.

 

We finished the day with the Bienville Bites food tour of the trendy LoDa section of Mobile.

First stop was a "speak easy" restaurant in the basement of an elegant Art Noueau office building.  The building lobby was resplendent with shimmering murals.  Mobile prides itself on the first Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. originating there.  There are still large Mardi Gras celebrations every year.

We stopped at six different restaurants, of many types, ending up on the patio of a New Southern cafe, nibbling at a huge charcuterie board and buying small batch jams in its shop.

Of course, along the way, there was a cup of gumbo.

The guests were as interesting as the tour itself.  The biggest group on the tour was a selection of cosmeticians.  They were decked out in stylish clothes and a lot of makeup!  Dave and I hung out with a couple who lived in a tiny Alabama town and were in Mobile to celebrate their 12^th wedding anniversary.  By chance, the man worked at a paper box company headquartered in Salt Lake City!