US New Orleans Trip 2025
We just spent a week-and-a-bit in southern part of United States, so here’s a bunch of photos and some random thoughts!
Aistė went for a work related conference in New Orleans, and we (myself and our two kids) joined her after that. A bit in New Orleans, then driving across the Gulf of Mexico coast towards Orlando.
I wanted to see New Orleans mostly due to its historical importance for music, and we wanted to end the trip in Kennedy Space Center due to, well, “space! rockets!”
New Orleans
The conference Aistė attended was great, but she was struck by anxiety experienced by her American colleagues regarding all the current shitshow in the country. Decades of achievements in diversity, inclusion, healthcare access, scientific advancements are wiped away by some idiot manbabies. We still remember the not-too-distant times when the “head of the state” was above all reason, rules and logic, and that is not a great setup :(
Anyway. New Orleans definitely looks different than most other US cities I’ve been to. However, I somehow expected something more, but not sure what exactly. Maybe more spontaneous / magic music moments? They are probably happening somewhere, we just did not stumble into them. Several times we saw homeless people playing music in their own bands out in the parks, and while that is cool, it is also sad.
New Orleans National WWII Museum
I did not have high expectations going into WWII museum; I expected something bombastic, proudly proclaiming how US victoriously planted their flag and saved the world (no reason to think like this, I just have stereotypes). The museum is nothing like that; I think it conveys wery well how a war is really a shit situation, and everything is terrible there. Both the Pacific Theater and the European Theater exhibits are full of stories of failed operations, strategic miscalculations, and so on.
That last photo above however… how quaint! <gestures at, well, everything around>
Whitney Plantation
I had not realized that many plantations continued to operate well into the 20th century, often with the same people working at them that used to be slaves. “You are free now! Except you have no property, money, or education. Good luck out there!”
The last picture is from a nearby Evergreen Plantation which is closed now. You might have seen the house in Django Unchained.
Barataria Preserve
Some nice bayou trails near New Orleans at Barataria Preserve.
Battleship Memorial Park
Driving towards Orlando, we stopped at the Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama. USS Alabama is very impressive from engineering standpoint. Heck, it is over 80 years old by now! Now of course, it would be ideal if such engineering was not needed at all… but here we are.
Pensacola Beach
We only caught an evening glimpse of Pensacola Beach while driving onwards. The whole color scheme is impressively blue in the evening!
Maclay State Gardens
Alfred B. Maclay State Gardens park near Tallahassee was a somewhat random choice for a stop, and it turned out to be very impressive. Magnolias, azaleas and camellias are in beautiful bloom, and the tillandsias look like magic.
Gator / Bird watching
Airboat tour at Tohopekaliga lake near Orlando, FL. It was a shame that this tour guide focused only on the gators, more or less. There was so many other things around!
Kennedy Space Center
Visitor complex at the Kennedy Space Center is very impressive. The only problem is – way too many people! :) At least when we visited, it was packed with primary and middle school kids, who, it turns out, create an impressive amount of noise and chaos.
But seeing the actual Shace Shuttle and Saturn V is a sight to behold. The photos do not convey the scale.
That’s it!
So that was our trip! Short and sweet, and we only hit a minor snag on the way back due to a flight delay, which made us miss the next flight, so the total journey back became some 30 hours. The luggage arrived as well, eventually :)
On the plane back I watched Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, a 2024 documentary about 1961, with newly independent Congo, UN, large powers of the world (US and USSR) dividing their spheres of influence, music as a soft power, and various plots for eventual control of natural resource deposits. Political backroom deals over natural resource deposits? Proclaiming support and then backstabbing someone? Ugh the 60s, how antiquated, surely something like that would not happen in 21st century. Right?!
It is a good movie.
Maybe people should smell more blooms.
