Rockin’ the River Raisin Battlefield

On our way back into Michigan, we made a pit stop at the Michigan Welcome Center rest area, and noticed some signs for “Rockin’ the River Raisin” the following weekend.

As part of Navy Week in Detroit, there was a special event being held at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park – including demonstrations from the War of 1812, special showings of a documentary on the building of the Navy’s newest battleship, the USS Detroit, and a concert by the Great Lakes Navy Band.

The events went on all day, but the concert wasn’t until 7:30pm.  We were getting quite a bit of rain during the day, so Tom and I waited until about 6pm to go over there. 

 

We walked through a few of the remaining displays and walked along the historical walkway through the battlefield.

During the War of 1812, the Americans fought the British, as well as the Canadians and Indians who fought with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Navy Band was set up under the pavilion, in order to protect their equipment from possible rain.  We found some seats and waited for the show to start.

 

Once all of the “distinguished guests”, including the crew of the USS Detroit, were seated, some members of the Junior ROTC from one of the local high schools presented the colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following colors, the Commander of the USS Detroit talked to the crowd and answered questions about the newest battleship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time for the concert.

We had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but the real rain stayed south of us.  The band played a variety of rock, pop and country favorites . . . and they were really good!

This is a different kind of Navy job!

 

This Sailor played the saxophone most of the time,

but he was also the designated singer for the country songs, and he was really good!         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the show, and were happy to have stayed dry! 

A quiet week in Florida

 

After the busy holiday weekend, things quieted down quite a bit last week, although there are still a lot of people around . . . and it’s still REALLY hot! 

Tom and Bryce have been working with Tim to build a railing along a new sidewalk, while I escape the heat in the Visitor Center, and we’ve had a few nice sunsets.    

 

I spotted this little bird flying over the marsh, and he let me get close enough to get a picture.

On Tuesday, Tim & Denise invited us to ride along with them to a Gulf Coast fishing seminar at Legendary Marine, in Destin.

 

It was hard to miss the fishing mural on the sides of the building!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday’s seminar was on the topic of fishing for dolphin fish and wahoo, and involved a lot of really elaborate and expensive gear – $1000 fishing rods, hooks that were made out of 1/4’' steel – this is some serious fishing, as some of these fish could weigh HUNDREDS of pounds!

We won’t be fishing for any of those big guys – don’t have access to a “small” boat like this one!

It was interesting listening to them, though, so we enjoyed it . . . plus they had free pizza, and every attendee got a $20 coupon to spend at the Half Hitch Tackle Shop.

This is quite a marina, with lots of really big, beautiful boats!

Later in the week, we went to the Half Hitch Shop in Panama City Beach to spend our coupons – we all got new shoes!

The giant flip flops are Bryce’s, and Tom & I both got CROC-type rubber shoes, but they have a much more substantial sole, and a removable insole.  They’re really comfortable, too!

On Thursday night, Tom and I went to the concert in Panama City Beach again.  Once again, there was a good crowd there to listen to this band from New Orleans.

 

They were good, mostly instrumental, not much singing though . . . 

 

. . . and REALLY loud!  We stayed for most of the performance, but left a little early to get a jump start on the traffic.  It was much easier to get out of there than it was after the fireworks!

We had some other adventures at the end of the week, but I’ll save that for another blog post!

Panama City Beach Entertainment

We were all settled into our site at Camp Helen,

busy learning about the facility and it’s history, as well as Eden Gardens State Park, where Tim and Denise are staying.  We were supposed to go out on their boat before Nicolas left, but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate.  It was hot and sunny, but we kept having random thunderstorms pop up out of nowhere!

We ended up going into Panama City Beach for dinner Tuesday night, and walked around Pier Park a little bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pier Park is pretty much the “place to be” in Panama City Beach – there’s shopping, lots of restaurants, a movie theatre, amusement rides, the city amphitheater, and of course – the beach!

 

We bought frappachino’s to finish off some Starbuck’s cards that we’d been carrying around, and did a little people-watching.  It was crowded, but fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Nicolas had to leave on Wednesday to get back to base, and Bryce quickly got bored . . . he was texting constantly with the cousins still in Gulf Shores, so he convinced us to let him take the car and go back to Gulf Shores for another visit.  I didn’t want him making the long drive back at night by himself, so he would camp out on the couch and come back Friday afternoon.

That left Tom and I all by ourselves on Thursday . . . but with no car!  One of the Friends of Camp Helen volunteers was camping in an empty volunteer spot for the weekend, and she invited Tom and I to go with her to the Thursday night concert in Panama City Beach.  It sounded like fun, so we did!

The performer that night was Casey Jamerson – a country/rock singer from Nashville, although originally Indiana.

She was very good – singing lots of popular country and rock songs, as well as several of her own original works.  Lynn’s nephew, Jacob, was with us and he thoroughly enjoyed the music!

He reminded me of Nicolas when he was little – he was quite a little dancer, too!

There was a large crowd for the concert, and lots of kids gathering along the front of the stage.  The performer was really nice, and she even brought several kids up on stage to dance and sing with her.

 

Jacob even got to go up on stage and dance with her!  It was so cute!

 

 

 

There was a group of teens dancing in front of the stage, so she said “Come on up here, I’m going to see what you can do!”.  She played several popular, non-country dance songs while they danced up on stage – it was pretty cool!

 

At the end of the night, she took a selfie with all the kids.

It was a really good show, and they have a different performer every Thursday evening.  I think this will be a regular Thursday night thing for us!

So when we were deciding where to go for fireworks on Saturday, we thought we might as well go back to Panama City Beach.  The big display is over the gulf at the end of the city pier, but the amphitheater is positioned in such a way that you have a perfect view from the lawn, and they were having the Panama City POPS perform a concert before the fireworks display, as well as accompanying the fireworks.

 

Lynn and Jacob were going, so we joined them again.  Right away, we noticed that the parking lots around Pier Park were a lot more crowded than they had been on Thursday, but the lawn itself didn’t have anywhere near as many people – I guess they were all down at the beach to watch the show!

 

The Orchestra played a variety of music – including patriotic tunes, popular movie themes, and show tunes.  They played a medley of songs from “Les Miserables” that made me want to go home and watch the movie – which I did, on Sunday!!

 

We all enjoyed the music, and soon it was time for the fireworks.  The Orchestra took a little break while they waited for the signal from the city that the show was about to begin.

 

 

Spectacular fireworks!

Lots of fun in Panama City Beach – I think we’ll like it here!

Exploring the French Quarter

Originally, when we were thinking about where to stop in Louisiana, I had no real interest in visiting New Orleans.  We heard some really nice things about Bayou-Segnette State Park, though, so we decided to make this our Easter weekend location.

Saturday was the day we designated to visit the French Quarter.  We had heard from numerous sources that the best way to get downtown as to take the Algiers Ferry across the Mississippi River, leaving the car on this side and walking around the French Quarter.  Nicolas and Bryce were familiar with the ferry from an episode of “Top Gear” and were excited to retrace the steps of their favorite “car guys”.

We made our way to the Ferry Terminal, and found a spot to park on the street.  There were plenty of other cars parked along the street, so we were pretty confident that the car would be just fine.

We made our way into the terminal,

and waited to take our FREE ride across the river!

We had a great view of the city as we approached.

After some initial confusion, and a somewhat shocking protest group,

we got our bearings and began to explore the streets of the French Quarter.  I really enjoyed the contrasts in architecture – the mixture of old and new,

and Tom’s favorites were the street musicians and other characters we saw!

Overall, I was impressed by the French Quarter.  The “normal” streets, like Chartre and Royal,

were interesting and entertaining, and felt completely safe – especially in the middle of the afternoon!  There were some great little shops, and if I still had a house, I would have been SO tempted to do some serious shopping!  But I don’t, so we didn’t buy anything . . .

We really enjoyed Jackson Square – the garden in front of St. Louis Cathedral,

which is surrounded by various artists selling their merchandise, and the row of carriages waiting to take people on a tour of the city.

Right across the street from Jackson Square is the Riverwalk,

and the famous Café du Monde.

Of course, so trip to the French Quarter would be complete without beignets and café au lait . . .  so we stopped for a snack! 

The lines were really long, but we were given a tip by another tourist that sped up the process considerably . . . they told us to just tell a server what we wanted while in the carryout line and he would bring it out to us . . . and it worked . . . no waiting in line!

After our snack, we continued to walk around, and saw more interesting sights . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a few fun T-shirts.

One that would be perfect for Little Joe,

and one for Dave!

We eventually made our way over to Bourbon Street, and I can say that I’ve been there . . . but I could have done without it . . . and it was still early in the afternoon!

After all that walking, we were getting hungry and looking for a place to get some dinner . . . and none of us wanted seafood, so that was a challenge!  We eventually made our way to a small restaurant that we had passed in the morning . . . Mena’s.  They were really crowded early in the day, but by the time we got back there, they were getting ready to close and we were the last to be seated.  We had a great dinner, at really reasonable prices . . . and then had to walk some more in order to work it off!

The boys had seen enough of the city, though, so we made our way back to the Ferry and waited for our ride back across the river.  The river was a really busy place in the afternoon, and we saw freighters,

and riverboats

while we waited for our turn to cross.

It was a fun day, and we enjoyed the French Quarter more than I thought we would!