Day #216

A freshly cleaned NOLA street this fine Saturday morning. 

Our first stop - Jourdan Street to check out the Brad Pitt houses. Matt and I watched a documentary that showed all the homes Brad Pitt helped people rebuild after Katrina, and they looked so amazing that I wanted to see them. Sadly, they weren’t built well and the whole thing became a bit of a fiasco. But Alli took me out to the 9th Ward and I think I saw some of the homes, like this cute one? 🤷‍♀️ I think I need to rewatch the documentary. 

Our second stop was this cute New Canal Lighthouse. 

Check out that choppy water!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a new lighthouse and my heart was so happy. 💕

Third stop was to pick up my swagga wagon to drive home - a pretty sweet little Chrysler Pacifica. She’s a smooth drive and I have to say I like it!

4th stop - Waffle House! Dad gave us money to eat at one of his favorite restaurants.

We went to one that was super busy and we were basically ignored for 5 minutes. We checked out this one and everyone was so great and we had a lovely brekkie. 

We put all the seats down in the van and loaded Alli’s boxes and the 2 pieces of furniture she kept. It all fit like a glove, it was perfect! Also, more of Lulu’s decorations. 

My goal was to be on the road by noon, and I left at exactly noon. I grabbed another welcome sign on my way out of Louisiana. 😍

I decided to add a few miles and hours to my trip to see 2 more lighthouses in Mississippi- the only 2 standing lights in the state. 

The Biloxi lighthouse is so cute!

💕

This makes me so happy. 

I had to check out the beach also. The sand was powdery soft and the water was warm! I wish I had a suit and a lot more time, swimming would have been totally comfortable. 

I had no idea Biloxi is such a beach town, but it looks very cute. 

30 minutes down the road was the Round Island Lighthouse. I love the first sighting!

😍

I found the door open and the sign said to talk to an attendant to take the tour. I decided I couldn’t pass up a chance to climb, so I stood there shouting “hello?!” and “I’d like a tour!” like an idiot for a few minutes.

There was a little shack nearby that I thought I’d looked in, but apparently had not, because when I went back over to it, there was the attendant. He told me to go ahead up. 

Climbing a lighthouse by myself was a first for me. No guide, no buddy, totally by myself. 

I was smiling from ear to ear, it was so singularly amazing. 

The lighthouse volunteer told me that the lighthouse was destroyed by Katrina in 2005, but the keepers of the light painstakingly collected every brick, moved it, and put it back together in its safe new spot. 

Isn’t that amazing?!

So happy. 

I love a fresnel lens. 

You can see the volunteer shack in the middle right. 

Such a great day. 

Look at me! Climbing a new light! All by myself!

So glad alli encouraged me to do the lighthouses. Made for a long day, but it was totally worth it. I got my lighthouse stamp and bought a picture and drove out to the water before  heading on my merry way. 

I like lots of short breaks - every other or every third hour. 

I found a nice hotel outside of Atlanta. I got here just after 9 and washed my hair and took a nice shower. Looking forward to a night of sleep without music blasting at 2am. 

I’ve turned in to quite the country bumpkin and I don’t love freeway driving. I’m ok with it, but when it gets super busy and people are acting like jerkwad faces, I really don’t love it. Driving into Atlanta at night, and especially on a Saturday night was nerve wracking. My hands were sweaty and just ugh. So grateful to have made it and to be blessed with safety. 

My dad shared some pics of the girls walking T. 

And Sarah had them do a recreation. 

Love it! I especially love Frankie’s dedication by pulling her shirt up to show some belly again. 😂 we’ve got to redo this in another 10 years!

Also, d is obsessed with dogs. 🙄

And Emmett is experiencing life in the tundra! I can’t imagine already having snow! Oh Montana. 🙄