Mardi Gras Mobile

  Free novel from Amazon- Mardi Gras Mystery

 We’ve never gone to Mardi Gras in New Orleans but this is our third time for Mobile, Alabama. The atmosphere is laid backed, family oriented with little rowdiness. The floats are fantastic and we get more beads and moon pies than we could possibly want.

   We go the weekend before Fat Tuesday and park in the center of the parade route. The streets are closed about 1/2 hour before a parade starts and they open back up about 1/2 after the parade ends so we’re barricaded in for a short time. Since we stay all day and go to both the early afternoon and evening parades, being locked in isn’t a problem and we have the motorhome to hang out in and eat lunch and dinner. The sidewalks are in very bad condition but since the streets are closed it’s possible to just wheel down the streets. We have a choice of viewing spots because we’re in the middle of  a parade loop.

  We park in a grass and gravel lot by the Church Street Cemetery. We’re not sure who owns the lot - the cemetery, the city, or Big Zion Church but it’s never crowded and usually quiet.

   Map of the parade route. Arrow pointing to the lot. We usually watch the parades on Washington Street. Mardi Gras
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Mobile Museum of Art

   This is a medium sized museum with galleries of permanent collections and temporary exhibits. All are very good but the standouts for us were the glass and wood pieces. The design and detail of some of them is simply amazing.

  The museum is handicapped accessible. Some of the signs in the Material Imaginings exhibit are too high and hard to read. All three floors are carpeted. Pushing is not hard but there’s a lot of area to cover so it can be tiring.  The parking lot has a uphill slope to the front entrance.  There’s room for RVs parked sideways across the spaces.  Art Museum
30.70446, -88.15472

National Naval Aviation Museum

    This is one of the best military aircraft museums that we’ve visited and also one of the largest. We spent three hours and didn’t see everything.The exhibit starts with small bi-planes and traces the history of aviation to the moon landings. A large potion is dedicated to WW II with very detailed, full scale recreations of the home front, the living and working quarters of an aircraft carrier and a jungle air field.

   Most of the museum is accessible.The signs are easy to view except for the ones in the aircraft carrier exhibit which are too high.There are a couple of exhibits with staircases and no other access. None of the aircraft where visitors are permitted to climb into the pilot seats have ramps.

The museum is located on the grounds of the Naval Air Station Pensacola, home of the Blue Angels. There’s an area for RV parking at the far end of the lot. Air Museum
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Fort Pickens - Gulf Islands National Seashore

   Fort Pickens was built with slave labor as a defense against foreign invasion. It was used from 1834 until 1947 but saw little action except for a brief period during the Civil War.

  The fort is semi-accessible. A concrete sidewalk runs from the parking lot through the fort. There’s ongoing  construction which might account for a few missing ramps. Some of the pavement inside the fort casements, either concrete or bric , is very uneven. Most of the interpretive signs are along the sidewalk and are easily viewed. A few areas have steps and aren’t accessible.

  WW II batteries, located along the main park road, have sand paths and aren’t accessible. Most of the signs can be read without exiting your vehicle.

  The campground does not have accessible sites.The sites close to the bathroom are saved for handicapped campers but the parking pads are narrow, some have high drop offs down to the grass and the tables do not have a long overhang. All in all the campground is poorly designed – narrow roads, short parking pads, sites close together and odd angles that make backing in difficult. Fort Pickens
30.32243, -87.27612

Pine Log State Forest Campground

   Half of the sites in this campground have a beautiful lake front view, the other half are nicely wooded. Both the lake and the campground are very small but the sites are large, level and far apart. The camp sites are various sizes with some large enough for any  RV.

   None of the sites are specifically handicapped accessible. The lake front ones have a couple of steps to get down to the table. The wooded ones are all on one level. The ground is hard packed sand and fairly easy to roll around on. Campground
30.42979, -85.88081

Museum of Florida History

    We like to visit state capitols and go to the museum for an overview of the state’s history. This is a pretty good one but strangely it doesn’t have a single exhibit about anything that happened after WWII and a lot has happened in Florida since WWII ! The exhibits that they do have are excellent though.

The museum is handicapped accessible. The top floor of the riverboat exhibit has a narrow staircase. There’s a book with photographs and information if you can’t get up there to see the exhibit. The Grandma’s Attic , a dress up and play area for children, has a small elevator that the staff will operate for you if you want to visit the attic.

  RVs may be parked in the Civic Center lot, a little west, at the corner of South Macomb Street and West Pensacola Street. The walk from the parking lot to the museum is a long uphill with uneven and steep curb cuts. Almost every wheelchair user will need help. There’s a good drop off spot right in front of the museum if you want to avoid the push up the hill. Florida Museum
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Chiefland Flea Market

  A traditional flea market with most of the vendors selling used items plus a small fruit and vegetable stand and discount groceries. Booths that might be of interest to RVers include the Book Nook – a large selection of used paperback and hardback books in good condition and by popular authors- , a RV parts dealer who has many small items and trim pieces, and a booth with well organized shelves of used DVDs and VCR tapes.

  Everything is accessible with paved, wide aisles. The flea market includes a small section outside which also has paved paths. There are a few ramps, not too steep.

  There’s plenty of parking for RVs. The parking lot is sandy. Some spots are a little soft so park close to the front entrance. Flea Market
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Forest Capital State Museum

   There are two things to see at this small state park – a forestry museum and a “cracker” homestead. The museum has displays about the plants and animals of Florida’s forests and the products that are produced from the trees. The homestead has a 1863 “dog trot” house with furnishings, outbuildings and farm equipment typical of the time.

  The museum is handicapped accessible but the homestead is not. The homestead is located behind the museum with a pine mulch path connecting the two. The mulch is soft making rolling along difficult. The homestead yard is loose sand, very hard to roll along. There isn’t a ramp up to the house’s porch.

  RVs can be parked sideways across the parking spaces. Forest Museum
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Yulee Sugar Mill State Historic Site Park

    This is just a quick stop if you happen to be in the area. There’s a short paved trail around the ruins with descriptive signs. It’s all accessible. Parking is across the street and large enough for RVs. Sugar Mill Ruins
28.78387, -82.60705
 

Chassahowitzka River Campground

   This is a small, quiet county campground. It’s heavily wooded but the sites are close together so there’s very little privacy. None of the sites are handicapped accessible. The ground is hard packed sand so rolling around is easy just watch for tree roots. Chassahowitzka River Campground
28.71271, -82.57612