Big Easy #1

Homes of the Lower Ninth Ward
Though this neighborhood did flood (at a much lower level), it did not suffer the damage the next neighborhood did.  The top house still shows the marks of government agencies who came through following Katrina looking for survivors.  As it awaits some sort of remodeling to make it habitable, it has become a blighted house that is picked apart for its architectural highlights (gingerbread workings, posts and beams are all missing).  The blue and the yellow houses have been restored to habitable conditions while the bottom house appears to be in a near constant state of something else.   

Visiting the Lower Ninth Ward
Thrust into the spotlight during Katrina, this area we walked upon was flooded with upwards of 8-10 feet from the Industrial Canal breach.
Empty lots with stairs or foundations still belong to the owners though many have been taken over by the parish/city/state due to lack of taxes being paid.
The little white house was flooded to the roof, then repaired and is habitable.  For homeowners who lost all, government subsidies allow rebuilding (red & yellow homes), but with huge constraints on size, shape and materials used and ensuring the home is raised to allow future floodwaters to NOT destroy the home. 



The infamous Industrial Canal Wall
This wall broke apart by a barge or was breached by the storm surge allowing floodwaters to fill the Lower Ninth Ward.  For size comparison, Anika stands next to it, then atop it.  Meanwhile Frack, Ami and Frick view the wall from a different perspective since Frick is afraid of walls and heights.

17th Street Pumping Station
A new pumping station along the 17th Street canal (one that broke during Katrina), one of the many canals of the city.  A dozen big diesel engines power huge impellers (much like those we saw in CA) to suck the water out of the canal, and away from the city, and then pump it into Lake Pontchartrain.



The mighty Mississippi
Frick leading our group along the River Walk as we head for gumbo and jumbalaya,
but we ended up with burgers and pizza. Go figure...

The French (no really the Spanish) Quarter
Made it in time for some dinner and then a walking tour of the area.

 We finished our night with our guide Juawana hosting us for a ghost tour of the Quarter.  She had many scary and spooky stories to tell as well as the history of the area (Frick was quite nervous as he doesn't like scary things so he left with the daylight).  As New Orleans grew and the Parishes moved with them, cemeteries were consecrated (blessed) to bury the dead.  As the city grew larger, these same cemeteries were then de-consecrated (unblessed) so the land could be built upon.  As the cemeteries were de-consecrated, only the rich could afford to move their dead so buildings were built upon buried bodies which brought many of these ghost stories to life.  

Big Easy #2

LUMCON, Chauvin, LA

Our journey took us almost 3 hours into the Bayou's (about the distance from Va Beach to Cape Hatteras) to visit the Louisiana University Marine Consortium (LUMCON).  On the edges of civilization, this research facility conducts work regarding coastal and marine ecosystems.  The top pictures show some of their research vessels from the smaller ones to the bigger one.  Their largest vessel was at sea doing research off the Texas coastline.

The bravest of souls (including Frick & Frack), took to the water to view their backyard habitat - the estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico.  Here they study such subjects as the health of the waters, oxygen levels, growth of oysters, bottom deposition layers and the growth of grasses.  As they complete their research and need to compare their notes and complete their reports, they look to our own backyard habitat (the Chesapeake Bay) for similarities.
Though it was tempting, neither Frick nor Frack jumped in (or got pushed in).

Visiting the labs inside the LUMCON facility conducting both "wet" (anything dealing with tanks of water. live creatures/plants which create high humidity levels inside the facility) and "dry" research regarding ecosystems on the Bayou's and in the Gulf of Mexico. 
They've conducted research involved with Katrina and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. 



This is one of a series of locks throughout the Bayou's meant to keep the rising floodwaters contained and controlled.
Part of the huge and thick metal wall on the right (with the red signs on it) rolls across the street to seal off the levee system that this lock connects to.  With lots of warning, Parish officials close the gate - if you're on the dry side you keep driving to higher and dryer ground hours away; if you're on the wet side you start praying.



Some of the homes or "camps" at the farthest edges of the Bayou's bordering the Gulf of Mexico. 
Built high for flooding, they look much like homes in Sandbridge or OBX.

 

Isle de Jean Charles
An island community much like Hatteras or Rodanthe in OBX.  The Parish this community lives in has told the residents to move as there will be no services available to them during storms as they are quite remote.  The sign at the top explains all but notice the orange pod behind the sign - it is for the residents to use as an escape pod should their island flood again.

Kind of creepy but...
Since the water table is so high (in places at the surface, in others 1-2 feet below the surface layer) coupled with a ground that's at best a mix of sands that aren't stable, people are buried on top of the land.  The crypts in front contain one body, the mausoleums in the back contain many.  When Katrina's floods came, most of the crypts like the white ones in front got flooded and were moved off their bases, causing them to have to be reseated & resealed which is what the grey ones behind are.

37 hours on a train!

Our final train ride on the Crescent out of New Orleans to Washington, D.C., was supposed to last 27 hours. Unfortunately, a train incident (otherwise known as a "wreck," where a freight train hit a truck and tied up our train for several hours) turned out to prevent us from arriving in D.C. until after 2:00 p.m. (scheduled for 10:30 a.m.). We had plans to visit the Air & Space Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian, but we barely had time to grab a burger and drink at the Shake Shack in Union Station before catching the Northeast Regional to take us to Norfolk. We left at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Norfolk at 8:00 p.m., making 37 straight hours on a train.

Quo Vadimus

Last field day!

On our last day in the field, we spent the morning at LUMCON's (Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium) research facility in the middle of the bayou.

Weather prevented us from taking the kayaks out to explore, but we did take advantage of a break in the storm showers to go out into the bayou on a pontoon boat. Sorry, no pictures of me fighting off an alligator with my kayak paddle.

For lunch, they served us up red beans and rice and sausage.

We spent the afternoon on a visit to Isle de Jean Charles, an island that has lost 98% of its land since the 1950's, due to subsidence, erosion, and sea level rise. While there have been attempts to move the entire community, a handful of residents remain and refuse to leave the island.

Quo Vadimus

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's just Frack.

Pulling out of New Orleans on the Crescent, Frack takes a nap. Will he wake up in time to get off the train in Washington, D.C.? Will he ever wake up? Or is this the opportune time for "an accident?"

Quo Vadimus

Brotherly love

On Canal Street in the Big Easy - on our way to dinner in the French Quarter. Will both brothers make it home? Will either brother make it home? Stay tuned to find out the exciting conclusion to Amtrak Across America VI. Same bat time! Same bat channel!

Quo Vadimus

Hurricane Katrina

Today, we examined Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans. Even though it is now a decade later, the effects of this natural disaster are plainly evident throughout the city.

We started at a non-profit organization, Global Green, that held a design competition to build sustainable housing for New Orleans. The winning design was built in the lower 9th ward and included solar power, which makes it practically a net zero home (meeting all of its own energy needs). This design was the impetus for Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation to build these homes in the hardest-hit section of the lower 9th ward.

We then visited the site where the levees broke causing the massive flooding in the lower 9th ward.

We also visited a large cypress swamp essential to the long-term sustainability of the lower 9th ward called the Bayou Bienvenu Wetland Triangle. During Katrina, this wetland area had been overwhelmed by the storm surges that wiped out the cypress swamp. Currently, they are working on plans to fix it and bring these wetlands back to life.

Meanwhile, Frack tried to enter the country illegally, easily going through a gap in the fence. However, he was caught in the act by a camera strategically placed at that spot. If you have seen this man, please contact your local law enforcement authorities or ICE immediately. Do not approach this man. Consider him armed and dangerous.

Quo Vadimus