Moundville Archaeological Park – Friday 2/11/11
Located about 70- miles southwest of Birmingham.
The Moundville site, occupied from around A.D. 1000 until A.D. 1450, is a large settlement of Mississippian culture on the Black Warrior River in central Alabama. At the time of Moundville’s heaviest residential population, the community took the form of a three-hundred-acre village built on a bluff overlooking the river.
The plan of the town was roughly square and protected on three sides by a bastioned wooden palisade. Moundville, in size and complexity second only to the Cahokia site in Illinois, was at once a populous town, as well as a political center and a religious center.
Within the enclosure, surrounding a central plaza, were twenty-six earthen mounds, the larger ones apparently supporting noble’s residences alternating with small ones that supported buildings used for mortuary and other purposes. (borrowed from https://moundville.museums.ua.edu/ancient-site/ accessed 04122019)
Yep, that’s snow on the flanks of the mound.
On to New Orleans – arrive Saturday 2/12/11
Lunch along Gulf Coast.
Off beat hotel in the Lower Garden District, a 15 minute walk from the French Quarter.
Sunday 2/13/11 – Explore New Orleans
New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon was underway.
Interesting array of exhibitions. 
Lunch here.
New Orleans Museum of Art
Nice addition to my collection.
Tipitina’s for dancing….
Drinks later…..
on St. Charles around the corner from the hotel.
Monday 2/14/11
Luck we had the paper towels from Paul and Ruth…..
Left New Orleans and drove through Baton Rouge with a stop in Lake Charles LA for lunch.
Then drove on along the coast to Bolivar Peninsula and a ferry across to Galveston TX.
We drove around downtown Galveston just a bit.
Tuesday 2/15/11 Houston TX
Stayed in a downtown hotel.