Baton Rouge Tourist

When I was working for the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association, I had the opportunity to take a number of tourism-promotion photographs across the state, but mainly in the Baton Rouge area. Here is one of my favorites, taken on the Mississippi River levee, with the old train and the Old State Capitol in the background. 

Backlit Leaves

The leaves on the trees in Autumn are colorful all on their own, but when the sunlight shines through them, then it's even better.

Downtown Drumming

One of the surprises of visiting downtown Asheville, North Carolina, was coming across a drumming circle. Every Friday evening, hundreds of people gather in a downtown park and drum. Some bring their own drums, others just drum on somebody else's drum. There's even a little dancing that breaks out spontaneously. 

So when you are trying to drum up something to do on vacation....

Water Wheel at Desoto Caverns

One of my favorite vacation places is Desoto Caverns in Childersburg, AL. It is a family place, filled with all kinds of things to do for kids and adults. One of those things is to "pan for gems" in the water-filled trough that features running water to help separate the sand from the gems. 

Part of that set-up is a real old-fashioned water wheel that powers the operation. Here is a picture of that water wheel doing its thing with the water flow also heading down the troughs to the gem panning area. 

Click on the image to make it larger. 

Through a Greenhouse Window

This greenhouse window was photographed at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. The greenhouse in the gardens was larger than most homes.

Flowerbeds at Fort Collins

The university agricultural research station in Fort Collins, CO, always has a flower bed blooming with test varieties of various plants. 

Sunrise at Lamar

Here are a few photos of a sunrise in Lamar, Colorado, along with a couple of shots of the flowers in the motel parking lot.

Leaves Against Rock

Click on the image below to make it larger.

Peering Pigeon

There's something about having a pigeon stare at you that is unsettling. Almost as if they are saying, "What are you looking at? You going to toss me that bread crumb, or what?" 

Field of Flowers

This is one of the many garden scenes at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Cat Portrait

Every once in a while when taking a picture of someone, you can expect them to stick their tongue out at the camera just in fun. But you don't expect it when you are taking a picture of a cat. 

Jean On The Tire Swing

Here is one of the many portraits I have taken over the years.

Being a newspaper photographer means that sometimes you are asked to take pictures for advertisements that are going to be published, such as this one for Little Villa.

New Orleans Riverfront

This picture of the New Orleans riverfront was taken in the early 1970's, during construction of the Hilton Hotel (background center) and before the Aquarium was built. 

Paddleboating In The Park

Here's a photo of a couple enjoying an afternoon paddleboat ride in the park. 

Roof Truss Abstract

Open air pavilions can be built in many different ways. Here's a look at the underside of a pavilion roof at City Park in New Orleans. 

Oaks In The Park

Riding the train at City Park in New Orleans takes you on a tour of the park's most scenic oak trees.

Explosion of Greenery

This plant obviously felt that it should cover as much space as possible in as short a time as possible, so it came up with this fireworks explosion look.

Fairhope Fountain

The water fountain down at the Fairhope, AL, municipal pier is always worth a photograph or two when going that way. 

Fall Color Review

Timing trips to the Smokey Mountains to get the best of the fall leaf colors is an art. The fall color map graphics on the Weather Channel website help. 

Some years I've been pretty lucky to get to these autumn showcases just at the right time. Here are some photographs of the leaves changing color, in North Carolina and especially at Cheaha State Park in Anniston, AL.

Click on the images to make them larger. 

Fog Over Eureka

Early morning fog shrouds a valley in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Fallen Tree

Here's a picture of a tree that fell in the forest many years before. Click on the image to enlarge.

Manuel's Hot Tamale Sales

One of the jobs I had while working my way through college was selling Manuel's Hot Tamales on the weekends on the corner of Veterans Blvd. and Causeway Blvd. in New Orleans. 

My dad Lamar Barthet started selling the Crescent City's most favorite hot tamales in the early 1960's after talking Manuel into letting someone else sell the hot tamales he had been making for years at his home on Carrollton Avenue, half a block west of Canal Street.

Each night Manuel would roll his vending cart over to the corner of Carrollton Avenue and Canal Street where he gradually became a legend selling the great-tasting tamales, still wrapped in corn shucks as all hot tamales originally were wrapped. 

My dad was the first person to start selling them elsewhere, first at the corner of St. Bernard Avenue and North Broad Street, then at the corner of Canal Blvd. and Robert E. Lee Blvd., next to the famous Rockery Inn restaurant. My stepmother got her own vehicle and vending cart and set up shop selling them nights at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Napoleon Avenue. 

They first used Willis Jeeps to sell out of, but later my dad bought a Ford Falcon van (the first picture above) and that was used for several years. From the Rockery Inn site, he moved to the intersection of Causeway and Veterans next to Lakeside shopping center. We supplied many a thousand dozen of hot tamales to folks holding football watching parties at home. 

When the construction on the intersection forced him away from that corner, he moved a couple of blocks west to the area in front of the General Tire outlet, near Barnes and Noble. 

In later years he opened up a satellite tamale vending cart on Williams Blvd., near the airport, in front of the Dorignac's Food Center. I would sell tamales out of that cart on the weekends sometimes when the guy he had hired couldn't make it or wanted to take some time off. Most of the time, however, I would sit with my dad at Causeway and Veterans, dishing out and wrapping up dozens of tamales. My dad was the first to use aluminum foil to wrap the tamales, and put on extra gravy that made them, well, pretty juicy and flavorful (more than they already were.)

Dad in back of van waiting for the next hot tamale customer

In between sales, we would listen to the radio or talk about the events of the week. The late 1960's were a busy time, so we had a lot to talk about. 

I ate a good many hot tamales in my younger days, as a result, and I can't help but think that eating Manuel's Hot Tamales helped make me the fine upstanding person I am today. At least selling them on the weekend helped pay for college expenses that weren't otherwise covered by my other jobs. 

Lamar Barthet and his mobile hot tamale supply van

A typical day would go like this:

Dad would get home from his day job around 5 p.m. and by 6 p.m. he would be at Manuel's building on Carrollton Avenue, half a block from Canal Street. He would go past the hot tamale wrapping room and enter the cooking area, where he would pick up two (sometimes three) pots of hot tamales. There were about 50 dozen in each pot. 

He would carry those pots out to his van, where he would snuggle them down into specially built boxes and stuff crumpled newspaper tightly all around the pots. That would help keep them hot. Sometimes he would get a container of extra grease to put on the tamales as the night wore on. 

Once loaded up, he would drive out to his spot on the side of the road, open the side doors, unfold the awning off the top of the van, unfold the signage on the front corner. Then he would pump air into the Coleman gas lanterns and light the mantle. Once these lanterns were going bright, he would place them in front of the signs on top of the truck. 

He sold tamales until around ten o'clock, then would close everything down, fold back the signage and the awning, put the lanterns back into their spot, and head back to Manuel's place to settle up. He'd get back home around 11:30 to go to sleep for six or seven hours, get up and start the process all over again. 

He only got robbed once, but it was more like a transaction with a gun involved, he told me. 

On some nights, when sales were going good, he call Manuel's kitchen and have them send out another pot of tamales. That didn't happen often, but he was ready if it did occur, due to a football game or some other special holiday occasion. 

Inside The Submarine

Over at Battleship Park east of Mobile, AL, is a submarine slowly being restored by volunteers. It is the USS Drum, a World War II diesel electric submarine that has been raised out of the water and placed in a cradle. Visitors can walk its decks and go through its interior. And what an interior it is. Here are a few photographs of the switches and dials and cranks and levers that made a submarine do what it does. Click on the images to make them larger. 

The USS DRUM (SS-228) Submarine was launched May 12, 1941, by Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, and commissioned November 1, 1941.