Natchez!

The Natchez is the last authentic steamboat on the Mississippi River, so of course we had to have a ride on it now that we're visiting New Orleans.

It's very handsome so I nearly blipped a straight photo of it, but then decided that this "action shot" of the paddle wheel in motion was more fun. The wheel is 25 feet in diameter, is made of white oak and steel, and weighs 26 tons. (There's a full photo of the boat uploaded as an extra.)

The current Natchez is only 40 years old, and is the 9th in the line of steamboats called Natchez. The steam engine which powers it is a lot older than the boat itself however, having originated from the 1910 US Steel towboat Clairton.