TOUR AMERICA 2019: LOUISIANA, THE PELICAN STATE

Home is Where We Park It:  Ponchartrain Landing RV Park and Marina, New Orleans

Date:  May 26, 2019

Temperature:  91 degrees

Wind:  Southeast 5 to 10 mph

Memorial Day Weekend

When you Break the Rules Sometimes You Get Burnt

New Orleans

Lighthouse Bar and Cafe

Before I forget and before this Memorial Day Weekend comes to a close let me encourage everyone to stop for a moment and acknowledge the brave servicemen and women who died serving our country.  They gave their lives to protect the freedoms of you, me and all Americans – then, now and forever.  Thank you.

We’ve always adhered to two carnal rules while traveling full time.  The first is, never plan a travel day on a holiday weekend because of the chances of heavy traffic.  Well, we broke this rule this past Friday but thankfully got away with it.  As I stated earlier our trip here was a breeze by and large.

The second carnal rule is never plan to go sight seeing on a holiday weekend, or for that matter on any weekend if you can avoid it.  We broke this one yesterday and paid the price for it.  We had originally decided we would not venture out until Monday, or maybe Tuesday at the earliest.  One day of sitting around, however, and we got restless and so off we went.  Never again.  The sidewalks were jammed.  Oh well, lesson learned.

Starting at the beginning.  We decided to go into New Orleans and see what we could see.  We took advantage of the shuttle provided by the park to get into town.

Once in town we decided to do as we have in the past.  Take the offered hop on hop off tour to get a feel for the city itself.

It was not what we expected.  Maybe we’re spoiled by our experience in St. Augustine.  This was a two hour tour and while it offered a great overall view of the city it was at time overwhelming.  Too much information, too little time to take really good pictures, and no idea really what to do when or if you got off at a stop.  That said, I believe we’re going to take it again but this time before we go we’ll decide what stops we want to get off at and why.  There are also other ways to see the city.  There is the trolley line.

and if you want to go real slow mo there are carriage rides.  Of course there are also other companies offering various tours of the city.

In the French Quarter there any number of interesting shops.

As well as restaurants.

At the end of our day, this was our favorite!

Remember I said there the city was jammed with tourists?  Waiting to get our ice cream admit a sea of people inside.  It was worth it.

Let’s not forget the people.  Two of the more interesting I found along the way.

There were street musicians.  I was really looking forward to finding a jazz band somewhere along the way but alas that was not to be.  So I had to settle for drums.  These guys were really good.

Let’s not forget the art work on display.

Let’s leave the French Quarter now and move out into the city.

This is the French Market.  It is a market and series of commercial buildings spanning six blocks in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Founded as a Native American trading post predating European colonization, the market is the oldest of its kind in the United States.  By the way they are looking for volunteers in June for the Creole Tomato Festival!

Throughout the city you will find all kinds of interesting sculptures.

This is Basin Street Station.   This was once the transportation crossroad of the city of New Orleans, it had five railway stations and their associated buildings that served downtown New Orleans in the early 20th century.  It used to welcome thousands of visitors into New Orleans every day.  This is one of the stops we’ll probably investigate further.

This is another stop we definitely want to explore.  It get’s high marks from everyone who has been there before.

Why you ask is such a museum in New Orleans?  Here’s why

This is another stop we’d like to explore further, Mardi Gras World.  This is a the location of a 300,000 square foot working warehouse where floats are made for Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.

Speaking of Mardi Gras all along one street in trees and on lamp posts and electrical wires we kept seeing strings of beads.  We discovered that they are left overs from the recent Mardi Gras celebration.

This is St Louis Cemetery No. 1.  Marie Laveau, the Vodoo Queen died in 1881 and is said to be buried in here in the tomb of her husband’s family, the Glapions.  Some scholars dispute this as her final resting place, but it is mentioned in her obituary, and is the most likely spot.

Here you will see off in the distance two crosses on two churches, yes, two Catholic churches side by side, one for the Irish, one for the Germans.  I mean couldn’t they just build one and worship together?  Guess not.

Like Hot Dogs?  This place offers 200 different combinations of hot dogs, and sausages and sides.  Go ahead Google it and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Thirsty but need to do your laundry?  This is the place.  A bar and a laundromat together.  Now why didn’t I think of that!

To make things interesting our tour was held up, not once, not twice, but three times as this bike-a-thon wended its way through the city.  My guess, it was about a mile or more total in length.  There were adults, adults with kids and dogs in little trailers, there were kids, there were rent a bikes and

this stretched version of a bike that I found really cool looking.

And leading the whole parade was my jazz band on a trailer.  Unfortunately, this is as close to a jazz band as I got all day.

There is tons more to see and do yet, but we’ll call it a wrap on our first day at this point.  I have mixed feelings about New Orleans.  It wasn’t what I expected.  I guess I was looking for jazz musicians on the street corners and never did find them.  I found sidewalks jammed with tourists and it’s not the cleanest place around.  I’m glad we went and I’m looking forward to exploring the other stops I mentioned.  In addition, tomorrow we’re taking a lunch cruise on a paddle wheeler.  Let you know how that turns out.

Our day on The Road of Retirement has come to a close.  It was a busy one, one which ended with us having supper at the Lighthouse Bar and Cafe.  They had live

entertainment again and we enjoyed listening to the music while we ate.  Yes, the food was good but the service was somewhat lacking.   Time now to get some sleep.

Thanks again for coming along, we’ll catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road