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Published: February 11th 2007
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Broken Egg
So tropical looking, couldn't resist a photo Wed. Feb 7th: Today it was in the 70’s and sunny. We went to Mandeville, which is a quaint town near here, and had breakfast at the “Broken Egg Cafe.” It was in a house built in the 1920’s and just a block from Lake Pontchartrain. I enjoyed the lush tropical type garden, the quaint old architecture and the good food. I didn’t want to have something I could have back up north, so I had an omelet with veggies, cheese and crawfish. George had a huge pancake that was a bit bigger than his plate and about an inch thick. The food was good and this place has been written up in various publications. It was more expensive than we would usually spend on breakfast, but was fun to do as a special meal.
This afternoon we drove to Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. There is still so much evidence of the effect of hurricane Katrina. A lot of rebuilding has occurred, but so much more is yet to be done. We drove along the Gulf shore and were amazed at the damage that remained. Seeing it in the news is nothing in comparison to seeing it in
Oak tree with moss
This is called a Live Oak tree. It has acorns. The leaves are different from what we're familiar with. It drops it's leaves in the spring, just as it's getting new leaves. person. We stopped at a casino and George ran in to make a donation to video poker. As we made our way out of Bay St. Louis, it was after dark and that made it even more apparent the darkened empty buildings
Thurs. Feb 8th We keep extending our stay here on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. We decided to stay until Saturday so we can go on a walking tour of the French Quarter tomorrow morning with a National Park Ranger. Then there are parades tomorrow night, so we might as well take in a Mardi Gras parade.
Today we spent the afternoon in New Orleans. We had planned to take a Grey Line walking tour of the French Quarter, but when we got there we found that it was canceled. We had called a couple hours before the tour to check on the times, so we hurried to make the next tour. It was disappointing and frustrating. It did save us $22/person and as we walked around we discovered the free tour put on each morning by the National Park Service. It’s limited to 25 people and is first come, first serve and sometimes is
filled up. We’ll need to get there when they first open at 9AM and the tour begins at 9:30.
We spent our money that we didn’t spend on the tour, by eating out again. This time we ate at The Original Pierre Maspero’s Restaurant. The write up states that it’s a Creole/Cajun family restaurant on the site where Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte planned the Battle of New Orleans. We had Crawfish Etouffe and Avocado Shrimp Crab Remoulade. We ended up back at Café du Monde for Beignets and Café au Lait. No one had warned us that Beignets were addictive. Last time we shared an order and this time we each had an order.
Each time we drive into New Orleans we take a different route. Today our route was I-10 entering New Orleans from the east. Again there was evidence of the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina. I can’t imagine how most of a huge city can be under water from one natural event. It seems like whole sections of the city are still uninhabited and we’ve only seen it from the expressway. It’s not uncommon to see camping trailers in front of homes. They have
New Orleans Gate
Cast iron of cornstalk fence and gate wooden steps and if they were camping it would be considered “full hookup.”
Fri. Feb 9th: Got up bright and early so we could make the 9AM opening of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Meuseum and get our passes for the walking tour of the French Quarter. We left our campground at 7:50 for the drive into New Orleans. The Causeway is 24 miles long. The first time over it it was exciting and new. Now it’s routine and there’s nothing to look at except the water. We made it to get our passes moments after it opened and we were the last 2 to fill the allotted 25 in the group. It was a good tour that lasted 90 minutes. We learned lots of information. The history and political events of the area is way too involved to blog about. Fun info was the difference between balconies and galleries, wrought iron and cast iron, pirate and privateer. The tour was well worth the trip into town. We had lunch before heading back to the campground. This time we shared a Foccaccio Muffulletto. We’d heard it was more than enough to share and they were right.
We decided
to go to the Mandeville parade in the evening. It started at 7 and we were toward the end of the parade route. The parade didn’t make it to our area until about 9:30. There were over 20 floats. It had a nice small town feel to it and was put on by the Krewe of Eve. There were various high school marching bands, dance schools, riding clubs, businesses (one dental practice), and city departments. The theme of the parade was the garden, so some of the floats were themed with flowers, bird houses, garden gnomes, etc. The “throws” involved the usual Mardi Gras beads, garden gloves, small stuffed animals and flowers, feather boas, plastic cups, etc. At first it was just novel catching tossed beads, then we got into it more with waving and various antics. As the cache of beads around our necks grew we wondered what we were going to do with them all, but it didn’t stop us from getting more. Eventually the beads grew to too many, so we got a bag from one of our pockets to start putting in excess beads and throws. It was fun to have experienced a Mardi Gras parade.
Mardi Gras float
Krewe of Eve parade Each parade has it’s own theme with some being more family oriented than other parades.
Something we’ve never seen before is drive thrus for Daiquiri’s. Apparently the straw is not in the cup when it is handed to the driver, so it is technically a closed container and what happens after that is between the occupants of the car.
Sat. Feb10th: Today was a travel day and we spent the day on the road going to Galveston, Texas. We took state road 87 and then the free ferry to reach Galveston. That was a first for us, taking the RV onto a ferry. We’re all settled in and can hear the waves from the Gulf when we walk around the campground. We got here after dark, so will go down and check out the water tomorrow.
Sun Feb. 11th: This is great here in Galveston State Park! We have WiFi and a view of the Gulf. The dogs are loving the beach walks. Lizzie remembers the birds from Myrtle Beach and is having a great time keeping the beach free of gulls and sandpipers. Today was grocery shopping and maintenance type things. Had a nice breakfast at
George at Mardi Gras
All decked out after the parade! a place the park ranger recommended called The Diner. George had a breakfast burrito, but I wasn’t feeling as adventurous.
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