Nawlins...

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9-15-10
Took the River Road from Baton Rouge to just outside New Orleans. I wanted to see some of the plantations...thought for some reason they’d be on 10-acre or larger plots, but the ones we drove by were just the house and outbuildings...one was nestled amongst a huge refinery. Parking was non-existent, so we didn’t stop. They were much smaller and less grand than I had imagined...
We arrived at the Ponchartrain Landing RV Park in the early afternoon. Got settled in and took their free shuttle to the French Quarter. Walked over to Lafayette Square where Anders Osborne was putting on a free concert. We stopped at the Crescent City Brewpub along the way. Don’t bother with them...beers were $8 each and warm...bummer!! Had a few Abita beers while we enjoyed the concert at the square!! For the last couple of songs, Ivan Neville (Aaron’s son) and a local Indian joined them...nice!! After the concert, we walked over to Mr. B’s for dinner. It was good, but expensive. Then off to Bourbon Street!! We stopped at a couple of places along the way, but ended up at “Fritzel’s” listening to a Dixieland Band consisting of a banjo, trumpet, stand-up bass and drummer. They were so good that we left after one set and came back for another set 😊 Caught a cab back to the RV park...cab is the ONLY way to travel out of the French Quarter after the morning hours...no parking, the streets are really narrow and parking will cost you more than a cab ride!!
9-16-10
Still trying to get the A/C fixed, so hung around the coach until the local guy could come take a look at it. He didn’t really seem confident that he’d fixed it, but said he’d come back if it continued to leak. Took the shuttle back down to the French Quarter. Walked down to the river to see what was going on. It was interesting to see that there were gates that close off the levy system (on rails and the gates look like they’re made out of cargo container material...) if necessary. Heard that the Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone was a “must-see”, so we stopped in for a New Orlean’s specialty drink called a Sezerac (which was fabulous, by the way!!). At first you don’t think the bar is turning, likely because the bartender area doesn’t move, just the seating area...pretty cool...and the ceiling is fashioned in a carousel motif. We me a nice guy who was traveling back to Florida from a stay at his daughter’s in Houston. He had lived in NO for a while, so he was giving us the low-down on the area. He also told us that Destin, FL will be beautiful...which we’ve heard many times before!! We finished our fabulous drink and then off to the Acme Oyster Company for dinner. As we were walking, Glenn noticed that there were trucks for Craft Services parked on the street. He informed me that meant somebody was shooting a movie in the vicinity...as we turned the next corner, there was a security guy and we noticed all the cars parked along that block of St. Charles Street were vintage 30's and 40's vehicles. Then we were really curious, so I stopped a couple of kids that looked like they were with the "set" and they told us that they were filming the movie version of Jack Kerouak's "On the Road" novel. WOW!!! We had both just read that as Eli had given it to us for Christmas as we were going on our "big adventure"!! The kids were excited as it was the "best" movie they'd worked on so far...they didn't say, but were likely grips or something along that line...we'll have to look for it when it comes out!! Anyway, on to the Acme Oyster Company...It’s been featured on the Man vs. Food show, and we were hunting some oysters, and we’d walked by last night and it looked like a fun, casual place!! We sat at the bar (it was a few minutes’ wait outside, but there was a party upstairs and we were watching all the attendees enter through a non-descript doorway to get there...never did find out if it was a birthday party or just what...
So we sit at the bar, and the bartender was a young girl from NOLA attending university a couple of days a week. She wants to be a physical therapist. She was very entertaining, and after a bit, she’d give us the “extra” when she mixed a cocktail...she was very good at her craft!! There were 2 young men, one from Chicago and one from the Tampa area who were in town working for Price Waterhouse. When their oysters on the half-shell arrived, the one by me said he’d never eaten fresh oysters before and was asking how...so we started to visit with them a bit. Turns out the one from Florida is headed to Spokane next week!! Told him to have a burger at The Onion and ride the tram over the river and check out Riverfront Park 😊 They finished up their dinner before we did and headed for Bourbon Street. Then a couple of other young men sat down in their place. About that time, Glenn came back from the rest room and said there was a guy 2 feet taller than him back on the other side of the restaurant. Shortly afterward, the tall gentleman sat down next to me. The three were all together and were visiting with the bartender like they’d worked there before. I asked about that, and turns out I was sitting by Big Easy Lofton of the Harlem Globetrotters!! He asked where we were from and said he remembered Spokane fondly from playing there!! Too fun!!!
After dinner, we headed back down Bourbon Street. Stopped at a place that had an Acadian (French Cajun) singer/fiddle player and cajun band. They were really good...and he sang most of the songs in Cajun French. When they finished their set, we left to stroll down the street. We stopped in a cafe along the way that had a dixieland band playing. There were also a group from The Netherlands sitting just behind us. I noticed the bandleader tell one of them that whenever they were ready, to let him know. So after a few songs by the band, the group behind us...turns out they're a choir group, got up and sang "This Land is Your Land"...TOO FUNNY!!! They they sang backup for another song...it was really fun!! Most of them had t-shirts on that said: "Bourbon Street to The Big D" on the front. As we were leaving, I just HAD to ask what that meant. Well, they didn't understand what I was asking, and after the question went through about 3 or 4 of them, one said: "You'll have to ask someone who's local...we just bought these". Then I asked if they got 4 for $20 and they all nodded and said it was a great deal!!! TOTALLY TOO FUNNY!!! I'm still chuckling about that!! So then we wandered further down Bourbon and got to St. Ann, where we were trying to decide whether to head for Frenchmen Street, or just what...a nice local guy named James asked where we were headed...we told him, and that we weren’t exactly sure just how to get there. He said he was headed that way to go home, so he took us within a couple of blocks and pointed the way to the jazz clubs located there. He was born and raised in New Orleans and had some stories to tell!!
We’d heard that the clubs on Frenchmen were much like what Bourbon Street had been 20 years ago, so were interested in what was happening there. We walked by a few places and settled at Maison. The band was playing as we walked in, and we noticed that the trombone player was on a table across the dance floor from the stage!! The trumpet player and he were having a little competition...the rest of the band consisted of a drummer, electric guitar and keyboard player. We sat there through a couple of sets...they were quite young, but very talented!! After a bit, the trumpet player passed that off to a friend who was in the audience, then took over the drums. The trombone player sat down at the keyboards and they were off again!! Pretty amazing, so we stayed for a couple of sets. Cab back home!!
9-17-10
Up this morning to get Cafe au Lait and Beignets at Cafe du Monde...YUM!! Then we took the car down to the Lower 9th Ward to check out the hurricane damage for ourselves. Unbelievable that the spray paint from 5 years ago still adorns many of the home fronts. While there was building and remodeling going on, many of the homes remain neglected. Sad that so much government money gets spent and yet these folks don’t have a decent place to live.
Back to the park to do a bit of laundry and float around the pool for a bit. The A/C is still leaking, so tried to get our “guy” back out, but he wasn’t interested. Took the shuttle back downtown. Stopped at Margaritaville for a beer and met a foursome from south of Houston. Turns out one of the couples was from Crystal Beach, TX, which is just a ferry ride from Galveston!! We had a nice chat with them!! They were staying at Harrah’s and were headed back to change for dinner. We headed over to St. Charles Street, as we’d read about a couple of jazz clubs there. It was about 15 blocks, and the first one was closed when we got there. Then the road made a turn and we thought it would be a total bust walking over there, but then stumbled upon the Circle Bar. Turns out that it’s located at the Lee Circle in the street, (Robert E Lee Statue...) so all started to make sense!! There was a smooth lite jazz fusion band playing when we arrived. Looked like they were a bunch of college students. The stand-up bass player was really good, and I totally enjoyed their music. After they finished their set, Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Review took the “stage”. The stage was actually a circular room just off the bar. They were really good, but the place was really small and got really crowded, so we left after one set. Back home via our favorite cab company!!
9-18-10
Buttoned up and left the park right at noon. Nate was the name of the manager of the park, and we’d visited with him quite a bit throughout our stay. We had wanted to say goodbye, but he was out and about. Off to Mississippi!! We drove Highway 90 along the coastline to Biloxi...WOW!! Talk about miles of white sandy beach!!! But the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed right over Bay St. Louis where the beautiful beaches began, so there were a LOT of foundations, but no homes. You could certainly see they’ve made progress, but the damage was clearly extensive. Arrived at the Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. They have a nice parking lot for RV’s so settled in. G. made us some fabulous chicken tacos and then we headed for the beach!! Had a really nice sunset stroll in the surf and then sat on one of the benches for a bit and let the ocean breeze float over us...I have to say I totally enjoyed that!!! We finally hopped back in the car to try to find “downtown” Biloxi, but not sure if it’s non-existent, or if we just couldn’t find it in the dark. Anyway headed back home for the evening.

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Photos

Movie "set"
On St. Charles Street