We definitely need to come back to New Orleans. Between a couple of bad weather days and Andrew’s new job, we really only got a little taste of it.
We went downtown twice, once to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and once to the famous French Quarter. Ruth’s is one of our favorite chain restaurants, and New Orleans is home to the original one. Sorry to say we were not terribly impressed by this Ruth’s, it was just OK. What was fun, is that they put us in a booth with a curtain. I kept seeing people try to look in to see who was sitting in the private booth, maybe they were hoping to see a celebrity. Lots of famous people float through New Orleans, and the lady who cut my hair here told me that famous musicians come here to live their final days. Anyway, seeing the French Quarter was awesome. Loved the narrow streets, iron balconies covered with ferns, and the colorful names of the bars and restaurants. Of course many of them were French boutiques, selling linens or china. There was a chic yarn store that I shopped twice in our short stay. The owner wrapped my yarn up like a gift, with confetti hearts and curled ribbons. I really did feel like I was walking away with a present for myself.
New Orleans has great energy, even between festivals, which I hear there are many many of. New Orleaners are a colorful and partying bunch. People watching is great there. We sat at an outdoor market and had some catfish po’boys while listening to live jazz. Ingrid got the kids’ popcorn shrimp meal (finally, a kid’s menu with something other than hamburger, hot dog, or chicken nuggets!!). For dessert we headed to the famous Cafe du Monde, which has been operating in New Orleans since 1862! They only serve one pastry plus a few beverage options. But OMG the beignets are to die for! They’re similar to donuts but better, served hot off the fryer under a mountain of powdered sugar.
The Louisiana State Museum was fascinating. The first time we visited, we saw the Mardi Gras exhibit. This included history, costumes, drawings, photos, posters. Even a cart full of “throws”, the objects they throw from the floats. Ingrid delighted in finding these throws on the streets, free for the taking. Another day we came back to learn about the last two hundred years in New Orleans. There were displays about the natives that were here before Spanish and French explorers came, even several artifacts that dated from before 1700. We saw one woven basket that was so well constructed that it still holds water! Ingrid was very interested in the displays and she went back and forth between Andrew and I, asking us questions about what we were looking at. We learned about how New Orleans was not really a profitable port, but countries held on to it mostly to keep it out of the hands of others. Seeing New Orleans, it’s hard to imagine people traveling to it, it’s so far away from the mainland. Driving out of it, you see nothing but tall bridges and overpasses, marshes below you. You don’t touch much land until you get to the actual city. Slavery was part of the display, and it was very hard to read the detailed accounts of how people treated slaves. They didn’t dwell on it, but there enough stories to horrify me and I couldn’t get it out of my head for a couple of days. I wish we’d had time to see some plantations. We did get to go inside these very old buildings that housed the different rooms of the museum. Walking up their big staircases was fun, as they were lined with giant portraits of some of the rich people of the time, along with little stories of how they became so wealthy.
We spent about half our time at the campground, which was a pretty nice one. As far as animals, we saw bunnies, armadillos, and cardinals. The armadillos were the best, because they completely ignore you and just keep digging or nosing noisily even if you’re standing two feet away from them. We met some nice people, including Angie and her little guy West, who came to the RV and played for a while one day. The people next to us were here because their dog was dying and this was his favorite park. He was thirteen years old and had heart failure and wouldn’t eat anymore. I gave them some coconut oil and he seemed to like it, but we left for the day and I never did find out if he made it through that day or not.
