New Orleans, LA
The next stop on our cross country trip was New Orleans. Our to do list
included eating some good food, listening to good music, and see
some sights
including the devastation from the hurricane and flood. Our emphasis was
mostly on the French Quarter area for the food, music and fun. For the
devastation, one just needed to look about anywhere other than the French
Quarter.
We stayed at the French Quarter RV Resort
which is only a couple blocks away from the French Quarter. This was an
excellent resort with a very friendly staff. We were greeted kindly and
shown to our clean and spacious spot which was large enough to hold ALL of our
vehicles. That is saying alot! There was a major emphasis on
security at this resort complete with high walls and a continuously watching
security force inside and out. I have to say security was first and
foremost on my mind when visiting New Orleans and I did not think another
thought
about it when I saw the folks of this resort had it under control. I am
not implying that New Orleans is worse than any other major city with crime.
It has to do with the location we were in. We wanted to be near the French
Quarter and that is what we got. I highly recommend the French Quarter RV
Resort (FQRV) for anyone coming to New Orleans. The price that you pay
there may higher but you really get what you pay for in this case. Another
nearby unnamed RV park I called just did not seem to have their act together
when I called to inquire about a stay. When I called the FQRV, I knew this
was the place and I booked immediately.
Erika and I spent the first night going to Mulate's for dinner, live music
and fun. Mulate's is visited
extensively by the local families. Of
course, the tourists are there too but the presence of the locals is noticeable. Mulate's serves a nice selection of Cajun style dinners at a very reasonable
price. Erika and I chose our dinners to give us a wide variety of what Mulate's had to offer. We were not disappointed as the meals were
excellent in every way. We ate until we were ready to burst, all the while
listening to the live Cajun music being played by one of the restaurant's regular
appearing bands. There is live music each early evening at Mulate's and
it is the "real Cajun deal".
Feeling festive from the great food and music, Erika and I made friends with
two other couples who were eating near us. We all pulled our chairs
together at one table and spent a good portion of the evening talking and
laughing over one silly subject or another. There was alot of dancing
going on that dance floor and Erika got some good dance lessons from one new
found friend. After a while, feeling a little jealous that Erika was
getting all the dance time, I had to cut in, and
the two of us men waltzed
around the dance floor together in time with the Zydeco. This got some
hearty laughter from the locals and tourists. Somehow, we all got started
playing "the spoons" in time with the band. We each took two dinner spoons
and held them together in one hand and slapped the spoons on our legs, heads,
hands, and each other. At this point the other folks looked at us like we
were a little crazy. Not wanting to have all the fun, we proceeded
to go around the restaurant encouraging everybody to pick up their "musical"
spoons and join along with us as we danced around the tables. Even some
shy ones got in on the act. A good time and a good laugh was had by all.
Alas, the band played their last song of the evening (complete with the patron
spoon orchestra accompaniment) and that was it for the night. We bid adieu
to our new friends and said "thank you too much" to the great staff of Mulate's
who treated us well. We went back home as we needed to get up early for
our swamp tour at Honey Island Swamp the next morning.
We chose Dr. Wagner's Honey Island
Swamp Tour for our tour. There are several tour operators in the Honey
Island Swamp and I am sure they are all fine. This swamp tour was a
magnificent experience for both Erika and I. We were fascinated as we
penetrated into some of the more beautiful "side streets" of the swamp, some of
which was filmed for National Geographic. Of course, we saw alligators
which was tops on our list of must see things. We saw a 14 footer named El Whoppo! (American spelling) who calmly eyeballed us as we safely watched
from our boat. Several of the smaller alligators obviously knew the tour
boat and swam right to us to receive their thrice daily feeding of
"marsh"-mallows (pun intended. Our tour guide told us they do not feed
them meat because it makes them very aggressive if they do. A gator could
easily come into the boat with us if they chose to.
It was so beautiful to penetrate into the swamp and see the moss hanging from
the trees. The duckweed was thick on the surface and looked like a
beautiful carpet that you felt you could step out of the boat and walk on.
The wild flowers were blooming along the banks and the smells of what was
blooming was invigorating. We glided along searching for various forms of
wild life including a nesting wood duck in a stump, some very large and small
snakes, alligators, turtles, fish, and a variety of beautiful birds. Our
tour guide was an informative fellow and talked just the right amount by not
being too chatty and letting us enjoy the natural sounds around us at the
appropriate times. We even got a thrill when we accidentally hit a
submerged cypress stump. I guess the procedure is to gun the powerful
engine when this occurs because that is what we did. We went up and over
that stump and it was quite the ride. We stayed out in the swamp for a
couple hours and I consider this tour to be a decent deal for the price you pay.
We recommend you do this tour if able. Make sure you allow for a good
amount of time to make the drive from New Orleans.
We drove back into New Orleans after the swamp tour to check out New Orleans'
famous cemetery, St Louis #1. Here are buried some very notable New Orleanians.
One of these is Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. Her tomb is visited by many
believers of voodoo who inscribe 3 X's on her tomb and make a wish. Her
tomb is covered by these little X's which represent The Father, The Son, and The
Holy Ghost. Those who have their wish granted must make an "offering" of
thanks to Ms. Laveau or risk a curse upon them for their ungratefulness.
The offerings left every day are plentiful and sometimes can be quite bizarre.
Yes, sacrificed animals, most often chickens are
routinely left at the tomb. One "sacrificed" chicken came in the form of a
bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The bulkier items of offering are
removed on a regular schedule. What is left are a large number of coins,
mostly pennies, that occupy most of the horizontal surface of the tomb.
Not being one who has studied voodoo, that is about all I can tell you of this
subject. The cemetery is quite a beautiful place in some respects even
with its surface appearance of crumbling ruins. Erika was quite stricken
with the beauty of the architecture and the figurines which adorned the tombs.
That
afternoon, we decided to go to New Orleans' second oldest restaurant, Tujague's
for what we thought would be a very special dinner. Sadly, we cannot give
Tujague's a resounding recommendation. Was the food special? Not
really? Was the surroundings of the restaurant special? Nope.
Was the service special? Kind of. Our waiter was kind and somewhat
attentive but not near the best we have had. We walked out of Tujague's
well fed but feeling a little empty other than our stomachs. We went there
on a recommendation of a local resident but this time the advice fell a little
short of being a good recommendation.
After dinner we proceeded to do the typical French
Quarter routine of walking the streets, listening to the music
spill
out of the bars onto the street, observing the other folks and their antics.
It was a good time listening to the very talented bands but we were left
wondering, where is that special New Orleans feeling? The bands sounded
the same as any other college town bar laden street. Where was that sweet
sweet jazz sound that only comes from this city? Obviously, we were
looking in all the wrong places this particular evening. Wow! Second
somewhat disappointing thing of the evening! Don't get me wrong. The
French Quarter is entertaining but it really felt like any other tourist trap
bar street that I have seen all over the country during my travels. The
"soul" of the French Quarter seems to be missing.
One
interesting thing that we did do was to get a Tarot Card "reading" for Erika in
one of the back rooms of a voodoo store in the heart of the French Quarter.
This was something completely new to me as I have never consulted a palm reader,
medium or anything of the like. We thought it would be fun to do this.
I was allowed to attend as the Tarot reader read from the cards Erika's past,
present and future. I have to say that I was astonished just how right on
this woman was in all aspects of Erika's life. It was fun discussing the
possible meaning of the cards. The reader seemed quite knowledgeable,
friendly, and attentive to us. I have to say for both of us that this
experience was definitely positive and quite intriguing.
All in all, our visit to New Orleans was a fun
experience for us. We experienced new things. We saw stuff we
have
never seen before. With that in mind, we were glad we came. Alas,
the French Quarter had nothing new and exciting to offer us. Even throwing
the beads from the balconies got boring after a bit. The music was good
but not special. I know the food can be fantastic but this time, other
than our good time at Mulate's, we were unimpressed. Because we are not
hard drinking partiers (any more), this probably affected the level of "fun" we
had in the Quarter. I have been there, done that in the Quarter in the
past. To tell you the truth, it wasn't all that great back then either.
I can safely say that we will not be devoting much effort to return to New
Orleans as we saw this time pretty much what we need to see here for a long time
to come. We do wish New Orleans the best of luck in recovering from the
devastation.
