Well New Orleans was our last stop. Before i get into that here are the St, Louis pictures.
St, Louis photos 1
St, Louis photos 2
St. Louis photos 3
Now on to New Orleans, we were scheduled to arrive October 19 but due to the problem with the camp ground in Natchez Trace, LA we arrived on the 17th. Our last day in New Orleans as part of the Fantasy trip was the morning of the 24th. The Lincolns, Bob and Cel joined us on the 28th and the Bradly's stayed also. We all stated until November 2. We were going to leave on the first but there were high winds so we waited until the 2nd. That adds up to 23 days in the Big Easy.
We started with a carriage ride through the French Quarter then a stop at Cafe Du Monte for the famous beignets. They were good but later we had them at City Park and those were better. After that we walked around the French Quarter. We had a Muffuletta from Central Grocery which is the oldest market in the French Quarter. The sandwich is 8 inches in diameter and has Genoa salami, Holland ham, mortadella, Swiss and provolone cheese and olive salad. There is a picture in the photos. We then stopped for banana daiquiris and a rest.
The next day we toured the Mardi Gras World. They make all the floats there. They reuse many of the floats and figures from one year to the next but they change the appearance. We saw the workers making figures and reworking old ones. They had all sizes and shapes of figures stored. It was an interesting tour. From there we went to the new World War II Museum. There are 4 buildings that make up the Museum. The displays were fantastic and they had a great film. One building had a number of old airplanes.
The next day we took a bus tour of the sugar cane plantations. We toured two of the sugar plantations. The first one was a restored plantation and we had a great Cajun lunch at Laura's which is a working plantation. The stories of plantation life were interesting.
The next day we took a swamp boat tour through the bayou and swamps. We learned that you can tell how big an alligator in the water is by measuring the distance from his nose to his eyes, If the distance is 12 inches then he is 12 feet long. The one we saw must have been about 16 feet. Judy got to hold a baby alligator.
The next stop was a sea plane ride over New Orleans and the surrounding little towns. Judy got to ride in the co-pilot seat and she had a great time.
The next day we went to the New Orleans School of Cooking where the Chef showed us how to prepare craw fish etouffee, jambalaya, pralines and corn chowder. They were really good. I had the craw fish etouffee every time i had a chance after that. We spent the rest of the day walking around the French Quarter.
The next day we had a dinner cruise on the Steamboat Natchez. We cruised up and down the river.
The next day we had dinner at the camp ground restaurant. They had a great looking wolf in the lobby.
The next day we spent walking around the French Quarter and we finished the day at Pat O'Brien's having Hurricanes on the way back to the shuttle bus we saw a small mardi gras band walking down the street.
The next day we went took a bus tour to City Park where there was a Voodoo fest, and toured one of the old cemeteries. We had dinner at the New Orleans Creole Cookery. This restaurant was at the camp ground shuttle bus stop we used all the time so we got to know the maitre d pretty well. The food was unbelievably good. Our favorite was oysters on the half shell covered in Parmesan cheese and grilled on the open grill for 5 minutes until the cheese melted. I also had craw fish etouffee which was out of this world.
We spent the following day walking around the French Quarter going in a lot of the shops. The next day we did the New Orleans School of Cooking again because Bob and Cel weren't there for the first time we went. This time they fixed red beans and rice, pralines and jambalaya. The food was all great.
We were all hungry for fried chicken and we discovered a small restaurant in the Hood that had been doing fried chicken for several generations. We all agreed that it was probably the best fried chicken we ever had.
We spent another day shopping in the French Quarter and stayed in camp on the last day as the weather was cold and windy.
We made one overnight stop on the way home and arrived home on November 3.
That wraps up what was a very busy trip but we enjoyed it. We will be home until January 14th when we leave for South Padre Island.
Dick and Judy
New Orleans 2018
New Orleans 2018 2
New Orleans 2018 3
New Orleans 2018 4
New Orleans 2018 5
No comments:
Post a Comment