To New Orleans- Saturday, August 4, 2018

      Julie wanted to go out to the beach in the morning, so we got up early, but we beat the sun up too.  We had time to go to McDonalds for breakfast and get the car packed before the sun came up.  When we went down to the beach, we enjoyed seeing the pelicans and other birds again.  There were about three storms that we could see off over the gulf, though.  The water was warm, but the air was thick and heavy.  It was already over 80 degrees and the humidity was high.  When we saw lightning, we decided to leave.

     Julie had found a mention of a free car ferry that runs from Galveston Island to the Bolivar Peninsula and Belmont, Texas.  It didn’t really shorten the trip to New Orleans much, especially with the small wait time, but it sounded fun.  It was easy to find.  Once we pulled onto the boat and it was underway, we were allowed to walk around the deck.   There was an observation deck that we could go up to, but we could see well from the car level, and since the trip was pretty short (just about 2.7 miles long) we enjoyed ourselves well on the car deck.  The storms we could see earlier were nearby, and we could see big freighters silhouetted in the pouring rain.  Pelicans continued to fly over in lines, and they were on the dock on the peninsula side in large numbers. 

     We drove off the ferry, past the black light house and the houses on stilts, and we figured that the ferry ride would be the highlight of the drive to New Orleans.  That’s when it got surreal.  We spotted a funnel cloud off to our right, over the gulf.  It was probably considered to be a water spout at that point.  We wondered what to do, but all of the other cars around us were continuing to drive forward.   The skies were not as dark as they were for the Petersburg tornado years ago, and the rain and wind seemed relatively light, considering what we were seeing.  Julie drove on, while Scott took video and pictures of the tornadic cloud.  After watching it for several minutes, we assume that it made it to land and it dissipated as we watched it, disappearing in front of our eyes.  We could see a thinner one forming in another spot, but we were still driving.  The rain started to come down hard for a brief time, but about as fast as we had driven into it, we drove out again.  And just moments later the sun was back.

     By the time we were ready for lunch, we were in Louisiana.  We found a Popeyes to eat Louisiana chicken at.  Further on, we stopped at the visitors center for the Atchafalaya region.  This area of Louisiana is Cajun country and the heart of “America’s largest river swamp.”   We just wanted a stretch break and a bathroom stop, and weren’t expecting how big this visitors center turned out to be.  There are animatronic swamp animals- a raccoon, a snapping turtle, and an alligator- that introduce a short movie about the Atchafalaya region.   We later passed through Baton Rouge and crossed part of Lake Pontchartrain.

     Traffic was very slow in some spots today, sometimes coming to a complete halt because of accidents.  We had hoped to get to New Orleans so that Julie could tour Villalobos today.  They only have tours from Thursday to Saturday, and their last tour is at 3:00.  We didn’t get into New Orleans until after 3:30.   Then we had to fight to check into our hotel.  The French Quarter is definitely not designed for traffic.  In addition to all of the one-way streets, the mobs of people dominate the traffic flow and negotiating through them takes forever.  We parked in a public lot across the street from our hotel on Decatur Street, the main street that runs along the river.  Then we had to wait in line for a long time to check in.  The inside of the hotel is rather maze-like, heading between several adjacent buildings, and the bellhop had to show us to our room.  Of course, we wouldn’t be able to stay parked where we were.  The hotel wanted us to pull the car in front to be parked by their valet service.  That required us to head back down Decatur Street, drive around the block where we could, and come back again.  It doesn’t sound like much, but again the crowds of people made this very slow going.  Once we got the car to the hotel, we left it to be parked. 

     It was almost 5:00, but we were now able to get going to explore the French Quarter.  Went walked down Decatur Street, to do some shopping.  Since it summertime and a Saturday, there were lots of people, and while a few places were shutting down, there were still many stores that were still open.  We went down Decatur Street, stopping by Jackson Square to get a selfie, and continued out to the French Market and the flea market beyond that.  As we passed the Café du Monde, Julie said she was not going to get a beignet because they taste like jelly doughnuts with no jelly, so we skipped that and kept shopping.  She did buy a watermelon-cucumber lemonade that she enjoyed.

     After browsing through a few stores, it was time to find dinner.  We considered a few places that we saw along the way, but Scott suggested that for a real New Orleans place, we should try Pat O’Brien’s.   To get to it, we had to go way past Jackson Square again, to St. Peters street—it was farther than Scott remembered.  We zigzagged through the French Quarter.  When we got there, we were seated outside to eat.  It was warm, but cool enough that we could enjoy it.  We were within site of the flaming fountain- a large water fountain with a flame in the center- and Julie got to watch as it was lit.  Julie got a salad but the chicken in it was too spicy for her tastes.  Scott got alligator bites, which really do taste like chicken.  Anna and Emma were appalled when we texted them a picture, but it really was basically like eating popcorn chicken.  Scott also got a hurricane.  The hurricane drink was invented at Pat O’Brien’s in the 1940s and has become a signature of New Orleans.  The rum in it is quite potent and reminded Scott of the Rum Bellies Vengeance that he gets in Gettysburg, but stronger.   We debated keeping the glass, but ultimately didn’t. 

     It was well after 8:00 and we headed out on the Bourbon Street side of Pat O’Brien’s to go a few doors down to the Tropical Isle’s Bayou Club.  Scott had been here once before when he was here for the 2015 re-enactment and really liked the Cajun style music that is played here.  The first band was called the Faubourg Playboys and they had a few songs left in their last set.  The had twin fiddles, which was a great sound, and the singer sang mostly in French, of course.  Even though there were not many people at this point, the band had a lot of Cajun energy.  They did a great version of “On the Bayou.”  Scott complimented the lead singer/fiddle player later on and asked to buy a CD.  He gave us one, on the house.

     The second band that came on is called T’Canaille, which is Cajun-French for “Little Rascal” or “Little Trouble Maker.”  This was the band that Scott had heard 3 years ago, and he knew that they were fun to watch.  The fiddler from the first band sat in with this one too, but the front man in this band sings and plays a Cajun accordion.  Julie had asked what kind of instrument it was when we were listening to them in the car, and now Scott could show her that it’s a uniquely Cajun thing.  It’s smaller than an accordion that we’d see in a Polish polka band, but it’s larger than a concertina.   The crowd had gotten bigger, and a few of them really knew what they were doing when they were dancing.  Their dancing added a lot to the energy in the room, as did a couple of Abita Ambers-- a New Orleans made beer that Scott was enjoying.  Again, the songs were mostly in French, but we appreciated the energy of the music.  Scott said this music is like the second cousin of Irish music, having evolved from what was brought here from the transplanted Acadians.   The “Louisiana Saturday Night” seemed very appropriate when they played it.   We stayed for the whole first set of this band, and when the took a break, we headed out onto Bourbon Street to see what New Orleans on a Saturday night looks like. 

     Bourbon Street was packed with revelers, and they were well underway.  Julie said it was like a gigantic frat party, and she was right.  We didn’t stay long, but we headed down a few blocks to see the crowds before heading back to the hotel so Scott could find a bathroom.