Feb., 28, 2018

Yup. we’re in New Orleans! At a state park on the West Bank just a few miles from NOLA. We drive to Algiers Point and then take a short pedestrian ferry over to the French Quarter.
Hummm…the French Quarter, well it definitely is worth the visit- lots of great architecture, history and food, however (as we had been warned) it stinks- literally.

Cobblestoned streets, lots of bars, full restaurant trash bins, and outside street drinking apparently makes it smell. Most businesses were hosing down their sidewalks, but we could smell the beer and garbage…for blocks and blocks as we walked much of the French Quarter.
Our first stop was Cafe du Mond- world famous for it’s Beignets- fried dough. It considers itself the first coffee shop. Lots of “firsts” here in New Orleans- we had lunch in the first apartment building in America- built in 1850 by a wealthy woman for wealthy tenants right beside Jackson Square Park. Great Food!

 

 

 

 

The levees are interesting- because the Mississippi has many oxbows in it, and Lake Pontchartrain is to the north and the Bayou to the west (and most everywhere else) water is everywhere, so levees are everywhere. Many times you are right beside a river, yet have a 10ft. earth levee with a 10 ft wall on top of it.
We went on the Creole Queen Paddlewheel Riverboat- down the river to Chalmette Battlefield which was the site of the last great battle of the War of 1812. The trip was narrated by a gentleman with a great deep voice, who told us the history of New Orleans, about the Battle and the inside story of Hurricane Katrina.

At the Battlefield a Park Service Ranger gave us the details of the battle- 3000 rag tag militia and local troops beat back 12,000 British troops.
RIght now the floodwaters from the mid-west storms are pouring down the Mississippi- which is 2300 miles long, and drains almost half of the US through it’s watershed. It takes about 90 days for water to flow all the way from the headwaters at Lake Itasca, MN.
Hot and humid here; we can’t imagine what it must feel like in the summer here!
We went on an airboat swamp tour out into the Segnette Bayou. Lots of birds, turtles, and alligators- we even got to hold this one- she is about 4 years old.

US News and World Report recently ranked the states and lo and behold, Louisianna ranked the 50th as a place to live. And from the little we saw of Louisianna, we would have to agree. The majority of communities along the coast are poor, very poor. And the roads- highways and city streets are horrible.