Laissez les bons moments rouler!

Translation: Let The Good Times Roll!

Five and a half years into traveling the roads and bridges of America, and one notable state has managed to elude us. Despite staying in every other state surrounding the Gulf of Mexi – er, America – we've always managed to skip or just plain pass-through Louisiana. COVID kept us from visiting in 2020 on our way back from Arizona. Other scheduled travel ran us through the state without any spare time to hit the obvious spots like New Orleans and Baton Rouge. We had managed to stay overnight in the Shreveport area, but it was just a one-night stop on our way to Texas, and one night stops don't count as an official Parental Parolees “visit”.

So following our 1 year-old grandson William's birthday early in May, we found ourselves with about a month in which to kill some time. Strangely enough, we hadn't planned for any travel at all. Unusual enough in previous years, but given the past year of non-travel I had gotten out of the habit of making reservations and planning for stops and stays. More on that little problem coming later in the blog.

We had looked at Maryland as a possible check-off on our travel map, as it is the only Mid-Atlantic state left to visit, but except for Assateague National Seashore to visit with the wild horses there, nothing really was motivating us there, and a dearth of campgrounds with either decent reviews or reasonable rates didn't make Maryland a particular draw.

Ohio was another possibility, as it would plug a hole in the map in our Rust Belt travels, but more research was needed on good places to stay there that couldn't be done in a week or two of prep. Rhode Island and Connecticut were simply put in the “let's hit them on our way to and from New England next time” category.

So given it was May, and the hot and sticky weather the Gulf coast is known for had not yet arrived, Louisiana beckoned. Barbara had never visited there, while my earlier travels to that city were back when I worked for Xerox 30 years in the past. It wasn't going to be a long stay, as at our age there's only so much drinking and eating you can do and still function enough to sight see the next day!

We're pretty frugal when it comes to campground fees. If we can get by on $50-$60 a night, we're very happy. Not gonna happen in the New Orleans area. Could have stayed outside the city and shuttled in, but for just a couple of days it would have wasted a lot of travel time, so we opted to spend some serious fees at French Quarter RV Resort, a 52-site oasis just a short walking distance to the fabled French Quarter. This was all about location – location – location, as the term “resort” is a bit overblown. Nice, but small pool and hot tub, streets and sites made of pavers with good modern hookups. Gated, so safe from the seedier side of New Orleans. But that's the entirety of the “resort”.

All for $125 per night before taxes (and Louisiana and New Orleans have a LOT of taxes!).

But, you're a 10-15 minute walk to Bourbon Street.

We opted for a 3-night stay.

Barbara booked us for a 2-hour river cruise on the Natchez Queen, an old-style paddle-wheeler, for our last day there, so our first couple of days were spent sight seeing, eating and drinking. One morning we enjoyed beignets and cafe au lait and Cafe du Monde right on the river.

 

Nothing like a powdered sugar high on fried dough to start the day!

After beignets, we needed a walk on the river!

We used the sugar-induced high to walk around Jackson Square looking at street artists. Struck up a conversation with a couple of law enforcement folks who were covering a commercial being shot in the square. Hit the hot tub back at the resort to work out the kinks and muscles from the walk, then hit Pat O'Brien's for some bar food, music, and their famous Hurricane drink.

The Hurricane was tasty, but pretty strong for someone who doesn't drink much alcohol!

 

Always making sure we were back behind the walls and gate of the resort before dark, because New Orleans is a pretty dangerous city outside of the restaurants and shops of the French Quarter.

Our second day found us heading to the dock for our much-anticipated riverboat cruise, only to find out that it had been canceled due to a mechanical problem. Since we were nearby, we decided to walk through the French Market that Barbara had read about during her research. While it didn't turn out to be the variety of vendors she had hoped it was, we did meet a wonderful man named Charles Garrison, A P.O.E.T of New Orleans, who will recite his own original verses for you, speak to his ministry in the area and his life history (he's a fellow Air Force vet like me) and will sell you his poems with a personal greeting on them for a marginal price. He's a charming, likable fellow and we spent almost a half hour speaking with him. If you're visiting New Orleans, stop by his table at the French Market; it will be worth your time.

A P.O.E.T. and Pastor Charles Garrison

Leaving New Orleans in our rear view mirror, we headed a bit west and north to the capital city of Louisiana, Baton Rouge. We had reservations in a fairly new (2023) campground, Tiger's Run RV Resort, which appeared to be a combined venue with the Lauberge Hotel and Casino across the street. The RV resort encircles a good-sized pond on very level ground. Sites are cement with attached patios. Typical pool, hot tub and pickle ball courts, with a very nice addition of a lazy river and a pool bar guests can enjoy, and you can even bill your drinks to your site! Another mark of a true resort is trash pickup at your site.

Visited one of the local Southern plantations nearby. Houmas Plantation is still an active home where the owner spends each evening, but it's also a museum which highlights pre-Civil War Southern living. The gardens and trees on the grounds are absolutely spectacular, as is the home. The front grounds are somewhat truncated after the levee system was built following the Great Flood of 1927, but you can still imagine looking out on the front porch to the Mississippi River a few dozen yards away.

Besides a typical Southern look, the Houmas Plantation had a beautiful Oriental garden

Barbara standing where the barges and boats would have been picking up and delivering commerce to the Houmas Plantation back in the day.

The Mighty Mississippi. Too thin to walk on; too thick to drink!

To close out our Louisiana adventure, it was never, ever not windy during out stay in that state. Every day greeted us with 15 MPH winds and minimum 20 MPH gusts. Our drive day back up to Montgomery, Alabama had 15-25 MPH winds. Fortunately, for more than half our drive day it was a gas-saving tail wind, but hitting those long bridges and roadways over Lake Ponchartrain with that crosswind was a chore. I have no idea if windy is the norm for that area, or if we just caught some unusual weather, but dang, was it ever windy!

Anyway, state #28 is in the bag, and now it's time to get down to some serious travel planning for Jace's summer vacation. We are seriously behind the 8-ball on that.