New Orleans, Weekenders and Visting with Family

March 6, 2010.

One of the most beautiful sunny days we’ve had this year, with temps in the low 60’s.

My brother and nephew were on a planned turkey hunting expedition, so they weren’t able to spend the day with us.  However, My brother’s lovely wife, Sadie our niece Sophia, and 6 mos. old nephew Santo, picked us up for a trip to New Orleans. 

We started out the day with breakfast at a local restaurant.  The it was off to New Orleans over the 24 mile long Causeway Bridge crossing Lake Pontchartrain the longest bridge in the world.  

We got down to the French Quarter and were shocked at the number of people downtown.  Sadie tried to find a parking space in the public lot by the Mississippi River however, for the first time in her memory it was full and she couldn’t find a space.  We ended up in another very crowded public parking lot.

We started off with the obligatory shopping through the flea market. Downriver from Jackson Square and Artillery Park the historic French Market on Decatur Street dates to 1791 and is the oldest farmer's market in the U.S

We then wandered through many of the streets in the french quarter, taking  a lot of pictures and checking out the shops and crafts.

We walked through Jackson Square. Jackson Square is surrounded by historic buildings; St. Louis Cathedral—the oldest continuously active cathedral in the United States. 

A statue of General Andrew Jackson stands in the center of the square.

Joan Of Arc was holding the New Orleans Saints Flag.  Hmm...I don’t recall seeing her with the flag when I was here a few years ago!   With all the Saints outfits and paraphernalia, you’d think they had won the Super Bowl this year!

Joan of Arc—the "Maid of Orleans"—a the French peasant girl who saw heavenly beings and heard their voices led an army to break the siege of Orleans, changed the tide of The 100 Years' War and bacame a national herione of France. This Joan of Arc statue was presented to the City of New Orleans as a gift from the people of France by President Charles de Gaulle during a state visit in 1959.

We continued our stroll through the French Quarter taking the obligatory French Quarter balcony shots.

Before long we were all tired and hungry again.  So we headed to Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets. 

As usual we had to wait in line.  However, this time the service was particularly bad as we sat for over 30 mins. before we had a waitress clear the table from the previous customers.  Anyhow, it was worth the wait...I guess.  At least that’s what the girls told me!

Afterwards, we went for a walk on the Mississippi River Walk and made our way back to the car.  

This paddle boat was making it’s way down The Mississippi River after having traversed the crest in the river the namesake for the Crescent City.

We made it back to our campsite, where we shared dinner with Sadie and Sophia before they had to call it a night.  We had a great time and appreciated the guided tour by native born Sadie.

March 7, 2010.  We again woke to a beautiful sunny day that quickly warmed to the low 60’s.  We stayed home during the morning hanging out in the sun while being entertained by the weekenders packing up and heading home.  Friday and Saturday this park was full.  Just about every third camper had a fire going.  At night it was foggy and the smoke was hanging thick in the air.  

It was nice to see the weekenders clear out with all their noisy kids, dogs and adults.  I’m sure the air quality will clear up with the weekenders gone!  Perhaps I’m sounding snobbish.  Seriously, I like that the weekenders enjoy camping and taking their kids out to enjoy camping.

It’s just different, when Rv’ing is your lifestyle and not a weekend adventure.  So it’s kinda interesting and fun to watch the weekenders come and go.  There were four families in the sites next to us that were obviously all camping together perhaps as an extended family in separate rvs.  Between them there must have been 8-12 kids aged 5-12 with 4 dogs.  The noise they all created was borderline ridiculous.  But apparently they camp here often.  I was entertained by the fellow in the site next to me attempting to hitch up his fifth wheel while being assisted by two or more of his friends.  He could sure use some practice!

In the afternoon, we went over to Damon and Sadie’s home and enjoyed playing with the kids and grilling out.  We also celebrated Sadie’s mom’s birthday.  We had a great time and look forward to some other activities together throughout the week.