Return to the Riverwalk

On Monday we decided to return to the Riverwalk, partly because we had enjoyed the boat trip, but partly because coming up this Friday is the Annual Lighting of the Riverwalk and Boat Parade!!! We had delayed our departure from San Antonio to go to this and ordered tickets on line, but wanted to pick them up in person to make sure that they understood Sally would be in a wheelchair.

Although this should have been a pretty straightforward task, the use of the wrong address on the internet meant that we criss-crossed the Riverwalk district a couple of times to find the ticket office. However, that meant we were able to explore the streets at ground level, above the Riverwalk, because from above you would hardly notice the almost secret world of the Riverwalk. When we collected the tickets we actually talked to the director of the event on Friday night and he was able to reassure us that our tickets were OK for Sally, but suggested that we should arrive by 5.00, for the show at 7.00, as there would be a lot of people and parking may be difficult. They expect 150,000 people to come and watch, each with a reserved seat! We also found out that the event is televised on national US TV (don’t know which channel). So we are looking forward to this event, which is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving – Official start to Christmas!!!!.

After this little adventure we felt in need of a drink, we found a Starbucks which had a terrace overlooking the Riverwalk and relaxed for a while. Following this we descended to the Riverwalk in one of the elevators and strolled round one section of the Riverwalk, just relaxing and nosing, it was great fun.

Gosh then it was time for lunch, so we chose the Saltgrass Steakhouse in the basement of Landry’s Hotel, where we had a balcony table, again overlooking the Riverwalk, where we could people watch, boat watch and Mariachi watch.

Mariachi are wandering Mexican musicians who cluster round tables with their instruments and play traditional Mexican music while you eat, until you pay for them to go away. It adds a very nice background atmosphere to dining on the Riverwalk. We had a great lunch, in fact one of the best we have had this trip. Sally went for a steak and shrimp combo, while I had baby back ribs, very nice. We then wandered home feeling very full and ready for a good stretch out. In the evening we had a wander round the campground and sat and talked to a couple from Colorado Springs and a chap called Clint from Canada. Yes it was warm enough to sit out and there were no mosquitoes, an experience that has been all too rare this trip.

Lake Charles

On Tuesday we took a ride into Lake Charles. After stopping at the Visitor Center, which was very nice, we took a self guided tour round the Charpentier Historical District. This is a district of houses which were built around the turn of the Twentieth Century. They glory in the the fact that they were not architect designed, but rather built from plans bought off the shelf, then modified by the carpenter builders of the time. There are lots of pretty houses, but nothing that you would want to have made a special journey for.
After this we were ready to eat, so we went to one of the recommended restaurants, called Shasha's. It was an OK meal, but I felt it was a little overpriced and undersized - are we getting use to the massive portions usually served do you think?
We finished off the day by getting the shopping in at a local Farmer's Basket, which is a big chain of supermarkets in this area.
In the evening we watched The Appalachians. This was the first of three programmes which we had bought when we visited The Carter Family Fold in April last year, when we were in Tennessee. Unfortunately it made us think thoughts about returning to the area, but it will probably not be for several years yet!

We Visit Washington

Almost every state has a Washington, either town or county named after their first president.
Louisiana is no different. We had heard that it was a quaint old town which still had a number of old houses, so we decided to give it a visit. Camilla said she would like to come along as well.
Washington has the strange characteristic of being a port almost 100 miles from the sea and its bayou is quite narrow (it's too small to call a river). It is now a small town with only a single stoplight. However it has a small museum, some very nice houses and a plantation house (Magnolia Ridge). We toured the museum and spoke to a couple of very nice guides. They told us quite a bit about cotton and rice growing.
We then understood the significance of Washington. It is the only high ground that is reachable by river on the west side of the Achafalaya Swamp area, and although the bayou is quite small it meant that it was the only way that people on the West Prairies could get their cotton and rice out and goods in, So until the arrival of the train in 1830's if was a very important port. Steam paddle boats would come in during the winter, when the bayou was at it's highest, and take away the goods.

We then toured the little town, looking at all of the very old houses. Most interesting of all was the Magnolia Ridge Plantation. It was very well preserved and had beautiful grounds, although we could not go into the the house as it is still a private dwelling place. However as we walked round we met a very nice couple who are the caretakers. They were very friendly and we stood and talked to them for about an hour.
We ended up with them giving us a big bag of Pecan Nuts to take back to the trailer (this is big Pecan country, and this is the time to gather them). We then went and ate at the very posh Washington Steamboat Warehouse, which is a converted steamboat warehouse in Washington. We had a very nice, if slightly pricey, meal, Sally had Srimp Betsy (like a soup), I had Crawfish Etouffe and Camila had seafood Surprise (a pasta with a creamy seafood sauce).

Saturday Night in Eunice

Saturday. Well after the excitement of Fred's Lounge this morning (we really pushed the boat out by going to Fred's Lounge) this afternoon we determined to go a bit further south and go to Eunice. ( Sally's mother was called Eunice , so it's a bit strange to find a town of that name!!) Eunice has a very nice Art Deco Historic District, consisting mostly of its Main Street. It has several stores and The Liberty Theater, which first opened in 1924. Now every Saturday it is used as the venue for a Cajun Music Concert, "Rendez-vous des Cajuns," which is broadcast live on a local radio station, Radio KVRS and is available on the Internet as a TV broadcast.

You have to turn up at 4.00 to buy your ticket ($5.00), though the show does not start until 6.00. Inside you will find a number of volunteers/audience old timers who will tell you almost anything about Eunice, The Liberty Theater, Cajun music, the local area. Using their expertise we asked for a good place to eat before the show. That would be 'Ronnies' - pile it high and sell it cheap. Sounded good to us. True to their description we had a great Cup of Gumbo followed by beef tips on rice, with Purple Hull Peas (like a red bean stew, no sausage though), corn or green beans and two drinks set us back $20.00. We couldn't eat it all!!

On returning to our seats the the Liberty Theater, we watched a great concert of two Cajun groups, both with young accordionists. Cameron Dupuy of The Cajun Troubadours is only thirteen years old.

The show was introduced by Barry Jean Anclet, in crazy 50/50 Cajun French/English. It sounds French, but has an awful lot of English words that get ejected from the Gallic flow of talk. All the vocals/song names were in French. As the bands played so couples got up and danced round the small space between the the very uncomfortable old cinema seating and the stage.

It was another great night of Americana. An event that is unique to Eunice, Louisiana and its Cajun Heritage. For us it had echoes of the Carter Family Fold. It was a gathering as much as a performance. An event that required the positive participation of everyone. It was a great evening which we enjoyed immensely.

Moving On - Lafayette

Sunday - Well we have had a good look at Baton Rouge and are ready to move on. We are going to travel about 50 miles along I10 to Lafayette. This is moving us closer to the centre of Cajun music. Unfortunately most campgrounds are more expensive here - from $35-45 (£24-30) per night, except for the local City Park which has a RV park in it. It is called Acadian City Park. However having arrived there, we are not happy with the area, which looks run down, or the state of the campground, which is run down and not clean (bottles, and trash lying around the campsites). Worst of all the security looks non existent with no locked gate at night or security staff, for the first time leaving us feeling quite unsafe. Admittedly it is only $13 p.n., but you expect to feel safe in a park at any price
We ventured out to a Golden Corral for an All You Can Eat buffet meal and decided that we would move up country to Chicot State Park, although 50 miles north it is actually closer to Mamou, which is claimed to be the birthplace and centre of Cajun music (we have yet to explore this theory, but we are on the case).
We will return to Lafayette for the Black Pot Festival this weekend and also to visit an accordian shop where they make accordians (or at least modify them to be used for Cajun Music) and you can tour their factory to find out more.

Baton Rouge Day 2

"Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train
And I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to New Orleans."

How many times have I heard those romantic lyrics sung either by Kris Kristopherson or Janis Joplin? And here we are in that famous city.
Today we were going to get some music, we planned to be in Baton Rouge for the 'Live After Five' concert behind the Old Capitol building.
So we had a lazy morning and drove into Baton Rouge for lunch, parked and had Crawfish Etouffe in Lloyds, a Po Boy Seafood restaurant (though cafe was probably a more apt description. "Etouffe?" I hear you say. This is the third dish that is famous in Cajun Culture. As per usual the dish is served over rice. It is a roux sauce (oil and flour and milk) with all cajuny bits added. In this case it was their secret spices and Crawfish Tails, (small freshwater lobster). It was very nice.
We then toured the Old Capitol building which was built in 1835, only to be burned out by the Union army due to a cooking accident! The rebuilt in 1880. It has a beautiful cast iron spiral staircase right in the middle of the entrance hall. Apart from that not a lot really. So after that we went for a nice cup of coffee (tea for Sally) and unleashed ourselves into the concert. Curtis Coubello and the Insta-gators. Three guitars, fiddle (sometimes accordion) and drums playing coutry, zydeco and swamp-pop. It was great fun, as we joined about 3000 other people in the small arena area. We talked to loads of people and the music was excellent.
Came home about 7.30 having had a great day.

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Moving On

It's Thursday morning and we are now camped just outside Baton Rouge, in the LSU football RV Park (well its the one everybody uses for the LSU Games). It is very quiet and I am writing this as the sun comes up. But what of Tuesday and Wednesday? Well Tuesday we had a quiet day. We got up to the news that our friend Paula had passed away that morning. Paula was the first of our Soggy Bottom Bunch of Friends, when she had introduced herself to us on the day before Thanksgiving 2007. She was a happy vibrant person who bounded from one activity to the next. She had made us feel very welcome at Soggy Bottom. Sadly she had contracted cancer which had finally taken its toll. This news was followed by Jim and Kathy saying fond farewells as they left us in order to return for their Bike Fest in Destin. We had had a great time with them and they had been very patient with us and our English ways. That evening we heard that they had arrived safely in Fort Pickens, near Pensacola. After the departure of our last link with Florida we used the free laundry facilities to do some washing, then went out briefly to get some cards from a Walgreens. Note: Walgreens is what I call a 'Formula' shop, as every one is almost exactly the same. First, they are built on a corner - they are a pharmacy, but they also sell bits of all sorts of things like a small Woolworths. They are often the first shop to appear in new estates, they are often quite competitively priced and along with their identical competitors, CVS - there are thousands of them.
We ate one of Connie's spaghetti sauces with, surprise, surprise, spaghetti as Sally had managed to get some Sally Legal non wheat spaghetti.
Wednesday, we got up and had something special - Sally made American pancakes, using her, now perfected, diet legal recipe of rice flour and Gram flour. The occasion for celebration? Why our wedding anniversary! - number 37, we think. Well I still love you Sally!!!
We then broke camp and moved on to Baton Rouge, with enough time to watch the sun go down on the Mississippi River and then go out for a romantic dinner for two at 'Sammy's Sports Bar and Fish Restaurant'. We had a great meal there -Sally had sauteed jumbo shrimp and I had Gumbo ( a soup - see From Blue Mountains to Blue Sea, October 2009, Jackson MS), which was completely different to my previous Gumbo, but still delicious, followed by Red beans on rice and pork chops (of which I boxed one,as I was too full). We rounded the night off with a Cold Stone Ice cream, as they have a Raspberry Sorbet, which is Sally Legal. I was forced into buying a coffee ice cream with brownie, pecan, chocolate and caramel blended into it. Again I brought half of it home to eat later.
I have no idea what we will do for the rest of today, but I think that the delights of Baton Rouge are calling.

The Trolley Song

Monday. It is a little know fact that New Orleans has electric trolleys (trams), Even less well known is that it is the oldest continuously operated trolley system in the world (1823). So today (Monday) is our chance to ride the trolley.
We had intended to return to the Audobon District to wander through the park, and perhaps go to the zoo. However as we passed the trolley terminus at the Leonidas district Jim suggested we ride the trolley. Seemed like a good idea, so we parked the van and jumped aboard a waiting trolley. The Trolley we are on is known as the St Charles Trolley as it travels down S Carrollton and then swings east and travels through the Loyola Univ., Audubon, Uptown, Touro and Garden Districts, past the Lee Circle and terminates at Canal St. These areas were built in Victorian times and have lots of grand houses fronting on to St Charles Ave, which is a wide boulevard lined with massive live oaks. The trolleys travel on an Up and Down line in the central reservation (US = Median)., so you can get a good view of all the houses we pass. As well as the Audubon Park and the Loyola University. Having taken the first part of the route, we jumped out at the start of St Charles Ave and bought ourselves a Stone Cold Ice Cream each. Stone Cold ice cream is a delicious ice cream, you choose the flavour and then choose what goes in to it, they then take your ingredients and blend them together with the ice cream. So I had Coffee with caramel and heath (dime , now Diem, bars) crushed in it. Sally found a dairy and wheat free Raspberry sorbet, which was very good. Jim had straight banana ice cream (no the bananas were not straight, the ice cream had nothing else in it) and Kathy had a green one, which could have been either mint of pistachio. Having had a break we hopped back on to another trolley and trolleyed right along St Charles Ave. We passed some wonderful big colonial houses, as well as some newer Art Deco houses. Many houses were decorated for Halloween. We had planned to go all the way to Canal St, but there were repairs being made to the track so we had to change from trolley to bus and it seemed to be a better idea just to get the trolley back, which is what we did. After this we were getting ready to eat, so instead of coming back to the trailer and cooking shrimp BBQ we went to a seafood restaurant called Bordreux's and has a seafood dinner, Sally had the dish of the day - rice and red beans with catfish, I had jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab. Both of them were delicious. After returning to the trailer we sat and watched Jim and Kath's home football (NFL) team the Jacksonville Jaguars lose badly to the Tennessee Titans. A great day.

Sunday in New Orleans

Sunday was another wonderful day weather wise - clear blue skies and constant sunshine. We drove across the Mississippi by another bridge and travelled along the north bank to get into downtown New Orleans. This lead us through a very nice district, obviously old, with huge, beautiful houses lining the streets. I thought they were real Pollyanna style houses - wooden slatted with huge porches and massive front doors - some had wonderful stained glass windows. They were very grand and, I imagine, you would need a fortune to buy and maintain one. They were next to a college- apparently a very old and distinguished college- which was housed in some magnificent buildings and opposite to a beautiful park. Eventually, we arrived in Lafitte Square in downtown New Orleans where there was a Blues Festival in progress. Thank goodness for my Blue Badge which enabled us to park in a handicapped space as there was nowhere else to park nearby. The square was shaded by very old and magnificent live oak trees which provided much needed shade - the temperatures being in the 80'sF (30C). There were two stages giving a platform for some very loud, but good blues bands. People were either sitting on their lawn chairs or wandering round looking at the many craft stalls displaying everything from photographs, jewellery, paintings to musical instrument's. Down one side of the square were the stalls selling food - creole, Mexican, burgers, BBQ, etc. We ate our lunch there listening to the music and just enjoying the atmosphere of local New Orleans enjoying their Sunday outing. After a couple of hours, we moved onto the French Market which is located on the river bank near the French Quarter. This market is on 7 days a week and is worth wandering through. They sell lots of touristy things - T shirts, masks, voodoo paraphernalia etc. as well as food and drink - but at a price!!! It really caters for the tourist but it was still worth a visit. We had a drink at a street cafe while listening to a live band - they were good! Kathy bought a hat - like a man's trilby but she looks good in it.
On our way home, we stopped at the fish market again and bought shrimp for our tea. Terry had a lesson in how to prepare fresh shrimp for cooking and then was initiated, by Kathy, into the secrets of making Shrimp In Brown Gravy Over Rice. It was delicious and the huge pot that was prepared disappeared in a trice!!! Thank you, Kathy and Jim for a new recipe added to the Phillippe menu! Tonight we are going to BBQ jumbo shrimp and cook them on the grill. Kathy and Jim leave us tomorrow and travel back to Destin, FL to attend a bikers meet. Jim rides a beautiful Harley Davison and they often go to bikers meets and meet up with fellow Harley Davison enthusiasts. We have very much enjoyed our time with Kathy and Jim - thank you for putting up with us!!

Busy Day In New Orleans - Part Two

On Saturday we had ventured out in the morning to the Westwego Jambalaya Cook Off, which was great fun. After returning to the trailer for a siesta, we were all ready to taste the delights of The French Quarter of New Orleans. So we loaded up and drove into New Orleans, parked the Van and walked in to the French Quarter by about 4.00. We first walked up Canal Street then along Royal, because that is where there are plenty of street performers in the afternoon. The first thing we saw was a New Orleans Wedding Procession, complete with a Boss Man and a Band, the bride and groom, policeman on a motor cycle and all the guests walking the street, it was very colourful.

We wandered up the street and listened to the street performers, who were mostly very good - one couple used a resonating mandolin! and electric gourd, an 'mbiri', or thumb gourd, with a pickup mounted on it.

Another good group was a classical violinist with a blues guitarist.

After Royal St we turned down to Jackson Sq and did a bit of people watching, the tarot cared readers and another posh wedding, with a full size harpist (no you fool the harp) playing against a background of passers by. There was also a particularly striking Street Statue entertainer. Well, having got so close we could not pass by without beignets in the Cafe Du Monde.

As evening approached, we watched some street dancers doing their stuff, very impressive. Buy now it was dark as we made our way back up the French Quarter to Bourbon St, which was now fully alive with people and street entertainers including a pirate, a man performing as a baby in a cut away car seat (I should have taken a picture, but it looked kind of gross), clowns, nearly naked ladies and a particularly good Michael Jackson/robotdancer.
Up above there were people on the balconies looking down at us looking up. It was all very pleasant. After walking Bourbon St, we walked back to the car and came home pretty well exhausted after what we thought was a pretty good taste of New Orleans.

Westwego

Because of the trouble on Wednesday, on Thursday we made a big push to get to New Orleans, over 250 miles! we pulled into The Bayou Segnette State Park by about 4.00, it is situated just by the little township of Westwego, which is to the Southwest of New Orleans, on the East Bank of the Mississippi. It has well spaced sites, good basic facilities and is quiet during the week, but book for a weekend. Also has free laundry. Boat ramp nearby, also water park in the state park with wave machine. $20 per night. Westwego is squeezed onto a strip of land about one mile wide between the Mississippi to the north and Bayous (swampland) to the south.

It is not a well to do sort of a place. However it does have a small fishing fleet and a fish market. Friday was a rest day, but in the afternoon we took a short trip to see the fish market. Fortunately, our friends, Jimmy and Kathy, who are travelling with us, are experts on all things to do with fish. Jimmy actually worked on a shrimp boat and both he and Kathy did a lot of big game fishing when they were younger - I mean serious competition stuff, they had their own team, big boat everything. (their policy was strictly catch and return).

So we wandered round the little circle of huts which made up the Fish market, stopping to cast an expert eye over the fish for sale. This was mostly shrimp and crab. The shrimp are huge (about 3-4 inches long), the crabs are blue and small (3-4 inches long). Jimmy and Kathy were excited by the prices, as we were able to buy shrimp for $2.75 per pound, which is about 1/3 the price they are in Florida.

While we were in the fish market, we stopped at a little cafe and had what they called 'Shrimp plate' which was just fresh deep fried small shrimp in seasoning and French Fries. Simple but delicious. The cafe was full of all sorts of fishy type foods and seasonings, I have never seen so many different types of seasoning. After our meal we returned to the fresh shrimp stall and Jimmy collected a bag of fresh shrimp to take home.
When we returned to the trailer Jimmy showed me how to prepare the shrimp, by removing the heads and freezing them in water, in freezer bags, ready to take back home to Florida. Then how to de-vein them, to make sure they have no grit in them. We plan to buy more shrimp tomorrow and then we will be instructed on how to cook shrimp on a BBQ. There did not seem to be so many mosquito's tonight.

Soggy Bottom Weekend

We travelled down to Soggy Bottom, other wise known as The Sertoma Youth Ranch, on Wednesday. This followed a bit of a scare with the van.
On the Tuesday I went to start it and found it would do nothing! So we checked the battery, took the battery out, took it to Walmart to see if it was no longer servicable,but it was OK. Tried to jump start it, finally left it charging overnight. Next morning, no joy, changed the battery. Finally Jim tried to start it, wiggled the Auto shift stick and away it went, we were relieved!
Because of various difficulties we have done a lot of eating out, on Wednesday we ate at Remmingtons' Wesley Chapel, as this is the favourite eating place of Brenda's (who's birthday it was), however Brenda was not with us, still we had a great meal. Thursday a number of other people showed up-, some people we had not seen for more than a year. So we had a great time sharing gossip and jamming together under Connie's awning. Friday,we out to Remington's again, this time we took Brenda (because it was her birthday and it was her favourite place to eat). Saturday we relaxed and talked with more friends. In the afternoon there was the Soggy Bottom Auction, which was fun.
Last night we had a big jam session at Connie's When Sally retired to bed I had a bit of a wander around the campground and played with a couple of other people. It was another great night at Soggy Bottom.
This morning we will meet together inthe pavillion to share a Gospel Hour before breaking camp to leave Soggy Bottom behind.
We are moving on with Jim and Cathy Mobley to their house near Fort White in the north of Florida, hopefully to have a bit of a relax before moving west to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. This will give us the chance to provide a first hand report about this summers oil spill in the Gulf

Connie's Fall Party

It’s been along time since I last wrote on the blog, but then lots seem to have happened.

First, we are still at Connie and Jim’s. When we arrived last week Connie told us that she had invited all our old friends up for a party on Sunday for both us and for Brenda, her sister, as it was her birthday. This turned out to be a whole load of us camped in their field and having a great weekend. We had already been there for several days, getting our trailer cleaned out, so we waited excitedly for friends to arrive. First came Larry and Jan, in their big blue bus, then Jim and Kathy, our friends from White Lake. Soon after Christina and Geoff arrived in their brand new Hyundai. Later on, Marilee arrived in her old Chevy Jamboree, closely followed by Ed with his 1985 Ford, with a camper on the back. Last of all Lois arrived with her daughter Liz, as she had picked her up from Orlando Airport. So went to The Oakwood at Lady Lake for supper and then we jammed together on Friday night.

Saturday started with breakfast together, PANCAKES! Then we all went to a big Flea Market at Marion. You could get all sorts there, but I managed to buy a nice socket set. Saturday night we all went to Oxford to a local bluegrass and country get together. Some of the girls got together and reformed The Crooked Halo’s for another performance. That is Brenda, Jan, Marilee, Judy and Connie. They sounded really good. They were then asked to perform at a‘Pickin Parlour’ over towards Sanford next month, so the starlets are on their way to fame, well done!

Saturday night we all sat round the kitchen table and had a great time together just relaxing in each others company, telling stories and jokes, eating supper and really enjoying our time together.

Sunday we started with a gospel jam at about 10.30 and went through to 5.00, with a break for lunch. Some people had to leave, some of us collapsed and watched the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts in one of the most thrilling finishes to a football game. Others just went to bed exhausted.

Monday, more people were supposed to be going home, but Connie mentioned ‘Bealls – 15% off Senior Citizens Day’, so we went to Mary’s Grill for breakfast and the girls piled into one car and the boys into another. The girls set off for Bealls and we returned for a really quiet day back at the house. Sally may tell you about her record breaking day shopping.

Tonight there were eight of us left and we went to the Olive Garden for supper, the company was great, the food was good too.

A WOW of a weekend

First Day - How is the trailer really?

I was up early today to have a more detailed look at how the trailer has stood up to the Florida Summer.
As I was going out to the trailer, the sun was coming up and I got some lovely photos of Jim and Connie's house with the trailer safely tucked into the pole barn.
On closer inspection, the trailer was indeed in good condition inside. No creepy crawies, no mold. So I spent some time clearing the inside of the trays of cat litter we use to absorb the moisture.
Then I turned my attention to the Chevy. Again, in the light of day, I could find no invaders apart from the inevitable Mud Dobbers, a type of wasp. So I took the opportunity to give the Chevy a nice wash.
When Sally had got up I drove the hire car back, with Sally following on in the Chevy.
As to the rest of the day, we have been to Golden Corral for lunch, relaxing and then been visited by our great friends Paula and Walt.
Now Connie is planning a bit of a party for us and other friends at the weekend, so that we can all have a good jam together, sounds like fun.
Tomorrow is Monday - Discount day for Pensioners at Bells Outlet! So the girls will be off to the shops.