NEW ORLEANS Road Trip / Wednesday, November 2 to Friday, November 4 (Days 285-287)

Since we were so close and love good food, we decided to take a road trip to New Orleans for a couple of days while the boatyard finished up with the boat. We had asked a couple of fellow Loopers who had lived in the New Orleans area for some restaurant suggestions. We've been several times, but always like to try new places. Tonya from Sweet T gave us quite a few, the first one we went to was Middendorf's a little out of our way in Manchac, but hey, we have no schedule. It is famous for "shaved catfish". Catfish is sliced very thin and fried of course. But it was delicious! Kind of a hokey place, but been around since 1934 and still family run by the grandchildren.

Huge field of cotton on our drive thru Mississippi.

Don't know the purpose of the fake tree.

After lunch we drove into the French Quarter to our hotel, the Grenoble House. Nothing fancy, it was several buildings combined but had character and a good location on Dauphine Street, one block over from Bourbon. We walked around and took in a few sights before deciding on dinner.

The Super Dome from my car window.

Love the wrought iron balconies.

Andrew Jackson Square 

Kind of surprised these horse drawn carriages were being pulled by mules!

We had heard another Looper couple, Dan and Jackie from Horizon Chaser were in New Orleans as well. We texted them and made plans to meet at a Jazz Club, then dinner. We went to the Spotted Cat at 5:30, luckily we went early and got a seat. Most jazz clubs don't start playing until 8, the Spotted Cat starts at 2 and has 3 different bands nightly. There is no cover, you just have to buy a drink, which is not a problem for Loopers! 

Dan and Jackie on Horizon Chaser, from New Hampshire

We had a great time listening to music until 7, then went next door to a little Italian/Creole place called Adolfo's. It was upstairs above a bar with a jazz duet. As soon as we walked in the door we were hit with the wonderful smell of garlic. We had yummy fresh muscles for appetizer then each couple split a steak covered in their famous "ocean sauce" of crabmeat, crab and crawfish in sort of a garlic, wine cream sauce. Do I need say more?! 

Since it was the night of the World Series, Mike and Dan wanted to get back to our hotels and watch the game. Our hotels were just a couple of blocks from each other, so we could walk back together and saw a street band along the way. What a game! I'm glad the Cubs won because they were definitely due, but also because the coach, Joe Madden and one of the players Ben Zobrist used to be in Tampa. We sure miss them, but are happy for them as well. Also David Ross, an Auburn guy, is also a Cub, so Congratulations Cubbies, well deserved!

Thursday, we kind of slept in a killed a little time and bought some Pralines for our moms. Then we took an Uber to another place Tonya told us about, the Parkway Tavern, suppose to have the best Po'Boys in town. She did not disappoint again. The Parkway Bakery was founded in 1911. The Poor Boy originally consisted of potatoes and maybe a drizzle of roast beef gravy; and were invented to help feed the poor boys that were the striking streetcar conductors. Now a days they put anything and everything on a Po'Boy.

We had a city tour lined up for 3 hours. We were in a 24 passenger van and our tour guide grew up in New Orleans and was quite informative and colorful. He took us through the French Quarter, Garden and Warehouse Districts, a cemetary and the 9th Ward where Katrina did the most damage. He told us that the city has bounced back pretty well, before Katrina there were 800 restaurants and now there are 1500. There is more employment now as well. The blight homes are down from 50,000 to 8,000. 

A Mardis Gras Tree

Cool statue, she looked so real, even has hair coming out of her bathing cap.

Very interesting above ground cemeteries.

Where bodies were "stored" until they could be put in a crypt.

This one was so old you could not see the names anymore.

Then there's this guy....an unopened bottle of Gin.

This guy has sort of a Katrina Museum

He then took us to the New Orleans City Park for a bathroom and drink break at the Morning Call snack bar. Similar to Cafe DuMonde with the coffee and beignets. While we were there we saw the filming of a movie. Come to find out the working title is "Shock and Awe" about George Bush and Iraqi War. Not sure if this scene was suppose to be in New Orleans or a substitute for DC. Rob Reiner was directing and we saw Woody Harrelson and James Mardsen shooting a scene. I Googled the title and also found out that Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Biel are also in it, but we did not see them. Pretty cool.

Rob Reiner talking to James Marsden

Woody Harrelson...Cheers!

For dinner we went to Deanie's, just down from our hotel; also recommended by Tonya and our tour guide. It is all fresh seafood. Mike had oysters on the half shell and we split an order of fried shrimp. We both said they were the freshest we had had in a long time. 

Friday, we returned the rental car around noon and just chilled till dinner. We met Phase II and Sweet T at a Mexican Restaurant at The Wharf. The Wharf is a really nice Marina with a movie theater, lots of shops and restaurants. We planned to start heading east towards home Saturday and were not sure when we would see them again so we took the opportunity before we all went our separate ways again.

Mike and Tonya of Sweet T and Dave and Lori of Phase II.