Day 62 – Did you ever try to find a large piece of Plexiglass to replace a broken window on Easter Sunday in a small Louisiana town when you’ve just found out your credit card has been compromised and the account is now closed due to credit card fraud?
Month: April 2017
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Day 61 – Stormy Weather And The Locked Door.
It was supposed to rain hard beginning around noon so we did our scenic drives early. Humid and cloudy. We started with Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge. It was located in Rhinehart, LA and was about ½ hour from our campground. It was very pretty and we took pictures of flowers, bugs (don’t cringe), & scenery. Saw plenty of birds, too, but we already had those pics. Clouds were rolling in so we headed back to the campground, but first we stopped at Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge and drove through. This place deserves another visit when we have more time.
Lily, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Flower, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Flower, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Dragonfly, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Dragonfly, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Butterfly, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Lillies in bayou, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Bayou, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Bayou, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Flower, Catahoula NWR, Jonesville, LA
Bayou Cocodrie, Jonesville, LA
Friday, April 14, 2017
Day 60 – As Month #3 begins, we are amazed at how one day just folds into the next. We had to look at the blog to see where we were a month ago – searching for alligators in the swamp. It’s been such a great journey!
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Day 59 – A note regarding yesterday’s post: we forgot to mention one other cause of part of the flooding during Hurricane Katrina – there was a large pumping station in place at the 17th Street canal, designed to pump water OUT in case of a flood. This plan failed causing this important levee to break. Why did it fail? Because the personnel trained to operate this pump had evacuated and no one was there to operate the pump. Okay, that said, we move on to other topics.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Day 58 – The Day Of Bad Roads And Hurricane Katrina.
I had a hair appointment outside of the City proper over by City Park so we decided to be brave and drive our own car. Schedule was going to be tight because we had reserved a seat on the 1 p.m. Katrina tour, but it was the only day during our stay that we could fit it in. Since time was going to be at a premium we figured we should have a decent breakfast because there wouldn’t be time to eat anything until late afternoon. I don’t usually eat anything in the morning, so finding something that I’d eat is always difficult. Rob will eat breakfast (and lunch and dinner, LOL) with no problems. We found a place online located a few blocks from the hair place and hooked up the GPS. It took us through a nice neighborhood and we enjoyed the different scenery until we suddenly found ourselves on the worst roads we’ve ever driven on. Not only huge potholes but the streets would rise and fall and dip and slant. Some slabs of concrete in the road were sticking up and painted red. At least those gave us an advanced warning of what was to come. We were in the Honda CRV and it was like riding a bucking bronco. Many of the small neighborhood roads were this way and we’re talking decent neighborhoods. We were curious why and we found out later. And we’d thought the road leading to Pontchartrain Landing was bad!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Day 57 – Start of Week Nine. Wow, where does the time go?! This morning we didn’t have to leave until 10 a.m. We watched crewing/rowing practice on the canal as they went by, back and forth, the lead boat yelling commands to the others. Caught the shuttle to the French Quarter waterfront and had a little time to kill before being at the loading zone for the planned Steamboat Natchez tour. On the way in, we’d seen the line outside Cafe du Monde was long and we knew we couldn’t get beignets there in time, so we went to Cafe Beignet, the competition, where the line was much shorter. We got beignets and coffee as a comparison and they were good, but not nearly as good as Cafe du Monde.
LSU crew boats practiced in the Industrial Canal every morning, Pontchartrain Landing, New Orleans, LA
Cafe Beignet, Decatur St, NOLA
Monday, April 10, 2017
Day 56 – We had booked the 9 a.m. “Super City Tour” and had to be at the French Quarter waterfront to get our tickets by 8:30, so we got up early. The first Park shuttle leaves at 10 a.m. so we knew we had to find another way into the City. We’d looked into driving in ourselves but secure parking is $18 every 3 hours and we were going to be there all day. A one-way taxi ride is $22 not counting tipping. Uber was much cheaper than these alternatives so we decided to try Uber for the first time. We called, allowing plenty of time for them to get to the Park, and 5 minutes later a nice gentleman arrived to pick us up. Our driver had been an extra in the HBO series “Treme’” and claimed to know quite well a major star from the show (whose name has escaped me at this moment). Our driver’s name was Michael Charles and he’s writing a first-hand, “real story of Hurricane Katrina and the Treme’”. We got $10 off our first Uber trip so our ride cost us one dollar and change. Way to go!
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Day 55 – Up early, it’s Quarterfest day. The shuttle departs at 10 a.m. We decided to go to the Hurricane Katrina movie at 9:00 and after that, hop on the shuttle. The movie was “Hurricane on the Bayou”, narrated by Meryl Streep, and it was shown in the special events room across from the restaurant. The movie was created for showing in IMAX theatres and was the winner of 4 Giant Screen Cinema Association Achievement Awards. It was very good, informative, and told from the standpoint of regular people who were there. It also emphasized the impact that climate change and Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands have had on natural hurricane protection.
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Day 54 – New Orleans, baby! We need to stay in NOLA at least a month in order to visit every restaurant we’ve heard about and see everything that’s been recommended to us! Some, though, are priorities and wherever we do decide to go, we will follow-up with reviews.
(This above was written the morning we left Grand Isle.)
Friday, April 7, 2017
Day 53 – 6:30 a.m., 56 degrees, sunny & breezy. Rob took a bike ride and he got some pictures of a Louisiana Heron. We sat outside for awhile, another beautiful day.
Louisiana Heron, Grand Isle State Park, Grand Isle, LA
Louisiana Heron, Grand Isle State Park, Grand Isle, LA