New Orleans, LA…

We left Betty’s RV Park at around 10 am after we sadly said our goodbyes to Betty and the other residents. Funny how you can make friends at some RV Parks so quickly and at others you can’t buy a friend. We had a fairly short drive of less than 150 miles over to the heart and soul of Louisiana, New Orleans. We will be staying at the Bayou Segnette State Park for six nights. An added treat is that a couple we met while wintering in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas will also be staying at a site near us so we expect some fun times ahead with them.

Since we got into town on a Saturday it seemed that Saturday night would be a great time to experience the nightlife and vibe that only Bourbon Street in the French Quarter could offer. It has been many years since either Sharon or I had been in New Orleans so we were really looking forward to this evening.

We met our friends, for a glass of wine before electing to drive the car over to the Algiers Ferry. Lots has been written about this ferry offering up some of the best views of the city of New Orleans and we certainly agree.While chugging across the mighty Mississippi River the view of the New Orleans skyline is ever present. This ferry has been in operation since 1827 and is free for pedestrians and only $1 for cars. There is a private lot at the Algiers Ferry Terminal that will charge $5.00 weekdays and $10 weekends to park.

The ferry lands on the other side of the river at Canal Street right next to the Aquarium of the Americas. With the ferry running daily from 6 am - 12:15 am, and departing every half hour it is a great way to get to downtown New Orleans form the state park.

We walked around a bit before we talked our friends into stopping a a little bar Sharon and I like called the Chart Room where the locals still gather for a cold beverage. From there we strolled over to Bourbon Street and wandered around a bit picking up a “Big Ass Beer” to make the stroll a bit more enjoyable. As hunger set in I recommended we go to one of my New Orleans favorites called Deanies. There was a line of people out front but I guess that is to be expected on a Saturday night. Little did we know it became a two hour wait but since we had just gotten a Big Ass Beer we tolerated the wait.

Once seated we opted to order the Giant Seafood Platter – half fried and half grilled. It included catfish, shrimp, oysters, soft shelled crab and crawfish balls… man what a fabulous feast this was. Made the wait almost worthwhile… After dinner we went back over to Bourbon Street to do some people watching. Spring break was in full swing here and the amateur drinkers were out in force. We could only handle so much of this so we too, the ferry back to the West Bank and called it a night.

We actually were somewhat disappointed with our French Quarter experience in that we had hoped to hear Jazz and Blues spilling out onto the street as we had fondly remembered from past visits.  We also had hoped to see few street performers playing the same music. However, all we heard was more current hip hop music geared to the much younger group.  We will wait and see if maybe this was just because of all the spring breakers in the area and not a current norm for the French Quarter.…