MARDI GRAS, PLANTATIONS & FRENCH QUARTER (FEB. 16, 17, 18, 2010)

Feb. 16...
I probably have mentioned it earlier, but what the hey…
One of the services they have here at “Pontchartrain Landing” is a free shuttle to and from the French Quarter (running three times daily), which we took advantage of today, since a parking spot is virtually impossible to find, and if you’d be lucky enough to find one, the cost for a day pass ranges from $30 to $50... A bit on the pricy side for us…
Lots of words to explain how we got into town this morning, huh?
Anyway, the shuttle dropped us off on Toulouse Street, half a block down from Rampart…
F.Y.I.:
The French Quarter is basically a 13 blocks x 7 blocks square, bordered by the Mississippi River to the South; Rampart Street, which runs SW to NE; Esplanade Avenue and Canal Streets, which runs NW to SE… Bourbon Street is parallel to Rampart, and is pretty much in the center of the Quarter…
You got all that?
The reason I’m telling you all this is so that, if you have a map of New Orleans, you’ll see how far we walked today…
Our Fat Tuesday experience involved crisscrossing the French Quarter and making our way up St. Charles Avenue (in the Arts District) in search of a decent place to view the parades… That’s plural, because there is a parade after a parade all week long during Mardi Gras (especially on Fat Tuesday)…
There are thousands and thousands of people, not only lining the parade routes at any given time, but, in the French Quarter, you’d be hard pressed to go a foot without bumping into someone, so it’s truly a job to get from point A to point B…
With that, I will leave the rest of my narrative to the pictures, which, I believe, will give you a pretty good idea of what Mardi Gras is all about… PICTURES: http://cid-44d18849bf3983e9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/MARDI%20GRAS%5EJ%20PLANTATIONS%5EJ%20%5E0%20FRENCH%20QUARTER%20%5E5FEB.%2016%5EJ%2017%5EJ%2018%5EJ%202010%5E6
Feb. 17...
Left around 9:00, and drove about 60 miles out of town for a visit to some of the famous Plantations dotting the river banks from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and into Mississippi…
The plantations around here basically deals in sugar cane, while the ones further up the river grow cotton…
We spent a few hours roaming around “Oak Alley” (our favorite plantation), and took a tour of the “Big House”… Very interesting and informative tour…
Went home for a nap, then took the shuttle in to the French Quarter, where we had dinner at Masparo’s…
It’s absolutely amazing how clean the Quarter was… Evidently, at the stroke of midnight (last night), the cops cleared out everyone… You better be in a bar, or on your way home, because no-one is allowed on the streets… The Sanitation Department and street sweepers move in, and by morning everything is spic and span… Very efficient!!
We made contact with nephew Mike, and since he’s going to Houston, Texas, tomorrow, we made plans for him to join us for pizza before he flies off in the evening…
Feb. 18...
Drove in to check out the Superdome this morning, but found out that they cancelled all tours after the 9/11 attacks, so we went back to the French Quarter, and spent a few hours strolling in and out of shops in the French Market… Had a snack for lunch, at Café Beignet, then headed home, where we ordered pizza for delivery at 5:30... Mike showed up at 5:00, and we had a great visit until he had to leave , just after 6:00... Short visit, but always fun to hang out with Mike…
That’s about it… We watched some of the Olympics, while I uploaded a slug of pictures, before heading for the sack at 11:00...

PONTCHARTRAIN LANDING RV RESORT, FRENCH QUARTER and MARDI GRAS FESTIVITIES (FEB. 15, 2010)

Didn’t plan on doing another Blog so soon, but what the hey…
There’s a free shuttle service here, which leaves the Resort 3 times a day, and we took advantage of that yesterday afternoon…
Went into see one of the major parades, but found out it didn’t start until after we were supposed to be back to the shuttle, at 7:00PM, so we missed that one, but, boy, it really didn’t matter…
Guess what I’m saying is that if you’ve seen one parade here, you’ve seen them all, and, frankly, I don’t have any idea of how many we’ve seen so far, so missing the one last night didn’t matter too much… Besides, we watched a parade (it might’ve been two, or three?) after we got there yesterday afternoon, and by the time seven rolled around, we were pretty much beat…
The merriment is out of this world, and we had a fantastic time, as did thousands of other folks, as you can see by the pictures:
http://cid-44d18849bf3983e9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/PONTCHARTRAIN%20LANDING%20RV%20RESORT%5EJ%20FRENCH%20QUARTER%20and%20MARDI%20GRAS%20FESTIVITIES%20%5E5FEB.%2014%5EJ%202010%5E6?nl=1&uc=63&isFromRichUpload=1
We’re taking it easy today (15th), but are planning to spend the whole day in and around the French Quarter tomorrow, which is Fat Tuesday, and the end of Mardi Gras…
Have to mention that all the time we’ve spent down here in the Gulf area has been worth it… The sun’s shining, and all that rain and those gloomy days are, if not forgotten, at least put on the back burner…
This has been an experience both Luanne and I have enjoyed to the utmost, and we’re really glad we stuck around to live it!
That’s it for now… Have a great day, and check back…

RAINY MANDEVILLE and SUNNY NEW ORLEANS, LA (FEB. 9 - 14, 2010)

Feb. 9...
Not much to report on today, except to say I worked on my Blog all morning, even though the sun was out (pretty dedicated, if you ask me), and to mention that the cell phone and satellite internet service in this place sucks… Usually, it only takes a few minutes to upload pictures, but here… Well, it takes what seems like hours…
Oh well, enough complaining…
We managed to get another trip in to Walmart, and I found some real “cheap” diesel ($2.59/gal.), so I filled up the truck, and that’s about the only things worth mentioning from today…
Feb. 10...
Woke up to a sunny, but a really cold morning…
We only had about ten miles to go from Abita Springs to Fontainebleau State Park, so we took our time getting out of there, which was probably not good, because, when we arrived I tried to empty the black water tank, and found it plugged! Ugh… Nothing worse than sewer problems!
We had to wait until 1:00 to get into our site, because the previous occupant had vehicle problems and couldn’t get out before then…
Guess we’re not the only ones with troubles…
As soon as we got settled, I called a hundred (maybe?) places trying to find someone to come out and pump us out… Finally got hold of “United Site Services,” who said they’d be out tomorrow.
With that taken care of, we headed into Mandeville (which I’ve described before), where we had dinner (German sausages for me, cheese plate for Lu)…
Feb. 11...
Not a pretty day… Overcast and very cool in the morning, and rain the rest of the day…
Because of our sewer problem, we did our showering in the park’s restrooms… Very clean, but a very cold hike to and from the trailer…
Turned out we waited in vane (all day long) for the sewer guy to come…
Called them a couple of times, but to no avail…
The excuse was the weather… Snow somewhere, but they will be there tomorrow! Yeah, OK…….
Other than a trip around the camp ground, to look at the layout and take a few shots, we stayed home and watched TV… Not very exciting, but at least it didn’t cost anything…
Feb. 12...
Rained cats and dogs all night long, but it had basically stopped by the time I headed for the shower…
Ran out of propane, so we drove over to a hardware store and filled the tank up, and when we got back it started to snow… Thought for sure the sewer guy wouldn’t come around again today, but, to our delight, he showed up at 1:30, and was done in ten minutes…
We were so happy, we bar-hopped in Mandeville, and then drove over to our fave spot, in Covington (The Tap Root) and had a fantastic dinner once again…
Watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics, and went to bed around 11:00...
A good day after all…
Feb. 13...
Sunny and warm! FINALLY!
Headed over to New Orleans early, and spent the whole day watching parades and hoofing it through the French Quarter and along the Waterfront… Must’ve walked 20 miles today, and it was all fun!
You wouldn’t believe the crowds, and the merriment that goes on in this city at this time of the year…
Mardi Gras is truly something everyone should experience once in their lives…
Feb. 14...
Arrived at Pontchartrain Landing, in New Orleans, at noon today…
What a great place! All’s clean… We have a fantastic spot almost on the river, and the sun is out…
Perfect day to update my Blog…
Fortunately, I don’t have to sit at the computer very long, because we’re ready to go into town for some more parades and fun… Unfortunately, my priorities are right, and I don’t have time to go into all the stuff we did yesterday, but look at our pictures, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what a good time we had…
That’s it for now… I’ll see what I can do in a day or two…
Have a fantastic Sunday, and a fabulous week ahead…
PICTURES: http://cid-44d18849bf3983e9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/RAINY%20MANDEVILLE%20and%20SUNNY%20NEW%20ORLEANS%5EJ%20LA%20%5E5FEB.%209%20-%2014%5EJ%202010%5E6?nl=1&uc=83&isFromRichUpload=1

NEW ORLEANS, LA (FEB. 5 THRU 8, 2010)

Feb. 5...
Took a drive over to Hammond today to return a fitting I bought at “Campingworld” about 3 or 4 months ago… That’s how long it’s been since we’ve been to one of those stores…
Anyway, Hammond is about 30 miles away, so it was a long trip for very little return, but we needed to get out and away for a while, so it was worth it…
All this rain and gloominess has taken it’s toll on Luanne… She’s been very moody and stressed out for a couple of days, but with the sun today, things are looking up…
Had breakfast at one of the thousands of Waffle Houses that are on every corner down here, and then drove around a bit to look at things…
Hammond is like every other town around here… Couldn’t find anything that set it apart from any other populated area, so not much to write about…
Feb. 6...
Took the morning and did paperwork, then, after a short nap, we drove down to Mandeville and explored some of the establishments along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain…
From there we made it over to Covington, where we had dinner at the Tap Root, while waiting for the town’s Mardi Gras Parade, which started at 6:00...
Fabulous!
As they do in these parades, beads, toys, masks, and… and… and… rained down on the spectators from two story floats… The participants were decked out in incredible costumes, and all wore intricate and colorful masks…
Someone gave Lu a plastic shopping bag, which she had filled to the rim by the time the tail end of the parade showed up in front of us… And, unlike the New Orleans parades, she didn’t have to flash at all, which was probably a good thing???
Feb. 7...
Lu wasn’t quite up to par this morning (too much celebration last night, maybe?), so we stayed home all day, with the exception of a quick trip to Walmart, in the late afternoon, for some snacks for the Superbowl, which we thoroughly enjoyed in the evening… Of course, it was sweet to win the 20 buck bet from Stein (whom, by the way, I haven’t heard from since the Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints)…
Feb. 8...
Sunny day! Got up early and drove over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (longest bridge in the U.S. I think I read somewhere) to New Orleans…
Stopped at the Visitor’s Center and got directions to the Lower 9th Ward (where most of the devastation took place after the levy broke during Katrina), and to the Garden District, where we haven’t been yet…
Drove on the outskirts of the French Quarter, and headed east, across the river and the very same levy that gave way on that faithful day…
What we saw was heart wrenching, to say the least… Here we are five years after the fact, and the sores of the wreckage are still stunningly present…
I know the disaster in Haiti is well deserved of all the aid they can get, but, you know what? and I’m probably stepping out of bounds here, but…
Everyone knows our government missed the boat (by an ocean) in regards to our own catastrophe, and the world knows that Americans are incredibly generous when it comes to just about anything, so my little mind wonders: Did WE, as a people, miss the boat, as well, when it came to helping our own people… And why is that! A conundrum, to be sure…
Anyway, we took lots of pictures as we drove slowly through the lower 9th…
We talked to a few people, and are in wonder of their resilience and determination of getting back to normal… We are in awe of Harry Connick, Jr. and Brad Pitt (among many, many others) who have given generously both of their time and money in aide to this community…
From there we went to the French Quarter…
Parked, and spent the next few hours hoofing just about every street and alley…
It's so much fun down here… I think, maybe, it's the music...
Music comes from every nook and cranny, and street performers and artists, of every kind, hawks for your attention…
And, of course, there’s the food…
Heavenly aromas… Out of this world tastes… My mouth waters just thinking about the fantastic Cajun shrimp I had yesterday…
We walked through the French Market (something we’ve not done until now), and found it teaming with all kinds of fantastic stuff (for lack of a better word)… Food and vegetable stands, intertwined with hundreds of small boutiques and shops… If you get to N.O. you have to visit the French Market!
Off to the Garden District…
It was getting fairly late, so we drove through some parts of this beautiful area, where some of the more affluent residents of New Orleans reside…
We took a bunch of pictures, but didn’t get a chance to walk the area, so we have that to look forward to, when we finally drive over for our stay at the Pontchartrain Landing, in about a week…
That’s all for now…
Take care, and we hope you enjoy the pictures here: http://cid-44d18849bf3983e9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/NEW%20ORLEANS%5EJ%20LA%20%5E5FEB.%208%5EJ%202010%5E6

MANDEVILLE and LEWISBURG, LA (JAN. 31 to FEB. 4, 2010)

Sunday, Jan 31...
Mike had work to do, so he scooted out around 8:30, which left us the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted to do, but without a vehicle the choices weren‘t many…
Turned out we spent the majority of our morning playing pool…
The weather was fairly warm, so we got a couple of walks in (around the park), and that was about it… The rest of our time was spent reading and watching TV… Very exciting!
Monday, Feb. 1...
Happy birthday mom! She would’ve been 97 today, if she’d lived…
Can’t believe it’s almost 2 years since you left us… Still miss you!
Bugged the Rainbow Chrysler dealer a half dozen times during the day, trying to find out news about the truck…
The service manager told me yesterday that my problem was more than likely a broken pin in the ignition cylinder, but, he warned, the worst scenario would be that they might have to replace the whole steering column…
I saw dollar signs fluttering by my eyelids…
So, today, I called Kelly (“my” mechanic at home) to get his take on what might have happened… He explained things, and didn’t think I had to worry… Nice to know someone you trust, I tell you! Thanks, Kelly!
Between phone calls, we spent a lot of time shooting pool and taking walks around the park… Had a nap, of course, and just waited around to hear news about the truck…
Finally, around 4:30, they called and said it was fixed, and John (our neighbor) drove me over to pick it up… Thanks, John! Really appreciate your generosity!
As you can imagine, it was truly wonderful to have wheels again…
But in spite of being able to move around “freely,” we decided to stay home the rest of the evening, which was a novelty in and by itself…
Tuesday, Feb 2...
Since we had transportation once more, we headed over to explore Mandeville, by Lake Pontchatrain…
Old Town is quaint, with shops and businesses located in remodeled homes, so there’s really no “downtown” core, so to speak… Just long, narrow roads flanked by these “homes.”
Had breakfast at the “Broken Egg,” which was very good, but on the pricy side…
Stopped at Walmart, in Mandeville, on the way home, and did some shopping, and also stopped at a True Value hardware store to get one of my propane tanks filled…
After our customary nap (which really isn’t a nap at all, but more like a quiet time for reading and contemplating the mysteries of the universe), we went to a hair salon (John and Sharon’s recommendation) a mile up the road from our park, where we both got very good hair cuts from Pat (the owner), for the grand total of $11.00... I was so delighted I almost gave her that much in tips!
We polished off the evening by having dinner at “New Orleans Food and Spirits.” Another excellent choice if you’re in the mood for Cajun cuisine…
Wednesday, Feb. 3...
Started the day on the right side: by going to Starbuck for a Mocha and a Latte…
Thanks, Gede and Terry!!! Your gift keeps on giving!
Made plans, last Wednesday, to go back to the Tap Root, in Covington, for dinner tonight, so we spent the morning and afternoon just horsing around the park… Playing pool… You know… The usual…
After our siesta, we drove down to explore Old Covington…
Walked several streets, and poked our noses into all sorts of boutiques, shops, and interesting art galleries… Very interesting place to visit…
Found it fascinating that there’s an attorney office just about on every corner and in every building…
Wonder why?
Well, once again, we had a great dinner at the Tap Root…
Lu indulged in buffalo wings while I diminished the Cajun shrimp population by a ton…
Oh, it’s so good… Makes my mouth water, just thinking about it…
OK… You’re up to date…
Today, Thursday, Feb. 4, finds us in another deluge…
It started fairly early, and I don’t know when it’ll stop, but it gave me the opportunity to sit down and get this Blog updated, so I guess I can’t complain too much…
Time for some reading, and maybe even a little shut-eye…
Take care, and we’ll talk soon…
PICTURES: http://cid-44d18849bf3983e9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/MANDEVILLE%20and%20LEWISBURG%5EJ%20LA%20%5E5JAN.%2031%20to%20FEB.%204%5EJ%202010%5E6?uc=41&isFromRichUpload=1