March 23.....Nawlins.....(if you are a local).....New Orleans (for the rest)

 Steamboat ride on the Mississippi River

March 23

Jackson Square

After a restless night of intense stomach cramps and the hugest storm (not a hurricane technically but it was as close as I ever want to come to one…the RV swayed and lightning flashed like crazy and what should I say to describe how loud the thunder was?) I felt awful.  Yes, I was really sick.  I gimped around while we got ready and we set off for our 2^nd day in New Orleans….after yesterday, none of us were super excited but we had reservations on the Steamboat Natchez to ride down the Mississippi River.  We got to New Orleans no problem and parked in the RV lot and had to run the many blocks down to the dock.  When we got there, we were just in time but they couldn’t find our tickets…..a few minutes later we were being welcomed aboard by the Captain and his crew…. We were sweaty from running in the humid sunshine, icky!  We kept saying to each other that we are sooo glad that we were visiting now and not when it is really hot.  What a difference between now and last night…….not a cloud in sight!!  It was fun cruising on the Mississippi River and learning interesting  facts …..there is an old Ford factory located there, the 2^nd largest sugar manufacturer in the world is Domino and we cruised past it, we saw the lower ninth ward, where the most damage was sustained during Hurricane Katrina…….. because the Mississippi runs so swiftly there are no bridges built across it from New Orleans down….the only way to cross are on the ferries that are free for pedestrians and $1 for cars to cross….we saw many large shipping freighters, cranes, tugboats, ferries and a large Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force….the engine room was fun to visit and the kids could see how the steam runs the boat…..I laid on the bench with the bags while the rest of the crew ventured to the dining hall for jazz music and a yummy southern theme lunch…….fried catfish, jambalaya (rice with sausage, beans, chicken), cole slaw, and bread pudding….they all tried everything and really like it all.  From there, we ventured over into the other side of the French Quarter near the French Market…..much better than the side we walked yesterday (shops, restaurants, music clubs, street vendors and performers and everywhere there are horse and buggies and pedicabs)…….OK I can see now why people say the Quarter is pretty…..We stopped by Jackson Square to see the statue of General Andrew Jackson and the St. Louis Cathedral ( the first Catholic church in Louisiana established in 1718, beautiful stained glass windows, ceiling paintings and statues)…..the highlight for the kids was to stop by Café du Monde for its world famous beignets (fried doughnuts)….they even got to watch through the window and see how they are made..I obviously did not taste these today.  We left the quarter and headed back to the RV on our way to the swampboat ride that was cancelled the day before because of the storm……out we ventured as far as you can go to the Jean Lafitte National Historical Preserve.  At the end of the a really long road we found a small swampboat tour company where our guide eagerly awaited our arrival, maybe because we were arriving a couple of minutes before the scheduled departure time and we had called them a couple of times when we got lost!! We are not entirely convinced of the effectiveness of Louisiana signage……… As we got out the RV, they said “here come the Griswolds”…..hahaha… …..WOW, I am so glad that we found this place to come to!!! (www.louisianaswamp.com) The swampboat ride was totally worth going to!!!  Our swamp guide, Felix was part Cajun and Creole and told some funny stories about "swamp people".  As we ventured into the swamp, we watched the water for alligators…..pretty quickly, Felix saw two on the edge of a tree trunk sticking up in the water.  They were about 4 feet long and enjoyed the marshmallows that he threw into the water for them. They swam around the boat (about 5-6 feet away) and we could see the teeth when they bit into the marshmallows!! It was very cool, Madison was so excited!!  Our guide basically knows everything there is to know about alligators and he stopped frequently to give us information on the swamp and the animals that live there…..He took us to the area of the marsh where the alligators nest and lay their eggs in September, told the kids the difference between swamps, marshes and bayous, pointed out two bald eagles up in a tower....there  was Spanish moss hanging down from all of the trees, proliferantly green since the storms of this week.  As we were exiting the boat, the guides again said “goodbye Griswold family”……well our trip is not quite the same but it was funny none the less!  Again, navigating to our campground proved allusive as the signage in LA is a little off, so we took a little detour and thanks to both of us with trip tik and google maps going, we finally arrived back “home” for the night.....giving us more fodder for the blog!  Baths, dinner and our first laundry run…….I can’t tell you the relief that I had to fall into the bed and go to sleep, tomorrow is coming very early…………

this is as real as it gets folks.....yes he is looking right at me!!

thanks Uncle Barney and Gram for the head lamps...