Liz and Doug's Excellent (Mis)Adventures: October 2022

We arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) on Tuesday, October 4th. We were staying in the French Quarter, our first 3 days at The Quarter House which was an RCI property. Once we got checked I. We went to our room on the 5th floor. The room was small, and the only window was at the end of a long hall and looked out at the building behind us. But the room had been updated, the bathroom was nice, and the queen size bed was comfortable.

We settled in then decided to look around. We were on Chartres and Bienville, which as two blocks from Bourbon Street so we decided to walk over to Bourbon Street. First off, right to the left when we left our hotel was a couple seedy bars. The sidewalks were in terrible condition, so we really had to watch where we were walking. Cracks and bricks missing and uneven spots.

We walked a couple blocks over to Bourbon Street, and even before we got there, we could hear the noise. I wouldn’t even call it music, there were drums banging, herons playing and a whole lot of drunk people walking (some stumbling) about. The first decent place we found was he Hard Rock Cafe so that is where we decided to eat our first night. The food was good. After dinner we headed back to our hotel for the night. We arranged with the front desk to take a swamp tour the next morning.

Wednesday morning we were downstairs by 8:30 am or so and walked up the street to a little coffee shop called The French Truck. The coffee and pastries were great! We walked back to our hotel to wait for our shuttle driver to take us on a Swamp Tour with the Louisiana Tour Company.

Since this was Doug’s first visit to NOLA I knew he would enjoy the swamp tour. We were driven about 1/2 hour from our hotel to the Bayou where we boarded a covered boat with about 12 other people. Our guide was very informative and took us to several areas to see different alligators. He had a call that he used to get their attention and soon we were able to see several gators. He tossed out marshmallows near the boat, so they swam close to the boat. We learned a lot about the gators and other creatures of the swamp lands. Before we headed back, he passed around a baby alligator for us to hold.

After we got back to the hotel and rested for a while, we walked over to the Rib Room which I had reserved for dinner. I had a salad and a bowl of gumbo which was seafood. Only later did I find out it had oysters in it. It was good but I was expecting chicken and sausage with okra, which I have made at home. Doug enjoyed his oysters and gumbo.

On Thursday we took the streetcar down to the French Market and walked through it, then to the Market Cafe for lunch. Doug had a burger and I had a great greek salad which we listened to the jazz musicians that were playing in the cafe. We walked to the waterfront Riverwalk then to the streetcar to get back to our hotel. Once there we got ready for our 3-hour city tour.

Greg picked us up in a comfortable large passenger van, and after picking up more people from other hotels we were on our way. He gave us a little history of the French Quarter, the #1 cemetery with a personal tour, the garden district and then we had a short break stop at the New Orleans City Park where we had beignets at Cafe Beignet for the first time this trip. The fried dough dropped in powdered sugar were so yummy, but messy. We finished up our trip by going out to the area where the levees broke in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina hit. Most homes were rebuilt but you could still see some of the devastation. We headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

That evening, when we were walking to the streetcar, there was a marching band walking up our street. It was fun to watch and after the band there were several people walking along, drinking and yelping and hollering, and throwing beads. It was fun to watch. We made it to the streetcar and got off down ant the waterfront and walked up to Landry’s Seafood.

I had the cedar planked salmon which was wonderful, and Doug had the shrimp Po’boy which was huge. It came with fries, but the sandwich alone was too much for him to eat. It was a good dinner, just too much. Afterward we just went back to the hotel.

Friday, we had to move to the Royal Sonesta Hotel which was where Doug’s conference was. It was on Bourbon Street, about 3 blocks total from our hotel. We weren’t comfortable walking with our luggage, so we checked out but left our bags with the front desk. We headed to the streetcar for a ride to Waffle House. Doug’s favorite place! It was a good breakfast, so I was glad we had the opportunity to go. It was only a mile or 2 from our hotel.

After our breakfast we called Uber and got dropped off in Jackson Square. We went into the cathedral first then the history museum in the Presbytere, which is next to the cathedral. Although it is not the Katrina Museum, the entire first floor is dedicated to the events that happened in Sept 2005 when Katrina hit, and the levees were breached due to the water surges in the days following. It’s very moving to see what they went through back then. This trip is just a little over a week since hurricane Ian landed on the gulf coast of southern FL and decimated several towns in and around Fort Myers, in some cases taking out their only access bridges. It really puts things in perspective and gives me more reason to be thankful that we are not faced with those challenges.

After our museum visit, we called Uber and got the same driver we had earlier. We explained that we had bags to move only a few blocks to another hotel and wondered if we could just hire her off the clock to help us out. She showed us how we now have an option on the Uber app to add a stop so we did then gave her an extra-large tip.

The Royal Sonesta is right on Bourbon Street, and later that evening we found out how loud it could be! It’s a freak show with drunks, druggies strung out, people in very little clothing, etc. In 2018 when I was here with Ruth and Carol we went to a few restaurants and jazz clubs, and I don’t remember anything like that. Think Fremont Street in Vegas on steroids! Fun to watch for a few minutes but way too loud!

We got checked into the hotel and we’re given a room on the 5th floor overlooking Bourbon Street. Surprisingly, it was not too noisy so they must have good soundproofing. Our room was small but had a king size bed, a chair, and a desk.

We had dinner at the House of Blues which was a couple blocks away from our hotel. We ate in the courtyard and listened to their jazz band for a while then headed back to our hotel. Later that evening we went to the hotel’s Friday night show in their Jazz Playhouse. It was a burlesque show that featured 4 dancers, and a female blues singer. The dancers each danced twice to individual numbers and teased as they playfully removed layers of clothes until they were down to thong undies, stockings with garters and pasties on top. One of the dancers was a male dressed as a woman…. I wouldn’t call it a family show, but it was all done tastefully and not at all raunchy.

On Saturday I went to the pool after getting coffee at PJ’s in the hotel lobby. I found a shaded area and spent a few hours their before it started to get too warm. The water itself was a little cool but it was refreshing. Doug met me about the time I was going to move so we went over to the pool bar and had some lunch.

Saturday at 5pm we walked over to Preservation Hall to listen to a little jazz music. We had front row seats which was great since several people were standing in the back during the performance, which was about 50 minutes. We really enjoyed the band. Afterward we walked over to New Orleans Creole Cookery for dinner, which was for MSPA board members and spouses. There were 24 of us. Dinner was very good. After appetizers of hush puppies, calamari, and oysters, I had a bowl of jambalaya and Doug had crab cakes.

Sunday morning Doug’s conference officially started. He went to a board meeting for most of the morning and I went back to the pool. It was a little cooler than the day before, so I didn’t swim. Doug had an afternoon break so met me at the pool bar for lunch and to watch the Seahawks/Saints game (in NOLA). After being ahead most of the game we ended up losing!

After another early evening meeting I met up with Doug for a special event for the conference. It was a party with a stilt walker, juggler, tarot card reader and caricature artist, as well and dinner and drinks. Dinner included all the Creole dishes including jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, sautéed green beans and seafood. Dessert was bread pudding, another southern dish.

On Monday, I got up early and started off with coffee and beignets at Musical Legends Park which was across the street from our hotel. The park has a bar and Cafe Beignet coffee stand, and lots of places to sit and listened to music and visit. They have musicians daily.

I walked to the streetcar and went to the World War II Museum. I was there at least 4 hours and I’m sure I missed a lot of it. In addition to the museum admission, I purchased a ticket for Beyond all Borders, a 45-minute film narrated by Tom Hanks, as well as a ticket for The Final Mission: USS Tang Experience. I learned so much of what our country went through during that time. It was a great experience, and I would highly recommend it to anyone going to NOLA.

Dinner that evening was with some of Doug’s colleagues at the Bourbon House, a block from our hotel. I had a great bacon, pimento burger and fries and Doug had oysters. We both enjoyed it very much.

Tuesday morning, our last day. While Doug finished up at his conference, I packed up then roadie the streetcar to the waterfront to check out the outlet stores. I bought a few shirts and pralines then just had a bite to eat in the food court before heading back to hotel. We requested a late checkout so we could go straight to the airport for our 4:30 pm flight. We ended up getting there about 2 pm.

We both decided that We have no need to go to NOLA again. I enjoyed the things we did but overall, it was just too much of a party town, especially staying in the French Quarter area.

Time to try somewhere new!