Irish Rovers - Off on a cloud of heifer dust : New Orleans

We rolled into New Orleans (NOLA) on February 24th, having timed our arrival to ensure we avoided NOLA's infamous Mardi Gras celebrations. While it would have been awesome to see the parades, Krewes dancing and hear all the music, the crowds would have overwhelmed us. We found a RV park about 6 miles out of the French Quarter along a boat canal that was quiet and spacious. In addition to seeing some yachts and smaller boats come in from the Intercoastal route, we got to see rowing crews from Tulane out on their early morning practices. The park offered a regular, inexpensive shuttle into the French Quarter, which allowed us to avoid driving the Rv into the city. Fergus liked the RV park because it had a big, fenced dog run and he could play ball several times a day. Oh, happy dog.

We went into NOLA each day for several hours (time-limited due to the dogs being left inside the RV) and explored various parts of the city including the Garden District and the French Quarter. On our first day, we took the 'on-off' tourist bus that drove us around several areas of the city and gave us ideas on where we wanted to explore. We devoted one day to visit the National World War II Museum, which was both interesting and overwhelming. My father fought with the 29th Infantry and was part of the Normandy invasion on D-day, so the visit felt 'personal'. Wish I knew more about his service in France, Belgium and Germany during WWII.

We enjoyed the sights, food, the architecture, people watching, and the music of New Orleans. We always headed back to our RV park mid- to late-afternoon, so our visit was most likely subdued compared to many other folks. Weather was perfect, too, so no complaints other than that drivers in NOLA gave no credence to the law requiring they stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks. (We note that several of those drivers were from Texas).

We had thought about spending a little more time in the Slidell - Covington area of Louisiana across the Lake, but decided to head west and north to Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi. This involved a drive across Lake Pontchartrain via the 23.8 mile Causeway - the longest bridge in the USA. One source on the internet noted that for 8 of it's (almost) 24 miles one cannot see any land in any direction. We can attest to that - a tiny bit unnerving! Speaking of bridges, we forgot to mention in our previous blog that enroute to New Orleans, we drove over the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge. That bridge, at 18.2 miles, takes the I-10 freeway over the Atchafalaya River and the largest swamp in the USA. Who knew!? And now, more adventures await us in Mississippi.

Jackson Square & St. Louis Cathedral