Louisiana - New Orleans and beyond

 1/9/24 - After the harrowing windy drive to NOLA, I managed to find a parking space right on Decatur St in the French Quarter.  1st stop, after Jackson Sq, which was on the way, was to Cafe du Monde for hot chocolate and Beignets.  They were good, but the inside was a bit doughy, so I left that behind.  Fancy fried dough.  

After walking through this square for a while, I saw a sign saying no pets.  Surprising since I found NOLA to be super dog friendly!

The mighty Mississipi

After exploring NOLA for a bit, we had to leave to get to the campground before the office closed since I couldn't make reservations online.  It was good because I was ready for a rest!  We stayed in a campground a bit south of NOLA.  It was fine, though the site next to me had an old camper and I noticed glass on the ground under the entry door.  I realized it had been broken into (maybe by the owners, but maybe not).  Thankfully I didn't realize this until the next morning and I realized this vehicle must have been deserted as the date on the site was thru the end of December I think.  Other than this, it seemed like a decent enough campground.  

1/10 - I woke up to frost and looked forward to a day in New Orleans.  My morning was kinda slow as they tend to be.  I took a shower - yuk! I hate campground showers! and finally got out of there a bit after 11.  First stop was lunch - see pic below.  Then we wandered around Bourbon St and other streets.  I know that Bourbon St is super touristy, but I really enjoyed walking around and hearing the music as I walked by the bars.  I tried to recall where I might have gone so many years ago when on a work trip, but no luck.  There was an excellent street band that I listened to for a bit.  The trombone player made me think of Paul Brodhead, my cousin once removed (? - never really sure - my cousin's son) who is very into playing the trombone and also does so on the streets of somewhere.  

Frost!

Went to Zesty Creole on Canal St and had a sample platter of Jambalaya, Gumbo, Red Beans, and Fried Green Tomatoes.  It was excellent!

I wasn't thinking I could bring Zoe in, but I decided to call and they said yes!  Yay!  Loving NOLA!

Bourbon St

After the noise and bustle of the French Quarter, we headed out to the lake and walked there for a bit and then to City Park, where we lucked upon a spot where everyone takes their dogs off leash.  We stayed there for quite a while walking around.  I wanted to stay to catch the sunset in the park, so we went back to the van and hung out for about an hour, then walked around again.  

Lake Pontchartrain and gorgeous clouds:

City Park

Tried taking it through my sunglasses, but it does not look anything like what I saw looking through the sunglasses!

After sunset, we went to our HH for the night which was even recommended by a friend.  There were 4 other rigs in the parking lot, but when I went into the brewery, there wasn't a soul in there other than the bartender.  He and I had some good dog convos and I tried out their beers.  It was a bit disconcerting on my way in because the place is in an industrial area and there were signs saying not to leave any valuables in your car.  Well, that's hard for me to not do!  I wasn't too worried since there were other RVs there, but still.  I learned later that it is in fact a very unsafe area and people don't really go there anymore due to that.  The brewery is actually closing.  I also was told to not go down side streets in the French Quarter.  In these cases ignorance worked in my favor as all was OK.  Of course, I do have Zoe, and I did feel that I was probably bothered a lot less than I would have been had I not had my trusty protector.

I had these for dinner after picking them up while in NOLA during the day.  These were way better (even cold) than the Cafe du Monde ones.  When in New Orleans, I had to sample...  

1/11 - Nancy had recommended that I go to the Garden District, so we drove back into town (I got good at driving into town and finding parking for Big Bertha) and did that.  I'm so glad we did as it was really fun walking around and looking at those lovely homes.  That's one of the things I really enjoy doing and it's a good activity for Zoe too.

Onto the Houmas House Plantation.  I immediately met some of the other HHers and they invited me to dinner.  I did a house tour and ended up being the only one on the tour, which is cool, but also it would have been nice to go with others.  I learned that dogs are welcome on the house tour - never heard of sucha thing!  The owner (it's privately owned) is a huge dog lover, so he says dogs are welcome everywhere on the property.  

Every other spot had a prism to reflect the light from the candles.  

Solid Sterling sculpture of Abe Lincoln

Silver and Bronze

2000 lb pool table.  Very heavy (dangerous) lawn darts on the green

This started out as a portrait of someone unknown to the owner, so he decided to commission an artist to paint dogs where the human faces had been.  What a great idea!

Prior to the phonograph.  Don't recall what this is called, but it's like the old player pianos.

Artifacts from the dog wedding (video below)

Zoe sitting outside the bar

Kevin is such a dog lover that he threw a huge wedding for his dogs there.  Crazy!  

After the tour I went back and got Zoe and then we met up with the other HHers in the bar, which is super cool and I had an excellent Old Fashioned.  Then we shared dinner in Peggy and Jim's (?) roomy RV with Cindy and David.  Peggy made some red beans and rice.  Very good!  

Wine "cellar"

This looks like a painting

Extensive gardens

Not a great photo, but these are roses. 

I cannot get enough of these live oaks.  This one is estimated at about 600 years old.  I feel very tranquil in their presence.

1/12 - After the morning walk around the grounds, I wanted to/didn't want to go to the Great River Road museum also on the property.  I'd heard such great things, but I wasn't really in the mood and since we finally had a warm sunny day, I didn't want to leave Zoe in the van.  Yes, I could have moved into the shade and she would have been fine, but I decided to go to the museum and bring her.  Not a fun thing for her, but she did pretty well.  I did feel bad though and didn't stay for too long.  This museum has so much in it and information on so many people (don't care) and all the different plantations in the area (also don't really care).  The information on slavery the civil war was interesting, but hard to see/read.  I really don't get how people can treat other humans (or any being) that way.  How do people decide that they are so much better/worth more than others?  I don't get it.

After leaving there, I headed to Morgan City so that I could connect with Sunny.  I found a place called Lake End Park and got a great site on the water.  The park is close to Rt 70, which is a main road, but the noise isn't too bad.  I originally was supposed to park right next to the road, but was able to move to a better site further from the road, but still right on the water.  

Cool houseboats

The iridescence of these mallards is so beautiful!

I met up with Sunny for dinner at a restaurant called Morgan's.  It had good reviews, but it was mediocre.  It was in a hotel and had 0 ambiance.  It was a typical hotel breakfast area type setup.  Sunny and I have very similar tastes, so we shared our meals.  Fish dish was very good.  Ribs tasted good if you could work around all the fat.  Sweet potato fries were good.  Onion rings not good.  Plenty of food and good company.  

I had my first "accident" with the van.  I was backing into my spot so the rear end could overhang the concrete between the spots.  I knew there was a pickup truck behind me that had done the same.  What I missed was the hitch on that pickup...  I bumped into the hitch/ball and got a little mark on my hitch and a rusty circle (from the ball) on my bumper.  All in all, no biggie, but still disconcerting.  

1/13 - Zoe and I enjoyed a nice day walking around the campground and sitting by the water watching the pelicans fish.  I decided to stay another night, since it was so nice.  Sunny came by in the afternoon and she made me appreciate the spot even more by saying how spectacular it was.  

Morning view from my bed.

Nice a calm!

Enjoying a bully stick

Pelican come in for some fish

Zoe seemed to enjoy the activity as well

Love the spanish moss in the late afternoon sun

Another beautiful sunset

Trying to get all 3 of us in the shot

1/14 - I had been planning to head to Houston area to visit Charlie (cousin) and Jan, but with the arctic freeze coming up and temps overnight in the teens, I wasn't sure what to do.  NOLA was supposed to stay close to freezing overnight, so I had thought about going back there as I was nervous (who me, nervous??  😜) about water freezing (even though everything is inside) - it's the unknown.  Then I was thinking I'd go south of Houston as that also was supposed to stay closer to freezing.  I called the campground I was thinking of going to, but they were turning off the water in the bathrooms.  I don't need a bathroom, but it's nice to be able to shower when paying for a campsite.  It was a gorgeous day - sunny and mid 60s - and if I left, I felt like I had to drive the full 5.5 hours (I prefer to keep it under 3 when I can) since there was threat of freezing rain along the way the next day.  So, I made the very smart decision to stay at this campground and enjoy the day and stay through the cold spell.  Sunny was also going to head all the way to her next stop near Houston and she decided to stay here for the week and she got a spot 2 down from me.  It's only $140/week!  I paid that for 5 days since weekends are $40/day and weekdays $20/day.

After Sunny got setup, we grabbed some lunch at a very popular restaurant called The Galley and shared our meals.  It was good and tided us over through dinner.  We had a campfire, which was fun since neither of us tend to have fires on our own.  It was a great time until Sunny realized she was being attacked by fire ants!  She was wearing crocs with no socks and must have stood right in them.  I was really close to them, but didn't have a single one on me.  Unfortunately, Sunny is very allergic to them and had a pretty bad reaction.  

There were almost all the way around the fire ring.  I wonder if they like the heat.

1/15 - Nothing exciting today - just hung around.  I like just hanging around.  It's so nice to not feel like I have to go explore.  I would just hang around at home too, so I should be able to do that while in the van on the road!  

Blue Heron on the yellow houseboat and Great Egret (or Snowy egret?) on the white houseboat.  Standing guard?  

I didn't know there were different colored Mallards.  I've only seen the males with the green heads and the brown females.  It seems there are other colors as well, at least I think these are all mallards (except the ones with the white beaks).

I tried sitting outside, but it was just a bit too breezy and not quite sunny enough to me to enjoy it.  Zoe also had asked to get into the van so she could snuggle in her bed.  I very rarely swivel my front seats because it infringes on Zoe's space between the seats.  She's underneath, but still.  Today, because the view could be enjoyed from the passenger seat turned around, I decided to swivel and that's where I am right now!

1/16 - It was 23 degrees this morning and we got some freezing rain overnight.  It's almost 1 PM now and the ice is still on everything even with the sun out.  It is only about 28 and the wind is still blowing.  I used my little electric space heater and it kept the van at around 60.  I had set the diesel heater to come on if it got to 58, but it never came on.  Because the water tank, hot water heater, and water pump are in a compartment under my bed, I opened the door to the compartment, and the garage door from the inside, and put a fan blowing the warm air into the garage area.  This seemed to work well.  

 Photos from inside the van.  It was 23 degrees, so I was not excited about heading out.  Also very windy!

cold, windy, dreary morning - view from my window

a little less dreary, but just as cold and windy

I was trying to capture the steam flowing over the top of the water 

blue sky!

ice on the branches

all snuggled up

Zoe was very unhappy when we went out this morning!  We are hanging out on the bed today as the cab area, especially on the floor where she lays is COLD!  The raised bed is definitely the place to be today.  I just realized that I need to move sites today.  That stinks!  I was planning on just hanging in here all day!  Thankfully it isn't hard for me to move.  Watch me move and they don't show up... 

I took Zoe on an evening walk (I didn't want to in the cold and wind!) and saw a bald eagle and a beautiful evening sky.  The eagle was flying overhead when I spotted it, then it landed in a tree, where I could see it for a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of it.

Yep, the folks who I moved for didn't show up.  Oh, well.  Luckily, it's easy for me to move my van.  I have to pack things away, but that's good for keeping the place somewhat tidy anyway!

Zoe and I went over to visit with Sunny in the evening and Zoe seemed to warm up to to Sunny!

1/17 - last day at this lovely spot.

Moved along to Lake Charles, LA, my last stop in Louisiana.  We parked at the Veterans memorial park, right on the lake.  I thought I'd want to go into town for dinner, but after having stopped on the way and having some good Gumbo, I decided against that.  We just walked along the water, then chilled in the van and watched the sun set.  I was the only overnighter, except for another van that was a ways away from me.  I thought about moving to where they were for safety, but I had a much better view!  I didn't notice anyone coming by in the night to make me feel uncomfortable, which was nice!

In the morning, Zoe and I took a long walk through the historic district (many nice homes) and through the downtown, which other than a couple of historic buildings, there wasn't much to see.  It seems that downtowns are really failing these days as I'm seeing lots of empty store fronts.

She's just too cuuute - especially when one ear stands up!

Kinda gray today!

This was the ONLY boat in the marina!

Looks like a super fun playground

Time to move onto TEXAS!  It should have taken about 3 hours, but due to a couple of slowdowns and one pit stop, it took about 4 hours, so we ended up in a wee bit of rush hour traffic, but not too bad.