Cajun Country tour

Sunday, January 20
We stayed away from New Orleans today and headed south and west into Cajun Country. Lots of French influences here. The names of the towns are French and many of the folks that live here are descendants of Acadian settlers, those expelled French-Canadians from Nova Scotia and other areas.

How these folks made a living off the land here is a testament to their ingenuity and hard work. much of the area is swamp or low lands that can't support agriculture. The settlers had to learn new fishing techniques, new crops that could grow in wet environments, and survive in an unforgiving environment of bugs, snakes, and other critters that would kill you. But survive and flourish they did and those French influences also survived to today.

Let's turn right today.

Let's get off this freeway and turn south toward the Gulf.

Quite a feat to build highways in this area.

Channels and bayous for shipping and fishing cross the landscape.

Cotton, sugar cane are grown. 

A draw bridge crossing a bayou.

Lots of boat traffic on these channels.

Some very large boats too. This one is in dry dock.

Beautiful back road drives.

We drove through the cities of Houma and Thibodaux.

Lovely Catholic churches in every town.

We made our way to River Road. This took us along the west side of the Mississippi.

Large dykes keep the Mississippi within its banks.

Sugar cane.

We stopped at Whitney Plantation. It was an old sugar cane plantation. River Road had lots of plantations back in the day. Several still survive as tourist stops. 

Whitney Plantation had a great museum. This was a neck collar used on slaves.

Indigo is a dye used for clothing and was a primary crop grown prior to sugar cane becoming dominant

Sugar cane was to become an important crop. Interestingly the plantation owners depended on the slaves and their knowledge of sugar manufacturing to make profits for them.

Many of the slaves were freed after the Civil war, but a lot of them continued to work on the plantations as free men and women.

Whitney Plantation

Sugar cane along the levee.

Another plantation on River road.

Storage barn 

Plantation building on Laura Plantation.

Huge bridge over the Mississippi.

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Barges, ships on the Mississippi.

A very old refinery along the shore on the Mississippi. As plantations no longer needed workers they found work in the industrial plants along the River.

Swampy land along the highway.

Highway 55 heading north from Cajun Country toward Interstate 12. 

Lots of bayous, swamps, quaint small towns, prosperous large towns, and many miles of awesome southern Louisiana countryside. A very enjoyable day exploring.
.....and that was Our View From Here!

New Orleans

Thursday and Friday, January 17 and 18
New Orleans, Nawlins, NOLA, The Big Easy......call it what you will, New Orleans is a unique city, steeped in history and ready to party whenever the mood strikes, which this time of year is .....all the time! Mardi Gras is just around the corner, one of the biggest multi-day parties in the world. The  NFL Conference final was held on the weekend and the New Orleans Saints are playing so the party atmosphere is even greater.

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday (known as Shrove Tuesday). Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. (Wikipedia)

For more information on Mardi Gras you can click here.

From our campground in Abita Springs to downtown New Orleans is about 45 miles or about an hour. Our route heads south to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and Interstate 10 then into the downtown.

A rainy start to the day. This is the bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. 24 miles across.

I 10 traffic in New Orleans

Friday was much better weather. Our campground neighbour Alice came along with us.

Downtown New Orleans from the bridge.

Lake Pontchartrain is a huge lake consisting of brackish water (mixture of salt and fresh water). It is 24 miles across and 40 miles long. It has a large surface area but averages only 12 to 14 feet deep. The Causeway that crosses it is the longest bridge over water in the world (24 miles long). The south lanes were built in 1956 and the northbound parallel bridge was opened in 1969. There is a $5 toll to cross north to south and it's free to travel south to north. It's like they want you to leave! :-)

We decided to buy a three-day Hop On Hop Off bus pass. It included two guided walking tours of the city. We took advantage of the Garden District tour which took us past some incredible homes including those of Sandra Bullock and of John Goodman. From the bus we could also see the house that Beyonce recently purchased.

Large variety of house styles in the Garden District. This large one......

.......to this small one. This is a 'shotgun' style. Only about twelve feet wide. So called as you could open the front and back doors and shoot a gun through the house without hitting a wall.

Beautiful town homes.

Too bad the City didn't maintain the sidewalks as good the the homeowners looked after their property. You really had to watch your step.

These are sure cute!

Sandra Bullock's home

They sometimes spot her out for a walk in the area. Not today though.

This is one big house.

John Goodman's home.

The middle house belongs to Archie Manning. You may know his sons, Preston and Peyton. They own a downtown restaurant.....'Mannings'.

Beautiful iron railings

Magazine Street is full of restaurants and shops.

We had lunch here. Very good food here. Their bread pudding was outstanding!

The shops of Magazine Street.

Hey, we know this Canadian brand!

New Orleans has beautiful tree-lined streets.

Jackson Square was a popular spot. The Catholic St Louis Cathedral sits directly behind it. The cathedral site has had three churches in its history, the first was built in 1718. Pope John Paul II visited the church in 1987.

Jackson Square. St Louis Cathedral behind.

The ceiling art was beautiful.

We took our own walking tour of the French Quarter. Lots of action in this area regardless of the time of day. Lots of folks wandering around with drinks in their hands (NOT coffee) at 10 AM. By late afternoon the party was well under way and nearly everyone on the street had a drink in their hand.

The world famous Cafe Du Monde. Their Beignets  (Ben-yays) are to die for.

A busy spot

Breakfast! 

With tax, most items are a flat $3. Easy to make change. Cash only, no credit or debit cards.

We just beat the rush. Look at the line-up now!

Lots of folks buy Beignets to go but neighboring shop owners are not thrilled with customers eating them in their stores. The white powdery sugar was everywhere.

Even the Joan of Arc statue was sporting Saints colors!

Even the hotel lobbies were supporting the Saints.

This old blacksmith shop is now a popular bar.

The famous/infamous Bourbon Street.

Mid-morning and this bar was rockin'!

A lot of Bourbon street has been dug up. They were staring to pour concrete on the roadways. I'm sure they will be done in time for Mardi Gras parties.

Famous French restaurant in the French Quarter......obviously.

Some colourful figures walking the streets!

In case you can't tell.......this was a guy!

Busy Jackson Square. Andrew Jackson statue is in the middle.

Two days was enough to see what we wanted. Saturday rained pretty hard and with the NFL's NFC Championship game being played in New Orleans on Sunday it was going to be a zoo trying to maneuver around the City. (The Saints lost the game, although everyone in New Orleans thinks the Rams only won because of a bad referee call).

The Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Home of the New Orleans Saints.

A decomissioned power plant that is a real eyesore. It found a new life as a movie and TV setting. NCIS New Orleans uses it as do other shows and movies.

Mardi Gras World specializes in building floats for not just the Mardi Gras but other parades as well.

Had our own personal Mardi Gras parade. They were moving floats from one barn to another.

The New Orleans Convention Center is the third largest in the US. It passes under the overpass and has a reinforced roof to protect it from any vehicles that may come off the roadway. I wonder how they test something like that?

Mannings restaurant. Owned by Preston, Peyton and their father Archie. A great sports bar.

Canal Street.

Joan of Arc

Human sculpture

These kids had a great jazz band.

New Orleans was 300 years old in 2018.

We had lunch here on Friday.

A great jazz band playing.

This gal played a mean sax!

Friday before the NFC Conference final. Lots of cheering for the Saints. Unfortunately they didn't win.

New Orleans was founded in 1718 so that makes the city 300 years old. As with many southern states it has seen Spanish, French, Louisiana, Confederate and United States flags flying over her. The French influence is still very evident here with names, cultures and foods and of course the party atmosphere. "laissez les bons temps rouler" translates to 'Let the good times roll!'

Modern downtown

Nice architecture

Harrah's has a casino here.

WW II museum. We didn't go but apparently is quite well done.

Empty at the moment but will be luxury condos in a couple of years.

The white domed building was the tallest in the city for years until the engineers figured out how to build taller buildings on land that was below sea level and keep them from sinking in the mud.

Now this is an ugly building! Looks like an airport control tower.

A wedge shape.

See all the beads in the trees? Left-over from previous Mardi Gras parades.

Must have been a horrible Mardi Gras accident.....or is it art?

The mighty Mississippi River flows through New Orleans.

New Orleans is a wonderful city. Lots of activities, sights to see and very nice people. A few times when talking to locals they would say 'Thanks for visiting and we're glad you're here'. Kinda makes you want to come back!!

....and that was Our View From Here!