Iris' Birthday Celebration
New Orleans
Iris decided that a trip to New Orleans would be her birthday present for 2015. As 75 seems to be an important birthday we loaded the motorhome on Saturday morning (November 14, 2015) and headed out. A long day driving to arrive in Lafayette, LA where we stayed at a campground so we could get to Prejean’s for some pre-birthday seafood and it did not disappoint. Iris had the “sampler”, soft shell crab, crab cake, crab meat au gratin while Bob enjoyed a fried oyster salad, all very wonderful washed down with some of the house rose.
Sunday found us on the road from Lafayette to New Orleans through Baton Rouge, big mistake, after Saturday’s game against Arkansas plus many miles of one-lane due to construction. We stopped once for fuel and once for a snack. But finally arriving in New Orleans we proceeded to find our campground, Pontchartrain Landing at the end of the road in an industrial area, next to a boat repair business and marina. The road was so bad we thought our motorhome would fall apart. But finally hooked up to all utilities in our waterfront space and after a little rest we drove Uptown to meet our friends, Carolyn and Randall at Superior Seafood Company and if you haven’t been here, GO! Because we were there at 5 PM we were within the “Happy Hour” with 50 cent oysters on the half shell and half-price wine by the glass. We enjoyed both then also enjoyed salads with seafood and creme brûlée. Back to the motorhome for an early evening.
Monday morning was the real birthday for Iris so we met Carolyn and Randall at Commander’s Palace at 11:30 AM to begin the big birthday lunch. Our table was already decorated with balloons. Starting with 25 cent martinis we then had seafood gumbo (maybe the best we’ve ever had) then moving on to redfish cakes (Yum) followed by bread pudding souffle. Iris’s dessert had a single candle (Commander’s Palace was worried about fire hazard) and the waiter, Peter (in case you go) placed a chef’s hat on Iris to enhance the photos. Lots of fun! Following such a wonderful lunch we drove to La Place to buy sausage at Jacobs World Famous. Back to New Orleans and to our car for our return to the motorhome.
Tuesday found us at 11:00 AM at Willie Mae’s Scotch House in a neighborhood that has yet to be gentrified. Willie Mae started life as a store where single shots of scotch and single cigarettes were sold while Willie Mae fried chicken for sale. Today Willie Mae’s granddaughter only sells fried chicken and is it wonderful. Sides are all comfort food and we could not turn down the fried okra with our chicken. All the 20 tables were occupied within 10 minutes and everyone seems to enjoy the food and the place as much as we did. This is a must stop in New Orleans and if we ever return, Willie Mae’s will be our first stop. After this we drove around the French Quarter for a while before parking at Armstrong Park to walk across the street to the Voodoo Lounge to join our “Saints & Sinners Tour”
(a birthday present) of the quarter with stories, mostly about the sinners in the history of New Orleans. We had a bar stop along the way, but we opted for gelato. The walking tour was about 2 hours and we enjoyed the stories and the architecture of the place then returning to the car we decided we had had enough for the day so we returned to the motorhome. A light snack and some wine sent us to bed early. Touring in NOLA is tiring.
Wednesday we slept in, had a light breakfast then drove across the big bridge spanning the Mississippi River to Algiers to see our house and neighborhood from when we lived in NO in 1980. The years have not been kind to our old neighborhood especially the streets (low property tax is evident) however our former house was looking very well including an addition on one end and enclosing the single garage on the other. Now looks overbuilt for the neighborhood. We decided we would not buy again. From Walnut Bend, our old neighborhood and Prancer Street we drove out to Belle Chasse trying to find Bob’s old office but too many changes so we drove to our assigned meeting point for today’s lunch at Salvo’s Seafood in Belle Chasse. Picnic tables for six, a seafood market and extensive menu from the kitchen. Carolyn and Randall arrived and we ordered fried oysters and soft shell crabs. Friends of Carolyn and Randall came along for lunch. They met in Florence Italy when they lived there. Barry and Kellie were a delight, he a doctor, she an architect. Good food and good company. Barry and Kellie had to leave early to pick up their 5 year old supervisor to attend a book fair. So the usual four headed to Magazine Street to stroll and check out the shops along the way. Carolyn picked up several books at thrift shops along the way to add to her collection. As Randall and Carolyn had other commitments for 6 PM we decided a little fortification was in order so we returned to Superior Seafood for “Happy Hour” with the 50 cent oysters and $3 wine. Deciding this was dinner after they left we had a bowl of seafood gumbo and it really was enough for dinner. Driving back to our campground we got into just a little of NO rush hour traffic but no real delay and we had an early evening at the motorhome. A little TV to catch up on the happenings in Paris after the terrible bombing and a little of the Spurs game before we crashed. This has been a good visit but reenforced our thought that NO is a great place to visit but we wouldn’t want to live there. With Iris’ birthday being officially celebrated we will leave in the morning to return to Georgetown.
Thursday morning found us on I-10 toward Baton Rouge from NO where we parked at a Lowe’s where Bob’s sister-in-law picked us up and ferried us to Zea’s for lunch. We had a great visit even though short. Merleane is 87, plays bridge 5 times a week, gave up golf when she was 83 when the decision was knee surgery or quit golf. The food at Zea’s was exceptional. Merleane eats there often, we had fried catfish. We can’t seem to get our fill of seafood (yes, we know catfish does not come from the sea). Returning to our motorhome we drive from Baton Rouge to Sulpher, LA where we stayed at the A+ Motel and RV, surprisingly it was very nice, grass surrounding each concrete pad, paved streets, a stocked pond and rated at 10/10/10 by Good Sam, very nice. Quiet evening as we’re about 2 miles for I-10. Snack for our dinner tonight.
Friday finds up on the road to return to Georgetown. What a good time we had.
As a point of explanation wordpress.com changed their format and I was unable to upload photos to the blog there so I have reverted to the old stand-by of Google blogspot (now called blogger). So sorry for the confusion and new look.
