LinKen Travels: New Orleans, Louisiana

November 27 - December 4, 2013

After so many starts and stops, emotional ups and downs, saying goodbye and then hello again, we finally left Cape Cod November 23rd, three weeks later than scheduled. The culprit was a clogged fuel filter caused by letting the motorhome sit for two and a half years, AND taking it to a place not equipped to take care of the problem. Two lessons learned: never let a motorhome sit for so long and take the problem to the right people. The trip was pretty much uneventful with only some cold nights and muddy campsites and we made the 1,570 miles in five days.

Pontchartrain Landing

The objective for New Orleans: sights, sounds and flavors. We achieved all three!

First of all, the resort, Pontchartrain Landing, is located on the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain to the bayou and eventually to the Mississippi River. In order to get to the resort, we travelled over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest bridge over water (23.83 miles). The resort itself is undergoing some renovations, but is nice and upscale, with daily shuttles to and from the French Quarter, live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights, and its own on-site bar and restaurant.

We checked out Lake Ponchartrain on a very windy, somewhat cold day. That's the New Canal Lighthouse Museum to the left which has just completed renovations and repair from damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. To the right is the Marina at Breakwater Park. (Sights)

Lake Pontchartrain is an estuary covering 630 square miles with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet. It is roughly oval in shape and is about 40 miles from east to west and 24 miles from north to south. It is one of the largest wetlands along the Gulf Coast of North America. (Sights)

Of course, you don't go to New Orleans without going to The French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in the City of New Orleans. With an elevation of 3-5 feet throughout the Quarter, it was affected relatively lightly by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as compared to other areas of the city. Some streets had minor flooding and some buildings were affected by wind damage. (Sights)

The French Quarter is bordered on the south by the Mississippi River.

(Sights)

I think we may have spent more money on tips than we did on tours. The streets were filled with entertainers: blues, jazz, bluegrass, big band, contemporary. There were street shows in the park across from Jackson Square and in front of St. Louis Cathedral. We spent a night walking in the Quarter, which surprisingly did not make me nervous. We enjoyed Steamboat Willie at the Musical Legends Park;

Larry Foyen and his big band at Vasos; and, Lil Red and Big Bad at ??? (Sorry, I was having too much fun to write down the name of the last stop!) (Sounds)

We had promised ourselves we would eat out for our entire stay to experience the tastes of New Orleans; well, we did not make every meal, but we did enjoy pralines at every possible sample stop (as well as buying some to bring home...half of which are already gone), had coffee au lait and beignets at Café Du Monde, the original French market coffee stand. We enjoyed Louisiana crab cakes, stuffed mushrooms, fromage creole and eggplant medallions at Rivers Edge Café, muffaletta at Café Maspero, Gumbo Ya Ya at the Gumbo Pot, Taste of New Orleans (Creole jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and red beans with smoked sausage) and Cajun Jambalaya Pasta (shrimp and alligator sausage) at Oceana Grill.

(Flavors)