New Orleans, LA

Today I had a rather slow start but I did get to see a couple more of the plantations along the Great River Road north west of New Orleans and along the Mississippi.

I don’t have too many pictures today and the family stories of the two plantations are too convoluted for me to get straight. Coincidentally, both of these plantations are quite vividly painted on the exteriors. I have no pictures of the inside of the Laura Plantation as my camera was acting up during the tour and the guide was moving along at a good pace and I was engrossed in his information.

The first I visited is the San Francisco Plantation which is listed as a National Historic Landmark and which has been classified as “Steamboat Gothic”. It claims to be one of the most authentically restored plantations along the river which you can especially see in the ceilings which have been re-done based on the original designs uncovered under the soot from lard oil which they used for to burn in their oil lights. It’s vivid colors are something to see.

It features an above ground water cistern that used gravity to feed water into the cistern from the eaves and then again back into the house where it was filtered and used for household water. It also included an example of a shower that would have been used by the men only and which required a servant to assist by pulling open the stopper on the tank mounted above the shower making bathing a not-too-private affair. But they did heat the water before pumping it into the top of the shower.

There was also a recreation of slaves quarters and a school house from the same era which was donated by the parish (think county).

Just down the river and on the south side this time is Laura Plantation built in 1805. It is near Oak Alley which I visited the other day. It’s distinction is that it was owned by a Creole family and although not that unique, it was run primarily by a woman. Louisiana’s laws allowing women to own property (based on French law) made it quite common for women to own and run plantations. They struck gold doing research on this property in uncovering over 5000 pages of French ancestral documents and a first hand account of one of the family members “Laura”.

The matriarch of this property didn’t sound like a very nice individual driving her family to take over the plantation despite their wishes and her cruelty to the slaves was well documented. (Ie. Physical branding and selling families to different other plantations). Slaves at this plantation were originally from Senegal and one of their folk tales characters ended up being written into a North American children’s stories about Br’er Rabbit and there maybe some connection to this plantation through the documentation in writing of the oral stories from this area.

New Orleans, LA

Yesterday was a three parade day for me, thus the reason I didn’t post a blog entry. I’m taking a break from Mardi Gras today, and may instead go to see a couple more Plantation Houses. I need to balance the craziness with some serenity. And yesterday was indeed craziness but in a good way. I apologize for the length of this blog, but since I’m using it as a personal diary as well as keeping y’all (Oops, I mean you all) in the loop I wanted to document a bunch of things.

I headed to the French Quarter yesterday morning and it was 10:00am-ish when I got there. When I arrived, and as I started to walk through the French Quarter in search of breakfast, I crossed Bourbon Street – and the craziness had already begun! Of course there weren’t that many people there, but there were a few. It’s entirely possible that they had spent the night on a sidewalk there and that they we’re still a little intoxicated from the night before. Already there was a pretty young lady on the street, willing to take off her shirt and have her picture taken with you in a very skimpy bra and G-String. And there were already some taking her up on it, for a price of course.

I decided to treat myself to a nice breakfast and found my way to Brennan’s for Breakfast, an institution in the French Quarter since 1946. It’s 8 separate dining rooms (including a lovely interior courtyard that was too cold to use at 10 in the morning) have recently been renovated and the rooms I saw were beautiful. The service was top notch and the breakfast was fabulous. I started with a baked apple (with pecans and brown sugar, etc) and then had Eggs Sardou (poached eggs in a shell made from artichokes in a Parmesan crust, on a bed of spinach, topped with Charon Sauce). I’m no foodie, but mmm mmm good.

Then I wandered over to Canal Street to find a spot at the barricade for the first parade. So while we’re waiting for the parade maybe I should explain a bit about the history of parades and Mardi Gras in general which I’ve learned about. New Orleans was first settled by the Frenchman Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and they originally set up camp on the river 60 miles from present day New Orleans on March 3rd, 1699 and they named it Point du Mardi Gras since it was being celebrated on that date in France. As the new colony grew, pre-Lent balls were held as they were at home in France, but when the Spanish took power they were banned, which continued when it became an American City in 1823. However, under pressure from the large Creole population the balls were once again allowed and street masking was officially made legal.

In the early 19th century Mardi Gras celebrations had grown to include masked revelers on foot and on horseback and in carriages and in 1837 the first “parade” is documented. There were problems with rowdiness for a couple of generations and the parade was almost banned once again. Some members of a group from Alabama called the Cowbellians, who had organized New Years Eve parades in Alabama, formed an organization called Comus in 1857. They provided some structure and established many of the present day Mardi Gras traditions and coined the name “Krewe”. Krewes have traditionally been secret groups, taking on a mythological name, organizing themed parades with floats and costumed “maskers” and holding a celebration or ball after the parade. Many of the present Krewes were established in those early days. Rex and Momus in 1872, and Proteus in 1882. Various other traditions such as crowning a King and the “King Cake” tradition, as well as “throws” came in subsequent years.

Mardi Gras has had its ups and downs over the years, during wars and a threat that the Hell’s Angels was going to sweep into town creating havoc (which didn’t happen) and bad weather. Katrina in 2006 threatened to cancel the celebrations because some thought it was not a time to celebrate but it was decided that the people of New Orleans would continue with Mardi Gras in bad times as well as in good. Many of the floats celebrated and honoured the first responders and other heros of the storm (not likely FEMA).

These days, Krewes are still somewhat secret organizations and membership in the Krewe requires one to be sponsored and to pay a hefty membership fee. In addition, those members who want to be “riders” on the Krewe’s floats pay for all their own “throws”. It’s reported that this year’s Endymion riders paid an average of $2000 each for their throws. Their parade started with mounted riders in a tribute to their origins, as well as a team of beautiful Clydesdales pulling a coach. They had 36 floats, (one that held 250 riders on nine-different sections), and 30 college and high school bands from 8 states. Their ball for 20,000 people was held at the Superdome after the parade featuring Pitbull and Steven Tyler as the entertainment.

So, here I am waiting for the first of three parades on a sunny, but cool Saturday. This parade was put on by the Iris Krewe and consisted of all women. Each Krewe has branded throws branded as well as the standard beads, and it’s always a bonus to get one of the special branded things. Some are beads with an ornament added, plastic drink cups, small stuffies, light sticks, other jewelry pieces, and feather boas, (one of which I got in addition to a lovely interaction with the “rider” at the Endymion parade. He appreciated my smiled “Thank you” after he made sure I got one of the branded beads and he called me over to give me one of the feather boas and said my smile made all that it had cost him to be there worthwhile”. Rather nice. I said, (well shouted over the bedlam), “of course, I’m Canadian”.) I ended up with a lot of beads, many of which I gave away, along with any stuffies, etc that I caught.

After the parade ended at around 3:30 I headed over to drop most of my beads off in the car and get something to drink (tea!) and to find a place to sit for a while. I headed down Bourbon Street and the crowd had increased significantly, as had the craziness. It’s not illegal to carry alcohol in the street here, and people were carrying drinks in fish bowl glasses and foot high plastic boots with a handle, and oversize beer containers, and people were drinking champagne from the bottle. There wasn’t any evidence of nudity or really bad behaviour that I saw, although I was not in the thick of things and I purposely didn’t go back after that, choosing personal safety instead.

I got back to the second parade route after it had already started and didn’t get my “barricade position”, so I wasn’t as successful at getting throws, but really, how many more beads does one need! I was content to take a few pictures with just my point and shoot (I didn’t take my DSLR camera yesterday just for security reasons. I also didn’t take more than a few dollars, and one credit card secured safely out of reach of pick pockets.). The marching bands are just great, and I felt sorry for the ones having to march at the end of the parade because they’re wading through broken beads and plastic bags discarded by the riders. Several of the bands ended up stuck at my location because there was a turn up ahead that took the floats some time to get around, and they put on some great shows of music but also choreographed dancing. The crowd gets into it as well, and I had some real fun with it.

Since the third parade was the big one, I went to get my spot for it right after the second parade and ended up sitting on a curb with a lovely young couple of freshman students from Alabama attending Loyola here in New Orleans. I had a chance to interact with them throughout the wait and during the parade. That’s the part of this that is so much fun.

Just a mention of security – Homeland Security had a heavy presence. A group of 20 of them walked the route ahead of each parade, they had dogs walking on either side of the back of one of the floats along the route, and their vehicles were everywhere on the side streets. The New Orleans police had a huge presence as well, obviously. They were friendly and interacting with the crowd in a casual and positive way, until something happened. A skirmish broke out just a few feet from me, and instantly, there were 5 of them there, breaking it up. One officer who was particularly friendly with the crowd moved with amazing speed across the street in front of a float and instantly became the serious peace keeper. They handled the first outbreak with as little strong arming as possible, but when the individual created a second disturbance he was removed in short order and around the corner into the arms of waiting officers.

I walked back to my car at 10:30 before the parade was over and the police presence and that of many families who had just had a fun day made my comfortable. There was no question there were some scary types around as well, and a lot of drunks, but I was careful about my surroundings all the time. But none of the security concerns took away a bit from my total enjoyment of an experience of a lifetime. Mardi Gras in New Orleans should be on everyone’s bucket list.

P.S. Dates for future Mardi Gras:

2017 Feb 28
2018 Feb 13
2019 Mar 5
2020 Feb 25

Vacherie, LA

Before the American Civil War, more than half of America’s millionaires lived between New Orleans and Natchez in the fertile valley of the mighty Mississippi. This area was not conducive to growing cotton crops (too much moisture) however sugarcane grew well here and sugarcane plantations from small to thousands of acres lined the banks of the river, which was used to transport goods in and out.

During the course of the Civil War many of the homes were destroyed by fighting along the river, and after the war, the plantations were no longer profitable once the slaves that worked the fields were emancipated. So many of the homes fell into disrepair, and are lost. However, a growing number have been brought back to their former glory and serve to remind us of those times.

I visited one of the largest of the antebellum homes, Nottoway, when I was in Baton Rouge (and promptly deleted the pictures of it). Today I visited a second, and one of the first to be restored because of it’s forward thinking and smart final owner. Josephine Stewart lived for many years after her husband and in 1972 she knew that the cost of maintaining the property was more than she could handle so she created a Foundation and had the property opened to the public. It is called Oak Alley, and from the pictures you’ll immediately know why.

The oaks (Virginia Oaks to be precise) leading from the river to the home were planted over 300 years ago, long before the home was even built. Growing on the oak branches is a fern called Reserection Fern, because it has the ability to go dormant (and turn brown) during droughts, and then to green up (reserect itself) when water is available once again. Many of the trees in the area as you will have seen from my pics of the City Park also have Spanish Moss on them. However, the last owner of the home didn’t like the Spanish Moss so she had the gardeners remove it and it’s been maintained that way.

Some of the most interesting parts of visiting these homes/plantations, is family history that is wrapped up in the bricks and mortar. Here’s where a good guide is incredibly important. Today’s was fabulous. He was funny, knowledgable and gave us information in manageable bites. This area along the river was primarily Creole, and the guide’s family traces it’s history back to pre-Civil War. He started the tour with his own family history which set the mood. I won’t go into the history of all the families that owned the home, but two little tidbits are: Louise, one of the original owner’s daughters became a nun and started an order that served in New Orleans, and another of the descendants is one of the founders of the Cafe Du Monde.

One of the neat features of the dining room of this house was the punkah over the dining table. A servant sat in the corner of the room pulling on the cord attached to the punkah to move it slowly back and forth, providing air movement for cooling and also shooing away flies.

One of the bedrooms is used to display some of the trappings of grieving. The Creole people are superstitious and one of the things they believe is that when someone dies their spirit might be attracted to the light in mirrors and it might get caught up in the mirror and never rest. So they cover the mirrors in the house with black fabric until the spirit has been sent on it’s way.

The huge bell snuggled into the huge 100 year old box woods just to the side of the house, was used to keep everything on the plantation running on time. It rang to start work, to eat, for lights out, etc.

On the property is also a reconstruction of some of the slaves quarters complete with displays and explanations of the way they lived. And they have a re-creation of a Civil War officers tent and a film explaining the production of sugar from the cane grown in the fields. And they have a bed and breakfast, restaurant, bar and of course the ubiquitous gift shop.

A long list of movies, TV Shows, advertisements have been filmed in part or entirely at Oak Alley. They have a separate brochure with a list of them there are so many. The ones that jumped out at me are: The Young and the Restless, Beyonce’s Deja Vu music video, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Interview with the Vampire.

And since touring is exhausting, after touring the house, I sat to enjoy a Mint Julep in the afternoon sun and thought about life in those times before touring the grounds.

New Orleans, LA

Wow. That’s the only thing that sums up New Orleans. One amazing city. Sorry, this is a long one tonight. And not as many pics as I’d like given the great material I had to work with, but the wifi is so slow it’s taking just too long to upload. I’ll go back and add some more down the road when I’ve got better wifi.

After getting a ride into the French Quarter on the free shuttle put on by the campground, I started the day with a Grey Line Bus Tour that combined an orientation of the city with some information specific to Katrina and about NO post-Katrina regarding changes to the infrastructure, etc. It was fairly well done, although I found my attention wandering a lot as the guide got too technical or was assuming we had a base of information that I certainly didn’t.

We started in the historic Creole section of the city where the houses have a distinctive design and many are beautifully and brightly painted. They are long and narrow to fit the narrow lots and the house doesn’t have a hall way, but rather each room just flows from the front door to the back. They call them shot gun or double shot gun (side by sides) houses because you could shoot a shot in the front door and it would go through the house, hitting nothing.

Then it was on to the Lower 9th ward which was hit the worst by Katrina. There are still lots of buildings that haven’t yet been restored or demolished, and even the odd one that still has the “X” markings on the front where the first responders went through checking on each building after the storm and flood. We weren’t shown the hardest hit and still not reclaimed neighbourhoods, and I think I’m glad of that. There are some neat stories of help that New Orleans received from various sources outside of government such as Brad Pit’s Make it Right program which Mike Holmes got involved with. Barnes and Noble built 100 homes and gave them to those that had lost their homes and after they paid 5 years on the mortgage, they were given the houses outright.

We stopped along the way at Cemetery #3 to learn about how the bodies are dealt with here. The bodies are not buried beneath the ground but rather are put in cement or stone structures owned by the family. After someone’s body has been in the structure for a year and one day (to ensure disease is not spread) the casket is removed and burned and the bones are pushed to the back of the structure where they fall down an opening into the bottom of the structure. The next time someone from the family dies they do the same, so there are the bones of up to 100 bodies in some of the structures. If there is already a body in the structure when another family member dies that hasn’t been there the year and a day, they use graves in the walls of the cemetery as “rent-a-graves” until such time as the full year is complete on the family structure and the casket can be moved into the family plot.

Somewhere along the line we ended up at the City Park and we stopped to see the sculpture garden amongst the beautiful old trees, covered in ferns and Spanish moss. Our guide pointed out that we’d see the trees and ferns elsewhere in the city, but that the park was just about the only place we’d see the moss since it was more sensitive to the city’s pollutants.
Then we went on a tour of some of the sites of construction projects where they are building new pumping stations and shoring up the breakwaters on Lake Pontchartrain to try and prevent another Katrina. As they explained, it wasn’t the wind and rain associated with the storm that was the problem, but rather the problems associated with the physical infrastructure and evacuations plans. For instance, they had carefully planned out the routes people should use to get out of town during a hurricane, however, they didn’t take into account the thousands of people that had no means of transportation. They worked it out by setting up locations where they could go to be picked up by buses, but it took some time to get that happening. Now there are clearly indicated specific designated spots in the city which are meeting points for that purpose.

We also stopped at a lighthouse on the lake that marks the channel that is used for taking freight in and out and for boats using the marina. There is a NFP society set up to oversea the health of Lake Pontchartain, it’s shorelines, plants and animal life, etc. It is their job to educate and help in keeping the lake clean and the shoreline from being eroded further.

Then it was back into the city and down beautiful St. Charles Street. Most of the pics of the larger homes were taken along St Charles Street. It is a major thoroughfare and trolley route that runs through lovely neighbourhoods including the Garden District. It’s also the route of many of the Mardi Gras parades and you can see pictures of the chairs and ladders, etc that people had already set up to get ready for the parades which didn’t start for several hours after we were there.
We then headed back to the French Quarter were our tour ended. I spent the rest of the afternoon, eating my way through the French Quarter. Of all the suggestions I received of things to do in New Orleans, 90% of them involved eating or drinking and most of the rest involved something to do with music.

I was starving and it’s a good thing because my first stop was Central Grocery for a muffuletta sandwich. This Italian store sells unique grocery products from Italy and local specialties. And they developed the muffuletta sandwich and have been selling them since 1906. It’s served on round white bread with sesame seeds on the crust, which they bake there. It includes salami type meat, and cheese, olive oil, and the best ingredient, their own Italian Olive Salad. It’s to die for. I bought a jar of it and hope that I don’t break it on the way home, because what a mess that would be.

Then I wandered all over the French Quarter. Through the French Market, down streets whose names are familiar to many of us who hadn’t even been there yet. Bourbon Street, Decatur Street, Royal and St. Charles. I stopped in Jackson Square where the statute of Andrew Jackson is prominent. From there you get a great view of the beautiful St Louis Cathedral, and then I headed over to check out the inside of the church. Stunning interior.

The buildings in the French Quarter are so beautiful, with their intricate cast iron balconies, especially because they’re all dressed up for Mardi Gras. There was no end of Mardi Gras specific merchandise to buy as well as NO souvenirs. And no end of place to drink or eat. And no end of places to listen to music, jazz of course. On the street, in the bars, restaurants, in the park, in front of the church, but unfortunately not at Preservation Hall because it’s closed for private functions during Mardi Gras.

After picking up a couple of spices to take home, I was done. But I made one more stop, Cafe Du Monde, for their famous beignets (French donut-type pastry served with a pile of icing sugar on top) and a hot chocolate. Yum.
I had considered staying in the Uptown area for the 3 parades happening this evening, but I was just too tired and I wasn’t really dressed warmly enough. It was sunny today, but not that warm, with a cool breeze coming off the Mississippi. So I hopped on the shuttle back to the KOA, a tired but happy camper.

New Orleans, LA

It was a very short trip today from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Only 1.5 hours of easy driving, which is a very good thing since it was a rough night! After not being a happy camper about deleting my pics and so not dropping off to sleep until late, we had a whopping big thunderstorm with associated wind and torrential downpours. At about 2 am, although not sleeping because of the noise of the storm, I became aware of a dripping sound. Yup, in the middle of my bed, of course. The larger front window of my trailer was leaking at a steady drip. So out came a pan and a towel to dampen the sound and I tried as best I could to sleep around it. Sigh.

So, I haven’t done anything adventurous today aside from getting here, getting set up and getting some groceries. As you can see from the picture, my trailer is all set for Mardi Gras with it’s strings of beads in the traditional Mardi Gras colours of green (faith), purple (justice) and gold (power). The KOA has the “w”‘s covered, clean washrooms, virtually right outside my trailer door, and the wifi works reasonably well. I’m in a nice little spot at the end of a row with no one right beside me.

The KOA staff have been terrific about helping me with deciding how to spend my time in the next few days and booking me on a Grayline tour for tomorrow. It’s one that covers the city generally and also is a little Katrina focused. Hopefully it will help orient me.

As you can see from one of the pics, I have participated in another Mardi Gras tradition, the King Cake experience. This cake is a little different because it has a praline topping, whereas most of them seem to have the Mardi Gras colors in sprinkles or icing. The thing with the King Cake (aside from it being delicious) is that in each cake there is a little plastic “baby” and the tradition is that whoever gets the piece with the baby in it must buy the next King Cake for everyone. “It’s your turn, baby.” I fortunately didn’t get the baby in the piece I had.

BTW, to see why New Orleans is called the Big Easy, you can check out this link.

http://www.wisegeek.org/why-is-new-orle ans-called-the-big-easy.htm

Hammond, LA

Denham Springs, LA

OK, I foolishly thought my mistakes were behind me. Well, this one was technology related and not trailer related. But it is equally as painful a lesson.

So the story begins……..

Baton Rouge is the State capital, and this morning I visited the beautiful gothic Old Capital building now a museum and rental venue, and the new capital building where the State Senate and House of Representative sit.

Then this afternoon I headed just south of Baton Rouge along the Mississippi to Nottaway Plantation. The largest of the preserved antebellum houses in this historic region.

And of course, I got some great pictures (despite the grey day) ………. And then this evening, while importing them from my camera, I accidentally deleted them all. Sigh. I was tired, didn’t sleep well last night, and I know exactly what I did wrong, but once the delete button is hit all you can do is turn the air blue.

I have been told before, and confirmed with the GEEK Squad at Best Buy this evening that I can possibly retrieve the pics as long as I don’t reformat the card. So I’ve taken it out of my camera and set it aside to deal with when either I have time on the road or when I get home to try and see if that will work.

So, I may not have any energy to do a blog this evening, I’ll have dinner, and try and gather my thoughts and remember as much as I can and see if later this evening I have the patience to write. I use the pictures a lot to jog my memory so it’s a little difficult, but if I don’t get something down now, I will forget it later for sure.

I’m sorry, in particular, to disappoint Dane who is from Louisiana and who is along for my journey vicariously. Sigh.

Denham Springs, LA

Louisiana – It’s the 7th new state for my trailer and my 2nd new state on this trip. And so far I’m liking what I’ve seen. Of course, mostly what I’ve seen is what you can see from Interstate 10 as I follow it along southern USA. I left it for a while when I headed south into Texas, but have now reunited with it.

When I started off this morning from Galveston Island, I couldn’t see much more than 50 feet in front of my nose it was so foggy. It was extraordinarily warm and damp yesterday and I figured we were in for rain, but glad to have the fog instead.

The fog was unfortunate because I took an interesting route first thing this morning. Instead of travelling up towards Houston from Galveston Island, I took a small, free ferry ride from Galveston Island over to Boliver Peninsula, along the Texas coast. And from what I could see, we followed the beach pretty much the whole way along the peninsula before heading north to meet up with Interstate 10. The stilt beach homes on Boliver were built even higher than the ones on Galveston, I’m assuming since there is no seawall protecting them. Some of them had the actual dwelling built on the 3rd floor of the place with a huge deck area on the 2nd level, without any walls. They looked a little odd, until you realized the context.

Then it was not terribly interesting driving until I got into Louisiana. Almost as soon as we hit the state border, the landscape changed. All of a sudden we were right into bayou country. I wasn’t expecting that so far north of the Gulf. I had read that Interstate 10 was raised along this section and I thought it would be just built up earth, but no, it was causeway like, with trees and plants and water on both sides and sometimes just down the middle. For miles and miles. It was quite odd. But beautiful. Would be lovely to be here in the spring when the trees were in leaf but before it got too hot.

West and south of Baton Rouge is “Acadiana” territory. I have to do some more reading because some of what I’ve read said they didn’t come here directly during the expulsion from the Canadian Atlantic provinces, but rather left Atlantic Canada for England and France and then came to Louisiana from France. Others said they came directly. Perhaps it was both. I suspect I’ll have time to investigate that more fully. In any case, the reference to Evangeline on this sign reminded me of the poem of that name written by American poet Henry Wasworth which memorialized this historic event, and which I learned about when I was in Grand Pre in the first month of my North American journey, so long ago! (June 13th to be precise).

Just before entering Baton Rouge, I came over the Mississippi for the first time this trip, and expect I’ll do so several more times before leaving this state and Mississippi. I first saw it much further north on a trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota a hundred years ago. I hope to go exploring along it, north of Baton Rouge after enjoying some time in New Orleans. Or maybe tomorrow.

I drove through Baton Rouge on the freeway to get to the RV Park, and got a couple of glimpses of downtown while dodging transport trucks and changing freeways, but I will go back in tomorrow to see the State buildings etc. It’s supposed to be rainy and cold tomorrow and in fact the temperature has already dropped 5 or so degrees from when I arrived. So I’ll see how the day turns out tomorrow and then decide.

My RV Park tonight is a newish and small KOA. My favourite kind.

Lafayette, LA

Lake Charles, LA