We drove to C'dale to drop the kids off with their grandparents. From there we took the Amtrak. Neither of us had ridden Amtrak before, but we both wanted to. Once you figured up gas, hotel, and parking, we really came out on top. We did decide that when we take the train again, we will get a sleeper car. On both trips, someone managed to 'saw cabbages' the entire time. I actually don't know what that means, but it was the way I decided to describe the snoring that had to have left that person with a sore throat for the rest of the week.
Evey day we did something to enjoy the city. Sunday we just got our bearings and figured out where things were in relation to our hotel, which was right in the French Quarter. We got a great deal because it is the off-season and I didn't care to have windows in my room. I never felt claustrophobic and we were hardly in there anyway. Monday we rode the streetcar to the Garden and Warehouse Districts. It was the Warehouse District where I discovered my new favorite meat....pork belly. Mmmmmm! Tuesday we took a tour through St. Louis Cemetery #1. I really found it interesting. Did you know that those above ground graves basically work as a miniature crematorium? That is amazing to me. Thousands and thousands of bodies can be located in a very small space. On the way back, the tour stopped at the Voodoo Priestess' temple, which was bizarre. I thought we would just take a peek, but we ended up taking to her...if you want to call it that. She talked a lot, but no one on the tour was really sure what she said. Something about children coming into a mother's life to create chaos to show her the beauty of the world, to doctors being the angels at the door to cut the cord, to our government is doing its best, to thank the engineers for doing their job. What!@# I was right with her on the chaos/beauty thing, but after that I was looking around for a way to get out of that joint. Yikes! Wednesday we headed to the swamp for an airboat tour with a real live swamp person. Cap'n Chip was an adorable Cajun who actually does hunt gators with his father. He also had really nice teeth and wore camo Crocs, so he wasn't quite fit for the Swamp People show. I'm pretty sure that ended up being our favorite adventure of the trip. Thursday was the day we headed out to see a plantation, Oak Alley. The house was actually pretty humble, but the grounds were amazingly beautiful. I spent the whole time trying to imagine what it was like to live there. Steve spent the whole time wishing he hadn't stepped in the fire ants' path; he also loved the trees. We spent the rest of our time walking the Quarter, eating, listening to music, eating, watching the crazies on Bourbon, eating, watching the ships on the Mississippi, and eating. You can tell what was #1 on our agenda and we achieved it. Steve is all set to pack up and move on down there so he can start crab fishing. We actually sat next to a man on the train who was from Central Illinois and did just that. He seemed happy....a little strange, but happy!
We were both missing our babies pretty early on in the trip, but I don't think the babies were missing us. We talked to Maddie every night on the phone. It sounds like everyone involved had a good time. There might have even been some tears when we headed out this morning. Maddie and Charlie were just fine, but I think Grandma and Grandpa are going to be lonely once they sleep off the exhaustion. Thanks, again, Jim and Mary Anne. Think you will be up for it again in 5 years?
Train ride down...almost there!
For whatever reason, I was drawn to this tomb. It must have been the sad, little girl statue that made me feel connected. She probably needs a hug.
Beignets at Cafe' Du Monde. I'm not going to lie - I wasn't overly impressed. They were good, but I would much rather eat a bowl of seafood gumbo. Sorry CDM lovers! We did go there three times.
Cap'n Chip kissing a gator. He said he would also kiss the ladies on the tour. I asked if he would give me a marshmallow, which is how he would woo the gators to the boat. He said he would do whatever it took, but I didn't get a kiss. On a separate note, a homeless man did tell me in an almost forced way: "Damn, girl. You.....kinda cute." I had smiled at him and everything and he couldn't even sound sincere about it. This brought Steve great joy for the rest of the week. Also, while walking Bourbon a man was yelling for at someone in my vicinity to earn some beads. Turns out he was talking to a lady behind me who was probably 60. Good thing I didn't answer his request, because she probably had more to offer! Poor Steve, got the runt of the litter. :)
This fella swam around for probably 10 minutes with the marshmallow on his head. Some smaller ones would chase him to try to get it, which I'm sure he didn't find funny. At one point there were at least 6 'payroll gators' around our boat, which meant they knew they would get treats. We also got to see a 14 footer who was not interested in treats and Tripod, the 3-legged gator who had recently been in a fight.
The bayou and marsh were pretty, but the swamp was amazingly beautiful. I definitely didn't expect that.
This was Chip's version of 'Lovers Lane'.
We watched the Natchez take off several nights while watching the activity on the water. They had a calliope on top that a man would play. That made us both miss Mads, because she would have loved the boats and the music.
They are having a picture caption contest at school this year. I changed into my work shirt...yes, on the street. Hey, it was Bourbon and I had on a tank top! I have a few ideas for a winning caption, but I'm accepting ideas. If you can't tell, that was a cigarette in his baby hand.
The view from the plantation. It would have been amazing back when the levee was lower and you could have seen the Mississippi from the front porch. There used to be a cabin sitting where the plantation house is now. The cabin's owner was the man who planted them. He was thinking ahead!
The view from the road up the path to Oak Alley.
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