The End of Our Mississippi Adventure

WHERE ARE WE? Slidell, Louisiana 

It was a beautiful morning again and Archie and I enjoyed a nice relaxing coffee.  Well I did, he doesn't drink coffee!!  We are planning an interesting day today.  

We are about 50 kms from New Orleans so today we headed down Highway 10 to the heart of the city.  We are bound for the French Quarter, which is right by the Mississippi River as it winds its way through the city.    We had to go over a few bridges that cross Lake Pontchartrain.  In this part of the country, water is everywhere.  It always intrigues me, being a prairie boy.

Had to take a picture of the Folgers sign.  No idea if they grind coffee here, or if its just a good place for a sign.

And there it was, the skyline of New Orleans.

We have a 6 pm appointment on the river front so we want early to arrive around 3 so we have time to tour the French Quarter a bit.  We were hungry so we looked for a place to eat.   This place struck our fancy and didn't disappoint. 

New Orleans is a city of pretty ladies and I guess I was drawn to this restaurant by the one in the window!!

Just after we got seated the motorcycle cops pulled up to the intersection just out our window.  What the heck?  And then I could hear the music!!  It's not Mardi Gras yet is it?  Well I guess they do the parades for weddings as well and thats what this was.  A truly New Orleans French Quarter Canal Street thing to do!!

Looking pretty good!

Here comes the Bride

Bride and Groom

Lots of friends and relatives I guess

and a brass band

and they are gone

They did throw lots of beads and I didn't even have to show my boobs, as Karalee once said!!!   I gave them to Sue to wear for the evening.

Supper was amazing. I had the crawfish pasta, and Sue had gumbalaya.  Gumbalaya is a combination of gumbo and Jambalaya.  Very interesting combination.  We got our tummies full.

Here is some of the French Quarter we saw after supper.  I should have got more pics of the actual little bars.  It was Monday night, so not very busy.

and the horse drawn carriage

lots of interesting art work

I said our tummies were full but when we went by the beignet shop, we found just a little corner not full.  We ordered some to share.  Mmmmmm.  Sooo much icing sugar!

So I thought that a nice coffee would be great after supper and with dessert.  Wrong.  This coffee was like tar!!! Even the stir stick stood on its own in the middle.  And they charged $4 for it!!

Of course I got to nosing around and almost got eaten by an alligator.  I'm lucky I escaped unhurt!!!

By the time we got done our treat, it was time to get to our appointment. We have booked a couple tickets to go on the Natchez Paddle Boat tour.  Pretty exciting huh!!  This was NOT our boat, but it did go by and honk its horn!!!

We couldn't get dinner tickets, so we had to settle for just the tour.  That's why we had dinner earlier.   Just before we arrived, a couple tour buses arrived and spilled out on the platform.  So much for all the good seating!!  

We found some seats at the back just over the paddle wheel that will give us a good view.  When we got there it was still light but it didn't take long for darkness to set in.  There is a moon so it should be a nice evening.

And then it was dark

A good old Canadian never minds getting a picture with Ol Glory!!

And we were off.  Its a 2 hour tour that takes us way down the Mississippi.  We passed lots of other ships in the night!!

We went by some industrial areas and saw the flare from the petro plant.

The New Orleans skyline is beautiful after dark and so are the bridges.

We took a few minutes to tour the lower area of the boat where the steam engine is.  Yes it is an authentic steam engine that runs the paddle.  This paddle boat is 99 years old and most everything on it is original.  This one used to run the Mississippi up north of Natchez and back on a regular beat.  It is hot and humid in the engine room, and much quieter than I imagined.  Everything just seems to run in slow motion.  This is where the power is delivered when the captain asks for it.  There is a brass indicator that shows what power the captain is asking for.  Slow, Half, Full Steam and Stop.  This guy adjusts the steam pressure with the wheel to set the speed of the paddle.  

It was a lovely trip and the weather was perfect.  I can now say I have been on a Paddle boat.  Scratch that from my bucket list.  So we have managed to see the Mississippi when it was 6 feet wide to where we saw it tonight, more than a mile across in spots and capable of floating cruise ships.  Our trip has been a success and we can now said we have been there, done that.

lots of people getting off after the tour

we will wait

ironic that we did the Natchez Trace as well

The bridge

I did catch the afterglow of sunset on the skyline of New Orleans.  Home to bed now.  Good Nite!!