Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024
Sunset, Kailua-Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii, March 11, 2024

Sunday, May 18, 2014

NOLA - Sat., May 17

After work on Friday, and after packing for the weekend, we hopped in the Escape pod and headed east on I-10. Bob, his mom, sister and I are off to Bob's great aunt's 90th birthday in New Orleans, LA (NOLA). We had dinner at Taco Cabana about an hour out of San Antonio, then spent the night in Beaumont, Texas.

By 10:30 a.m. Saturday, we headed east on I-10 to New Orleans. One of the main things we noticed traveling through the southeast part of Texas and into Louisiana was how green everything is.

I wanted to stop at the Louisiana Visitor Center at the rest area (just after we crossed the bridge into Louisiana) to pick up a Louisiana map and info on New Orleans. The rest area had a pretty swamp behind it with a nature trail where we stretched our legs.


We're not in Texas anymore.
Swamp at rest area
I think we'll pass on swimming.
Bob and I
Nature trail behind Visitor's Center.
Bob on nature trail boardwalk

Cypress trees in swamp
Laura and Louise
Driving east on I-10 we were on an elevated freeway over swamps for a long way. It got to be lunch time. We exited the freeway looking for food, drove about 1-1/2 mile and there was nothing to eat. We did see a beautiful Good Sam RV park. We got back on the freeway and drove until we found an exit where we thought we'd find food. The local Visitor Center told us there really wasn't a good place to eat in town and they gave us directions to Acme Oyster House in Baton Rouge, LA. That is where we had lunch and enjoyed our meals.



Continuing on to New Orleans, we checked into our motel, then met up with Bob's youngest brother, Steven, his wife Nancy and their daughter Amanda who drove from Florida. They were staying in the Garden District. From their place we walked to Magazine Street to have dinner at Tracey's. 


Lower Garden District
Magazine Street
Magazine Street
Tracey's
In the photo below are Steven, Bob's youngest brother; Nancy, Steven's wife; and Amanda, their daughter at Tracey's on Magazine Street.

Steven, Nancy, Amanda
While we were having dinner, the Zombie Pub Crawl group came in. About ten people were all dressed up for the evening's activities.

Zombie Pub Crawl participants.
After dinner, we walked and window shopped along Magazine Street. This area reminded Bob and I of NW 23rd in Portland, OR.

Amanda found an elephant
I found some garden gnomes. The one
on the bottom right is supposed to say "Hello."
Music mural on a restaurant.
Magazine Street
Unique mural
Colorful hot dog restaurant "Dat Dog."
The following photo is the outside back wall of a restaurant's dining patio. The "waterfall" comes out of old beer taps. Very clever idea

Beer tap waterfall wall.
Our feet on Magazine Street.
On our walk back to our car and the place Steven and Nancy are staying, we stopped at Sucre on Magazine Street to have Gelato. I had a Malted Milk Chocolate Chunk gelato that was very good.

After saying good night to Steven, Nancy and Amanda, we headed back to the La Quinta. Tomorrow we will all meet up at Mina Lea's 90th birthday party.

Travel Bug out.

17 comments:

  1. New Orleans definitely has something for everyone. Now we know they even have something for the zombies. It is a fun town though. There's lots to do for sure.

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  2. The local Visitor Center said there wasn't a good place to eat in town? I'm sure your appreciated the honesty....but I can't imagine that it was good for business!! Looks like you had a good time!!

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  3. Loved all your photos of NOLA. I've never been so I'm traveling vicariously through you. The gnome with the "hell" sign made me laugh - I like that better than "hello." Enjoy your trip!

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    1. Funny how you don't notice you've cut out an important part of the photo until you get your photo up on your computer screen. Then...oops!

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  4. Your shots are all wonderful. My favorite one was the "No Swimming" ... eek!

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    1. Yeah, I just had to get a shot of that sign. And the water looked so inviting. There was also a sign that said "Beware of snakes." That doubly did me in for no swimming. I was freaking out just walking along the swamp.

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  5. A 90th birthday party is a wonderful event. My dad celebrated his almost 4 years ago. Next big one will be 95. Happy birthday to great aunt Mina Lea!

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    1. Mina Lea's party was awesome. Her whole life was documented around the hall with photoboards, articles, awards, businesses they owned, photos of relatives and pets. It was fascinating to see a photo of Bob's mom as a teenager. She has had a very full and interesting life.

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  6. Oh, Wow Magazine street does resemble NW 23rd!!

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    1. Yeah, we had fun walking up and down about ten blocks doing window shopping.

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  7. One of my favorite cities! Your last picture reminds me of the old joke. A kid dancing for tips in NOLA says to a tourist, "If I can tell you where you got those shoes, will you give me $5?" The tourist says, "Sure," quite certain the kid cannot possibly know where he purchased the shoes. The kid replies, "Well, sir, you got those shoes on your feet on Bourbon Street!" The tourist pays up, with a smile. ;)

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  8. I enjoyed reading other peoples blog about NOLA for I get different perspective. In fact Susan you are showing me a different place that I have not seen when we were there.
    Those Gnome knows how to express themselves and I chuckled about the missing "o" for it still works…. ha ha ha
    Happy Birthday to Bob's great Aunt!

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    1. Thank you. We had fun walking while we were there.

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  9. Looks like some very fun stops~! We enjoyed our time there before we came west to see you.... It was fun but TOO humid for my liking. Nice place to visit, but don't wanna live there. Seafood was wonderful though!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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    1. We have had very pleasant weather our two days here. In the low 80s with a breeze and low humidity. We picked a good time to be here.

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