Lakeview

…Yes, I did.  But I get ahead of myself…

You don’t always have to travel out of this great country to have an exotic experience.  New Orleans – the Gulf Coast is another world away from Sheboygan.  And it is so very refreshing at the end of March and during Lent. (see my Flickr photos on the right column).

We rode the world famous “City of New Orleans” Amtrak train from Chicago to New Orleans.  Steve Goodman and Arlo Guthrie made the train famous with his hit song. On the way down I was the main minority – old white guy packed in with women and kids, mostly black women – grandmas, moms and children.  I could just hear Arlo sing:

Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

Imagine the “Secret Life of Bees” meets Wisconsin Whitey.  But it was fun and an eye opener on how people travel by train.  The train was packed by the way.

Rented a Kia Sorento SUV and drove to Biloxi to stay with Duane and Barb.  They had rented a brand new condo with a spacious  two bedroom suites overlooking the gulf.  Plush digs.  The first day we toured the Bellingrath Gardens in Mississippi.  Magnificent! Tool lots of photos there.

Regarding the food -I’m glad it was Lent and not eating meat is a good discipline – I got drunk on seafood!  Duane and Barb took us to the local fish market.  Shrimp was $4.98 a pound!  Grilled that one night and Red Snapper another.  Sweet seafood which just melts in the mouth.  Nothing like grilling fresh seafood.

Kathy and I went off by ourselves and toured New Orleans and a plantation.  The French Quarter is a kaleidoscope of sight and sound.  We did the traditional Bourbon street walk, avoiding hookers, drunks, Gucci suits, pan handlers, pick pockets, and street preachers.  And it was in the middle of the day!!!  And it was Lent!

Beads hung from the branches of trees along the streets where the Mardi Gras parade passed by.

We went to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant and I did not have a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” instead I had a Po’Boy sandwich – made with fried gator!  It was like eating dense chicken meat.

By all means take the Grey Line Tour of the City.  We did and saw the contrast from the Garden district to the infamous 9th Ward still recovering from Katrina.  I have a different perspective of that Hurricane and how it affected so many in so many ways.  The devestation was so immense that it will be years before any sense of “back to normal” will be felt.

Business is picking up and tourism is making a surge.  New Orleans is a great American City and major seaport and center for Blues/Jazz and history.  Kathy and I said we could have spent more days there discovering all that there is to see and learn.

On the train ride home our train got stopped moving slowly through a little Mississippi town havinga BBQ cookoff.  People like to drinl beer with their ribs.  Maybe too much beer since a few Bobby Joe’s and Billy Bobs tried to place coins on the track in front of the train and almost got their Budweiser brains bumped.  The engineer called the local sheriff and had the guys arrested.  This took an hour of us looking out the windows of the train upon festival goers – like watching a Waylon Jennings Music video without the sound!  Funny.

Then we got rolling again only to have the train stop a half hour later with news that a tree was laying across the tracks.  Apparently Goober, the RR agent  forgot to check the tracks after the storm the night before and was at the BBQ cookoff attempting to flatten Lincoln’s image via an Amtrak wheel.

I could go on and on about our Spring Break Trip.  But I have to put my beads away…