Yesterday was warm, went up to 80 F, today is cold, should go up to 60 F during the day. I went to Jazz Brunch at the court of two sisters. As usual for New Orleans, the food was excellent, the jazz trio was good and I ate too much.
So I went for a walk, did some shopping, and listened to some street music while people watching. It doesn’t get any better than this. I bought some art and had it shipped home.
Woke up in New Orleans. One of my favorite places. Here’s a party game for you. Ask anyone to name their top five places. You could use any number and/or limit it to any continent. No justification is needed. My top five, in no particular order are New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, Ocean City MD, San Francisco, and Escalante (because of the slot canyons).
I went out for breakfast at the Wakin Bakin. Good food and service. It’s going to be a hot and humid day. Then I strolled the streets, stopping in the occasional store.
Left my room so housekeeping could do their job. It was a little early for my boat ride, so I stopped at a massage place I had passed on my way back from breakfast. It sure felt good.
Got on the Creole Queen for a history tour down the Mississippi River. A couple hundred years ago, the river didn’t have a mouth, just drained into a swamp, so it was difficult for explorers to find from the Gulf. The French got settles by taking the three P’s, poor, prisoners and professional ladies and told them they could get out of jail if they married and emigrated. The boat was a paddle wheeler that was supposed to stop at the battle of New Orleans site, but today was so windy they had to change plans.
Had dinner at The Original Pierre Maspero’s. Got the Crescent City Sampler of Cajun Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffée, Red Beans and Rice, and Chicken & Andouille Gumbo and bread pudding for dessert. Good stuff.
Ok, already screwed up my titling and days. This is the fourth day of my trip, so I’m doing a title correction.
Woke up to rain. It’s cold outside. Got a Lyft to the train station. No breakfast, sure hope the bus stops somewhere. If not, I could stand to lose some weight.
Talked to a young lady on her way back to New Orleans. She flew once and the landing gear broke on landing. So now she just does the train. She’s 81 years old and doesn’t look a day over 60. Credits God.
I’m on the bus. Bus 3019. Just did something I should have done earlier. Checked online to see if the bus stops along the route. It does not. Looks like I’ll be hungry when I get to New Orleans. good news, they passed out water bottles and a small snack pack. Life is good.
And we’re off.
The first movie was Hancock., second was Ghost Rider,
Stopped at 5 Guys for lunch near Tuscaloosa. The Amtrak people told me the bus always stops for lunch. Good to know the internet is wrong again.
Got to New Orleans about 5:00. Very warm. Walked to my hotel, very nice. Went out to Deidre for dinner, gumbo, shrimp and bread pudding. Then did a little walk down Bourbon St.
Time for bed, I’m tired. Got a boat ride tomorrow and a jazz brunch on Thursday. I’m going to have to go on a diet after this trip.
I’m leaving Saturday for a train trip around this great country of ours. First, a little background. I bought a place on the Maryland eastern shore and sold my condo in California. I got in my 2001 Toyota Solara with 233,000 miles and my golden retriever, Hershey and drove to Utah to pick up my brother. From there we drove to my sisters house in Maryland. It was the middle of January and the renovations of my new home aren’t scheduled to be done until the end of March. So, rather than live in my sister’s basement for a couple of months, I decided to get on a train and see the country. The Amtrak people were great to work with. They set me up a 36 day trip, starting in Washington, DC and going to Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Portland, Spokane, Seattle, back to Spokane, Leavanworth, Whitefish, Milwaukee, Chicago and back to Washington, DC. I picked the cities and they did the rest. It was reasonably priced too. So my oldest sister requested I post my trip. I don’t do facebook, so I figured this was a good opportunity to see if I really want to blog. I leave on Saturday. Stay tuned for pictures and commentary about the trip.
Musings of a grumpy old man 