Journey Into The Deep South: Part 4 Through 9

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

As you can probably guess, things got a little busy once we got into the whole New Orleans thing.  I ended up using my free time to post pictures (a process that took a long time on our ancient laptop getting a spotty Wi-Fi signal,) leaving me with time enough to work on this blog post almost to the point where it was ready to publish, but never quite there.   So here's how Monday through Saturday went.

Monday was a nice, if unexciting, day.  We went to City Park with M's friend from elementary, middle, and high school and her daughters.  PG got along famously with the five year old, and there was much fun and frolic.  And near heart attacks for me, as my kid climbed the precarious big kid playground equipment.  Also, PG grabbed a statue's naughty bits, a picture of which has been well-received and will someday be featured at her wedding.

We got po'boys at Parkway Bakery for lunch that day.  It's the same place President Obama went to, when he was in New Orleans earlier this year.  I'd venture to guess he didn't have the same thing I had.  Not very presidential to have mayo and grease on your hands.

Tuesday we took the ferry across the Mighty Mississipp and went to the Aquarium.  PG's favorite part, among all the fish and frogs, was the playground equipment in Pirate Cove.  Her least favorite part was clocking her forehead on a crossbar on the playground equipment while climbing up the ramp.  Interestingly, the least scar-inducing accident she had this week is the one for which she received medical attention.  It was the first place we've been where first responders were on hand.  She checked out A-OK.

Wednesday we went to the cemetery to visit M's parents and then to Liuzza's for lunch.  Almost a whole week in New Orleans, and that's the only time I had red beans and rice.

Liuzza's had something that I've seen at several restaurants:  A picture of the outside of the restaurant in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, under the water.  I also saw a Starbuck's with a line painted along the outside that noted the flood line, and Brocado's (where we had some yummy sweets) had the water line noted in a brass engraving on the inside of their door.  It goes to show how much they've recovered.

We also went to the Superdome on Wednesday.  We were hoping to get some Saints stuff at the team store there, but the prices were a bit... premium.  I guess when one is at a game and feelin' da Who Dat, one feels more motivated to pay through the nose.  We also checked out Champions' Square.  Yeah... not all that impressive, really.

Wednesday night it finally occurred to me to use the laptop to check for Wi-Fi signals near the house.  I had already checked for connections on the iPod (it was, in fact, the very first thing I did the moment I stepped into the house for the first time,) and had failed with that, but I thought the laptop might have a better search range.  Sure enough, I found one of the neighbor's unsecured wireless network, so I leeched off of that.  It wasn't the greatest signal, but it got the job done.

Thursday, we went to the Audubon Zoo, where, as the song indicates, dey all ask'd for you.  Well, the monkeys did, anyway.  We didn't see the tigers or the elephant.

The Maryland Zoo is nice, but the Audubon Zoo is better.  You get a better vantage point on the animals, by and large, at the Audubon.  Especially the large cats.  I suppose it's nice for the cheetah in Maryland that it has more room to roam than the jaguars at the Audubon, but good luck seeing much of the cheetah.

We also went to Drew Brees' house, while we were in the neighborhood.  We had seen the pictures of the front of his house right after the Superbowl, when the front gate was covered in signs and Abita six-packs, thanking him for what he's done for the city.  So we figured that there would be stuff all over, considering that his second son had just been born (front page news on the Times-Picayune,) and the weather was nice enough to leave teddy bears and congratulatory cards out front.  But there was nothing.  I didn't even bother getting out of the car to take pictures (I did take pictures from the car, of course.)  M had written a nice card for Drew and Brittany, so she left that on top of the speakerphone at the gate, and we went on our merry way.

Dinner that night, in our continuing food tour of New Orleans, was Joey K's.  I had yet another fried shrimp po'boy.  Because they rock.

On Friday, we finally went in among the tourists in the French Quarter.  Had beignets and Cafe Au Lait at a very crowded Café Du Monde.  PG and a new friend (she made a lot of new friends this week, as a lot of M's friends have kids too) ran around Jackson Square like goofballs.  Went into St. Louis Cathedral, where Tiana got married in Princess And The Frog.  Squeezed our way through a crowded French Market, where PG blew off some steam in the hay maze, which, it turns out, cost $5 to do but PG did for free because nobody was paying attention for a good long while.  The food tour continued at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen for lunch.

Friday night was Ghosts In The Oaks at City Park, where we debuted our Backyardigan costumes.  We weren't expecting anyone to recognize our get-ups, but we ended up getting a pretty good reception from the masses.  And, in a sea of ghosts, witches, and Spidermen, we were the only Backyardigans in town.

Saturday was spent packing.  I was sent to the grocery to get some milk so we could finish off the cereal we bought on Sunday and proceeded to barely eat.  I had no idea where, exactly, the grocery was and planned on just looking around the general area until I found it.  But a neighbor happened to be outside, so I asked her.  After trying to give directions without being entirely sure the name of the street it was on, she just gave me a ride there.  I know you're not supposed to accept rides from strangers, but I figured I could take her on, if need be.

All packed, we left the house for the last time, after six days of cramped showers and four bed collapses.  We stopped by Mahoney's for one last stop on the food tour.  M and I had the same kind of po'boys we had been having all week (roast beef for her, fried shrimp for me.)  PG finally scored herself a grilled cheese.  Then we took one more trip to Hansen's for the best snowballs ever.  I'm not talking about the gravel-ice snowballs we have in Baltimore.  These were nice and slushy.  One might say they were quite snow-like.

Then we left on a jet plane, not knowing when we'll be back again.

One final word, regarding PG.  We were pretty nervous about how she would conduct herself on this trip.  We were expecting some resistance when it came time to do her flower girl thing.  She did her job perfectly.  The only glitch is that she scratched her face just as I was taking the picture.  And the scarring of her nose the day before, of course.  We figured all the running around here and there would make her cranky.  It kinda did, but she kept the outbursts to much more of a minimum than we would have expected.  She was as much of a model citizen as you can expect from a three-year-old.

So that's it.  It went well.  Now we detox before going back to our weekday routine tomorrow.