New Orleans – Fun and Craziness in “Nawlins" - Part 1
Hi Everyone!
Days 58 - 61. You know the excitement and nervousness you feel right before you are about to do something you’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time? That sense of apprehension and bottled-up anticipation all mixed-up in your belly? You hope that you aren’t disappointed because the experience you’ve built-up in your mind is incredible, and the mind-blowing fun and fantastic experience you have waited to enjoy is about to happen….. Well, such was the feeling I had when driving from Florida to New Orleans.
We really had a fabulous time in Florida (absolutely LOVED Daytona Beach, Miami’s South Beach, the Everglades, Key West and the Florida Keys) and were sad to say goodbye to the wonderful climate, ever-changing scenery, wild animals and beautiful tropical waters. But, because we were headed for New Orleans a new excitement was building. Heading to the Big Easy. Dat’s right! And boy-oh-boy did we ever have a good time! Where to start?
Way Down Yonder on the Chattahoochie – KOA
We stayed, our first night driving home, at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) location on the Chattahoochie. For those in the know, there is a hit country single about the Chattahoochie River and I had fun singing it as we stopped in this picturesque forest spot overnight.
The southern U.S. bayous are beautiful and sometimes creepy as you know that deadly snakes and alligators inhabit them. Photo above is in Alabama.
Back on the road, the drive from Chattahoochie, Florida to New Orleans was nice. We left on a mostly cloudy day and met thundershowers off-and-on while crossing the Florida pan-handle, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The huge, mostly-boring Florida Turnpike turned into the infamous Highway 10.
Highway 10
RV’ers grumble about Highway 10 because its condition is notoriously awful. Rough, pot-holed, terrible pavement (in parts) is brutal on the RV and its contents. Causes all kinds of things to shift, move and bump around. In our case, the worst part (the Louisiana portion of the highway) caused our motorcycle (which is mounted on a hitch on the back of the 5th wheel trailer) to bounce and put one of the handlebars right through our trailer’s back window. And, what’s worse is that the first time on the Louisiana roads it went through the outside pane of glass, and the second time, it went through the inside pane of glass. A shattered window is what we found when we stopped at our New Orleans RV park. Damn!
Anyway, back to the drive. As we headed west, the scenery turned from tropical and lush to swamp water and bayous. Very cool! As I was taking swamp pictures from the highway I spotted my last alligator of the trip. He was sunning himself on a swampy shore and I’d guess he was about 8’ long. So cool! We crossed over the mighty Mississippi , this time during daylight hours, and were super excited to see the river and river boats.
Mississippi has the nicest rest stop areas! Beautiful.
Hurricane Katrina - So Sad
Heading on the bumpy, bump, bump roads into New Orleans was a bit apocalyptic. A super long highway road/bridge takes you from the Louisiana “mainland” down to the city. Once over the rough bridge, evidence of Katrina starts to show. COUNTLESS buildings are boarded up, marked with spray paint, in a state of complete or partial collapse and many sit abandoned. It’s quite astonishing really. People literally lost their homes, cars, possessions, jobs, livelihoods and 7 years later, some of the areas are like modern-day ghost towns. For those fortunate enough to rebuild, evidence of people moving-on or moving-forward is all around. BUT, imagine re-building your nice home ONLY to have boarded up neighbouring houses with plywood over the windows, collapsed roofs, debris all over the yards, spray paint on house walls saying "1 dead" or "dead dog" and big "x's" indicating that the building had been searched and its condition.
All over the city, abandoned houses sit between inhabited homes. People live next door to awfully depressing and disturbing places.....and the incredible fact is that this isn't confined to just one neighbourhood (some are worse than others) but this is a city-wide problem. The population dropped by approx 200,000 people after Katrina. People simply abandoned their destroyed homes and moved where they could find jobs and/or start over. So sad. Most went to Texas. Interestingly enough, ALL the people of N.O. have their own hurricane story. It's not something that happened where they may know someone affected.....they were ALL affected. Over 80% of the city was underwater.
Trinity Yachts – The Birthplace of the MY “Nova Spirit”
The front of the first building at Trinity Yachts. The sheds all looked like this….except way down at the end of the yard. The building below has a 120’ yacht inside (you can just see it to the right) – according to the Trinity fellow we chatted with, they’re in for a refit.
Turns out, the buildings here suffered 10 feet of water flooding after the levees broke during Katrina and the buildings suffered terribly. This was one of the deepest areas in the flood zone. A Trinity employee was trapped in a boat shed with one of the two yachts in production at the time. He was presumed dead until 3 days later when discovered, staying aboard one of the yachts (the one below....M/Y Zoom Zoom Zoom).
The boat had food, shelter, TV, etc. Apparently, he managed to stay on a platform during the storm, but with the serious flooding became trapped…..on a mega yacht. Not too shabby! They shut down their yacht building operations in New Orleans and moved to Gulfport, Mississippi. A year later, the New Orleans and Louisiana governments were desperate to attract investment and businesses back to the area, offered to sell the port land to Trinity Yachts for a “good price” if they’d open business in N.O. again. So, they did. The “smaller” yachts (approx 120’ and under) are built or re-fit in N.O. while the larger yachts are being built in Mississippi. We took a few photos and chatted with Trinity employee at the gate.
The water, during Katrina, was over 10’ high…..it was a couple feet above the gate rooftop you see in the background. The whole area was underwater (standing 5' tall - this is one Sue standing on top of another).
I put on my Nova Spirit jacket so that (hopefully) we wouldn’t get kicked out!
It’s always fun meeting people from different cultures, experiences and backgrounds……and traveling to New Orleans certainly meant that we were about to meet some “characters.”
Da People of Nawlins!
Dese is big time funny-talkers down hea-y-re. You have to listen VERY CAREFULLY to figure out ‘alf of what dey 'r sayin’. So fun!
Here is a sampling of some of the most interesting people we met in the Big Easy:
Homer Simpson – Sometimes he put the beer bottle in a pretty rude location…..
down ‘dere.
Scary Skeleton Guy -he DID put a bone down 'dere!
The Hand Grenade Guy – According to this bar/restaurant, the hand grenade is the most potent drink in New Orleans. We didn’t investigate their claim.
The Thieves - Well, we were warned many, many times to be wary of pick-pockets and thieves for the crime in New Orleans is quite infamous. Seeing how desperate some of the people must be, we were careful, but also decided to offer several dollars to street vendors, buskers and a pan-handler or two. Mostly, we found all the people to be very interesting and friendly. However, when seeing this bike we couldn't help but wonder whether it was stripped by a thief or whether the owner took the tires and bike seat with him/her. Hmmmmm?
Breakdancers – These guys had a funny and AMAZING routine. Haven’t seen breakdancing like that since the 80’s. They asked the crowd to give donations – told anyone who couldn’t do what they were doing to donate $5 - $10. Told the “white folk” to give $20. Told the rich “black folk” that they should give $30. They said to remember that "dese donations keep us outta da poor house AND yer house!"
Party By Day
The Party-goers! The streets were filled with March Madness basketball fans and St. Patty’s day partiers. And when I say full, as the night went on and on, the streets swelled with lively, happy, intoxicated people. And, this wasn’t even Mardi Gras. Beads were flying around and people were just generally having fun. We saw a parade one evening with 20+ floats, dancers and loud music.
Party By Night
The Parrot-heads (like me) - Flocking to yet another one of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafes was a must for Steve and I. We enjoyed such great food & atmosphere that we came back both nights to eat at Jimmy's restaurant! I had jambalaya - Louisiana style baby! It was hot and yummy!
Just WAIT until you hear about our above-ground Graveyard experience.......
No comments:
Post a Comment