New Orleans has been fun. It really is a city that is completely unlike any other city. In the future, however, this is not the time of year I would choose to visit. I have never been more hot than I have the past few days. If you know me well, you know I don't do well in the heat. I managed to stay hydrated and not black out at all, though, so that's a positive!
After we arrived and checked in at the hotel, we took a walk through the French Quarter and ended up at Cafe Du Monde. Dad was very good - he only had one beignet. Of course that means I had to have two since there were 3 per serving. It was a hardship to eat both, I assure you!
We went back to the hotel to take a little rest and cool off a bit. During that time, the runny nose that had been a little bothersome all day decided to rear its ugly head and I found myself in the midst of a full blown head cold, complete with watery eyes, faucet-like nose, a head ache, competing bouts of being hot and cold, and just general achyness (is that a real word?). Needless to say, it was unpleasant. We went to CVS and picked up some medicine and soft kleenex. There is no place for cheapo, scratchy hotel tissues when in the midst of what I was experiencing. I went to bed early and was very pleased when I woke up the next day feeling much, much better.
Let's see, what are the big things we did... On Monday, we took a riverboat cruise along the Mississippi River and got to see all sorts of sights, including the site of the Battle of New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward, shipping industry places, and more. We also sailed past the Domino sugar plant. You could smell the sugar from way out on the river. We had a bit of an adventure docking at the end because there were crews dredging the river right by the dock so they had to make an unusual approach to the dock, which resulted in a couple failed attempts to dock. Overall, it was a nice experience (though I managed to get sunburned on my face, while wearing sunglasses, so now I have a lovely raccoon-like tan on my face. Oops).
Dredging the Mississippi River
We also took a trolley ride all the way out to the Garden District and back on the St. Charles line. That was fun, and cheap. Some of those big houses are beautiful. Dinner was at some restaurant in the French Quarter. We ate at about 6 PM, which is apparently much too early for New Orleans, as we were the only people in the place. It was a little weird, but all the restaurants were like that.
On the trolley
On Tuesday, we went on the Swamp and Bayou boat tour. We got to see lots of alligators, including one that caught a snake and then got into a scuffle with another gator. We also had the opportunity to hold a live (baby) gator. I had no desire to do so, but Dad did. It was a neat tour, though I had hoped to see some of the snapping turtles. Oh well.
The other highlight of the day was Dad playing the hero. At least that's how he phrased it. He apparently (I was not present for this) came upon 2 girls, each from a different local school group, fighting one another. As he tells it, a security guard from a local store pulled off one girl when the other girl started going at her again. Dad stepped in and pulled her off and thereby helped stop the girl fight. He's lucky he didn't get hurt himself. I have a strict non-involvement policy when it comes to fights, but I guess Dad doesn't share that view. Teenage girls can be vicious when they fight, with the hair pulling and scratching... (Sarah did rightly point out to me that Dad didn't need to worry about his hair being pulled, being that he has none. Hee.)
All in all, New Orleans was fun though very hot and humid. There is a lot we didn't get a chance to do, but we did a lot in the two and half days we had. The final update will come either Thursday night or sometime on Friday after I'm home. The trip has been fun, but I'm ready to go home.
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