I'm sitting here writing this post, with a rooster that has been clucking (yeah, that's the right term, I looked it up) for HOURS. I don't blame the rooster, he is just acting on his instincts but seriously, who brings a rooster to the middle of a city.
Rant over, at least for now.
Beginning of the Week
We had the 16-hour drive back to LA to tackle earlier this week and it seemed to go by much faster on the way back than it did on the way to Oregon. Dare I say the pups are already getting used to the car??
Annnd, we stopped at the Tillamook Creamery on the way to get some lunch and ice cream. I don't recommend trying to eat a grilled cheese and tomato soup with two dogs on your lap but I suppose it's only fair that they get to sample the fare for themselves! Though they could have asked before trying to steal it from me.
We had a lot to do back in LA, drop the dogs off at camp, go to storage to drop off most of the stuff we traveled with and grab other stuff for our trip, and get Covid tests. The chances of us having COVID were slim to zero. The only people we have seen in the past few weeks were those putting food in our trunk at grocery stores and those in the restaurants where we picked up takeout. And with the latter, the food was always left on a table for us to grab ourselves. But still, I'm an anxious person and the 15 minutes we had to wait for results were some of the longest minutes of my life, and Eric's (thanks to all the crazy scenarios I could come up with in 15 minutes). In the end, we were negative, surprise surprise, and all set for our trip!
NOLA
We flew Alaska Airlines and felt 100% safe. They block out the middle seat so Eric and I had a row to ourselves even before we were upgraded to first-class, yay! Everyone had facemasks on and there was social distancing every place you possibly could. I won't harp here, we felt safe and that's what matters.
The only other time I have been to NOLA was for a vacation rental conference so while there was some exploring, it was mostly spending time in a conference center. We knew the trip wouldn't be a standard visit to NOLA and would be nothing like pre-COVID NOLA, but that suited us and our friends just fine. We don't like crowds or loudness unless we are the ones being loud of course.
The Fun
We got in late Christmas Eve so didn't do much. On Christmas, we were lucky to be able to explore Bourbon Street. Maybe because of the holiday, maybe because of COVID, it was largely a ghost town. Either way, we were glad it was empty and we were able to explore.
We grabbed some drinks, walked around and even made our way over to Frenchman, which was a literal ghost town. There were no people and nothing open. Could it have been because it was 3pm? Quite possible.
In New Orleans, there are so many places for sale or lease and so many businesses closed. Some due to the holiday for sure but you could tell some had closed their doors for good a long time ago. It's really sad all this virus has done, not only to human lives but also to livelihoods. Part of the reason for our travel is so we can help support small businesses in different cities, safely. It's a hard middle to find, and we hope we can continue to find it.
We also couldn't resist checking out Lafitte's Blacksmith Shoppe, which is the second oldest continuously operated bar in Louisiana. Pretty cool right? I didn't get a good picture but you can find some interesting history and pictures here as well as some interesting information on Cafe Lafitte in Exile here, the oldest continuously operating gay bar in Louisiana.
We also visited the LaLaurie Mansion (any AHS fans here?!). We are going to go visit some other locations from Season 3 so I'll save those pictures for next week!
The Food
I'm going to spare you the food pictures, there are enough food pictures on the internet for me for the rest of my existence. However, I will tell you, I am completely obsessed with grilled oysters. I knew fried oysters are a big thing down here but I thought, grilled = healthy so let's do that. Turns out grilled means covered in butter and garlic so not healthy but MAN ARE THEY GOOD. I could eat a million of them. Between that and light, fluffy, blue crabcakes. YUMMMM. I also had my first po'boy! It was not bad, I don't think I'd do it again since it was VERY fried but glad I tried it. Every night my tummy hurts and every morning, I want to eat more. 2021 is for healthy eating!
The Lodging
We are staying in a vacation rental that is much too big for four people and we love it. It's a gorgeous house that is completely updated and has everything you could need, except a place to put your coats on the first floor. Three floors, enough beds for 15 people, four bathrooms, HUGE comfy couch, it's been very homey so far. The rooster is annoying in the morning, but in the afternoons when I see him he is SOOO CUTE. There is also a train that likes to honk its horn (is that the right term for trains?) nonstop starting at 6 am but hey, who needs sleep. The area seems like it needs some work but not unsafe. Overall, a great find.
BATON ROUGE
Maybe we went to Baton Rouge because we wanted to take a quick day trip to see the capital city, maybe we went so we could drive over the 24-mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (which is really just a fancy name for a bridge), which is the longest over-water bridge in the world (thanks to Hannah for the trivia). The bridge itself wasn't as exciting as most bridges so I will spare you a picture of that one and share the amazing bridge below in Baton Rouge. I'd say that deserves a full-size picture, wouldn't you?
Like most other places right now, there wasn't a lot of activity in Baton Rouge so we were able to explore freely. The capital building was very castle-like and there was even some pretty cool artwork throughout the area.
We also stopped on the way back to NOLA to see some incredible oak trees. The landscape we have seen throughout Louisiana is really incredible.
Ok, couldn't resist one more tree picture.
Our Friends!
Have I introduced you to our travel buddies? Mike and Hannah, in our token selfie picture. This is our 5th annual #FRECK NYE together!
This Week
Our plans for this week include a private swamp tour on an eco-friendly boat, finding more AHS filming locations, checking out the cemeteries, hunting down some pescatarian friendly red beans and rice, gumbo, more grilled oysters(!!!), a trip to the forest in Mississippi, celebrating NYE at home cooking, and playing Pandemic Legacy - Season 0. I couldn't be more excited.
Wherever you are, I hope you are having a great holiday season. It's a hard year for so many people for so many reasons. We miss our families GREATLY and haven't seen them since the pandemic started. Next year is going to be better and until it is, we got this. Cheers! See you in 2021!
The rooster is still going by the way.
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