"N'Awlins" - Day 898 (Yr 3, Day 165)

New Orleans, LA

I can't believe we're actually in a place that was on our bucket list, and I can't say I'm very happy - at least not yet.

We left the lovely rest area at 8:15 this morning.  Naturally, after closing everything up, I needed to use the restroom, so I went over to the building.  So glad I did!  I have never seen a Welcome Center as elaborate and fancy as this one -- it truly reminded me of a room or 2 at the Biltmore!  Such incredible furniture, furnishings, and art work.  All decked out for the holidays.  There was even a polished spiral staircase, which had holiday dolls on the steps.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, but believe me - the building was as magnificent as the grounds.  If this was a campground, I would have stayed longer (except for the noise of the trucks), although I'm pretty certain that if we wanted to boondock for more than overnight, no one would have stopped us.

Thankfully, the drive was extremely uneventful and although mostly cloudy, no rain.  We stopped at another Welcome Center when we crossed over into Louisiana, where we had some complimentary coffee (at least Mitch did), and tried to figure out which campground to stay at -- the one that was reviewed as a dump for $27.50 or one that was reviewed as really nice, on the marina, for $41 (normally $80).  After much heeing and hawing, we decided to splurge and stay at the nicer place.

We quickly learned "nicer" in this area doesn't necessarily mean "nice."  The concierge and service is wonderful, but the scenery has a lot to be desired.  Yes, we are on the lake (Lake Pontchartrain), but there are a lot of factories along the waterfront.  Even the campground itself seems kind of mishmoshed, although they do try hard to make it look nice with the landscaping.  Here are a few photos:

First - a beautiful view crossing the river:

  

View outside our door.  Actually, one of the trees (not in photo) had a few beautiful red flowers left.  Must have been gorgeous when in full bloom.



Photos of the marina, right behind our rig:

  

Our rig, from behind:



We arrived at the campground a little after noon.  After settling in, I had a lot of work to catch up on and Mitch was feeling horrible and needed to nap.  We finally got our acts together around 3:00 and decided to do some research about what we wanted to do, since we're spending the extra time and money in an area we always wanted to visit.  So... how did we spend our first day?  Going to Walmart!!! (I don't think there's a town we've been in on our journey where we haven't gone to a Walmart.  Sad, real sad).  At first, we wanted to dine at a nice, kosher meat restaurant, but it was fancy and expensive.  That part didn't really stop us (you only live once, after all, even though we're pretty broke until Mitch works again), but being a nice place would have meant getting dressed nicely, and since Mitch is still feeling like crap, and I'm about 1/4 of the way there myself, we agreed that the dining experience would have been totally wasted.  So we looked online and found what appeared to be a Chinese restaurant with a somewhat extensive vegetarian menu. We decided to go there and then go shopping.

The GPS took us on the back roads, which were horrendous to drive on.  When we got to the main strip and finally to the address, it turned out to look like a dive of a take-out place, not a sit-down restaurant.  We decided instead to go shopping first, then call in our order which we would pick up afterwards.  When we called in and started placing the order, for each item they said they didn't have that.  Finally they asked what menu we were using, and when we told them the one online, they said it wasn't theirs!  At that point, we decided to just go back home and I'd throw some burgers on the grill and make a side dish of cauliflower and a salad.

We did a bit of driving around the immediate area and it was not at all pleasant (not that people didn't warn me). New Orleans is a very poverty stricken city, with the exception of the touristy French Quarter and some of the outlying neighborhoods such as Metarie (where the shul and probably large Jewish community is).

For tomorrow, I have already warned my clients that I am taking some vacation time and will only be available for a few hours in the morning.  We were trying to decide whether to take a guided bus tour, but chose not to -- we'll just do it all on our own (save the $90).  There are so many things to do and see, and perhaps we'll return on Friday if we can't do it all.  That's a PIBE (Play It By Ear) situation, since we need to bake the challah and prepare for Shabbat on Friday.  We researched a parking lot that can accommodate oversized vehicles and found one for $20.  We still need to decide whether to drive on these horrendous roads or spend $12 for the shuttle that runs from the campground, and possibly spend $10 (or less) for an Uber ride back, if we want to leave before or after the shuttle returns.  Seems to be the same price either way.  I'd rather not drive, but Mitch prefers to (he's more comfortable driving in these conditions).  So we'll figure that out tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned for my postings from the French Quarter!