Today we head out from Dad's in Pensacola and head to New Orleans. My brother David, my girlfriend Erin, and I. None of us have even been there. I am wanting to take in the flavor I always imagined of New Orleans... sit on a patio eating jambalaya, Gumbo, Ettouffe' (sp), and listen to some jazz music! This was to be our only really expense this whole trip....
We arrive and cruise around town. I have never in my life seen so many no left turn signs in such a close proximity! We almost wound up on a ferry because we were in the left lane trying to take a left. Seems you have to go right three times to make a left in the hotel district! We cruised through the French Quarter and saw some places to go and went to check in at a hotel. Wound up at the Sheridan... guy downstairs said $30 .. cool.... well that was $30 each... and that was just to park our bikes!! We didn't even take up a parking place... they put us in a painted off area away from the spaces... should have only charged us for one in the least!
We check in and the room is $160...oh well.. lets splurge.... we get settled in and take showers and head out to eat. We are starved at this point. Here is Erin and I on the way...
We find the perfect outdoor patio that has a live jazz band playing. We got a great Cajon waiter as well! We were so relieved when he seated us, rather than the overly "gay" waiter that was trying to wait on us! Whew! We had a blast Here we are seated at the patio restaurant. Don't we make a cute couple? We on the left I mean....
Everything went as I had hoped. Off of our bikes we enjoyed some frosty alcoholic beverages and filled or bellies with "A Taste of New Orleans" dinner plates! It had crawfish ettoufe', Red Beans and Rice, Gumbo and Jambalaya! Excellente'! We listened to the band a while and during one of their songs a black lady walking down the street stopped and grabbed the mike to give us some great southern gospel singing to I suppose one of her favorite songs! The crowd went wild it was so great! Here are some MPEGS of the band and an older couple that got up from their table and started dancing...
Couple Dancing! Mack the Knife Blow that Horn!!!
After leaving the restaurant we stopped in at a souvenir shop to get out New Orleans goodies for the fridge, kids, each other, etc. Then we caught a buggy ride around the city and learned a lot about the houses there that we wouldn't have known about otherwise. Did you know Napoleon bought a residence there that he never got to see? Quaint little village it was there. Here are some shots of us in the buggy. It was so dark that other pictures of buildings didn't turn out too well.
Monday we headed home and took some scenic back roads in East Texas. We averted one last rain storm, stopping to top off our tanks as a hurricane was coming towards the Texas coast. This preemptive strike got ahead of us and moved off to the west as we went north. We arrived back in Plano around 9p.m. weary and ready for a good nights sleep. Great trip and looking forward to next year's Honda Hoot that Doug invited us out to! Thanks for reading!