New Orleans A wonderful place for Thanksgiving

When last we left our intrepid explorers I, (Glenn),  was in the hospital in New Orleans of all places.

Really, I'm in New Orleans! This is not what I expected.

Lynn concerned for my health

Needless to say I am healthy and wiser. Please note I skipped the wealthy. I am not nor will I ever be that. Comfortable is a much better term in our case, but healthy, comfortable and wiser just doesn't' work. Anyway it turns out, in our expert opinion, that I was having a reaction to a new med that I was taking. "Was" being the operative term here. Feeling much better now so thanks to those of you who expressed concern.

New Orleans, or as the locals say Nawlens, was by far one of our favorite destinations so far. The people the city and the food make this a must for any travelers. We stayed at Pontachatrain Landing RV Park. About a 10 min. shuttle to the French Quarter. Not bad at all. I won't go into all of the details about everything we did, but we hit 4 Triple D restaurants. For those of you who don't watch the Food Network that stands for the show "Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives". Hosted by Guy Fieri. All were great local eateries with good food and a great atmosphere.  It's our goal to eat at only local restaurants but we do get the occasional quarter pounder to keep my doctor happy.

One place that was very special was "Commanders Palace" On the day we went it was 25 cent martini day and the food was on the level of some of the best restaurants in the country. If you can, try to stop if your in NOLA. It is well worth the price.

With our friends Rick and Lenore at Commanders Palace

Quail at Commanders Palace. Looked like pigeon to me. 

Another thing that we found was an outfit called "Free Tours by Foot". You can find them on the web. They have walking tours of the "French Quarter', The "Garden District", and even a biking tour. Yes they are free. You just pay what you want at the end of the tour. We did the Garden District walking tour which included the "Lafayette Cemetery #1". For our theater friends. While we were there they had 5 movies being shot in the New Orleans area. NOLA is 2nd behind LA for the number of movies shot in there city.

The Manning house. Payton and Elli's parents. 

One of Anne Rice's former houses

Closeup of her fence

John Goodmans house

Sandra Bullock's house

One of the houses that the movie Benjamin Buttons was shot at. 

 I knew that because of NOLA being below sea level that they buried everyone in crypts above ground. But I didn't know that they have a recycling program within the crypts themselves.

 Picture a two story crypt. They put the newly deceased in the top story, seal the crypt and let nature take its course. The crypt basically turns into an oven. As the body decomposes it falls to the lower level. If two people pass about the same time then they use both levels.If there is a decomposed relative in the lower level they push the remains into a shoot in the back using a push broom. That is where everyone ends up eventually. Another interesting fact is that you can purchase a family crypt from someone and start putting your family in. So now you know. 

And then there is the "French Quarter". Where to begin. The food, people, shops, and street entertainers are unlike anything we have ever experienced. The closest I have come is maybe Disney World. That is if some of the female street performers walked around topless with painted body art. (Those photos will not be posted here but are available for a small donation to the Glenn & Lynn retirement fund.) Just kidding. Not about the girls but about the fund. I will attempt to down load some video that I shot. If you see it here then I was successful. If not........

Jackson Square 

Cafe Du Monde for Beignets and coffee au lait

one of many Bourbon St. pictures

The French Market

What would NOLA be without a Voodoo shop

I just like this picture of Lynn. Thanks Lenore

Love the balconies. 

St Louis Cathedral 

Preservation Hall

Lunch on a balcony along the parade route. No parade but the view was great.

Love this guy. 

Videos post but without the sound so now I have to figure that out.
this one doesn't need the sound.

One other thing that I did that deserves mention is I visited "The National WWII Museum". It goes into detail about the D-day invasion. From the secrecy surrounding the plans to the landings themselves. Several interactive displays A film narrated by Tom Hanks, and a collection of war birds that you can see from below and above. and personal stories from veterans of the war. If you are interested in that part of our history then this is a must see. 

This was the first Holiday that we have experienced since we started our journey and I know that for us, emotionally, these could be very hard for us. Christmas this year will be spent with my daughter, Tiffany, so that will be good. Thanksgiving, however, we were going to spend alone. That is until we met Rick and Lenore. You may recall that I mentioned them in our post "Kentucky, Shiloh, and Memphis". That's when we met. And since then we have stayed in contact via email, texts and reading each others Blogs. We decided that we would meet in New Orleans. So we spent the week with them including Thanksgiving.

We had turkey stuffing, all the fixings. even homemade pumpkin pie. It was great and we have made new friends for life. We will meet up again somewhere down the road. I love this life. Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Happy Holidays. See you down the road.