June, 2017-Louisiana, Day 10

Mile 2241-  We loaded the car. Again. For like, the thousandth time. Then we cued up our audio book on the Battle of New Orleans and proceeded to the Crescent City. But, not without a couple of quick stops.

Mile 2245- LSU- Not only did we want to see the campus, but also the resident tiger, Mike. He’s a real tiger! He lives in his own habitat in the middle of campus! That should have said “lived”. Sadly, Mike has passed away and has gone to that great jungle in the sky. The habitat is being renovated and the new tiger arrives in August.  Well, that was anticlimactic. The LSU campus was still beautiful even without a live tiger.

Geaux!

2247- Louisiana State Capitol Building! She may not have the square footage of Texas, but she’s the tallest Capitol building in the nation! It really doesn't look like the other capitol buildings I've seen. But, I don't know if you've heard, folks from these parts don't really give two licks about how errybody else does things. 

 

Mile 2328- NOLA! We started our time in New Orleans by getting our sweet selves straight to ACME oyster bar and scarfing down some oysters and Jambalaya. We didn’t want to be late for our swamp tour!

Mile 2360- We headed down to Slidell and met our guide Jacob for our tour of the swamps and Bayou that surround the Pearl River. It was all well and good until Jacob pulled back into the swamp a ways and started showing us the crawfish traps he’d set. He asked Thomas if he wanted to hold one and of course he did. Everything was status quo until the crawfish twitched and Thomas dropped it right in between his sisters. You should have seen them scatter and squeal! I think it was an accident. I think.

 

Mile 2390- We headed back to the hotel for a quick snack because we had to get in line for our next stop. Preservation Hall! The Preservation Hall Jazz band has been playing since 1961 every night to a small audience. Only 100 people get in per show. There are 40 chairs, and room for 60 to stand. We counted 50ish people ahead of us when we got in line so I knew we were safe. We met some new friends from Seattle who were the parents to two boys, so they were tolerant of our sideshow. When we bought our tickets, the lovely lady at the door instructed us to wait in hallway outside of the performance room so that the children could sit in the doorway during the performance. The doorway is basically right by the band. Thank you, Awesome ticket lady! They do not allow photography during the show and I get it. They want the audience to be present during the performance. But, seeing the backs of those little heads sitting at the feet of such talented musicians, listening and watching with rapt attention to music that is thick with emotion and history. I wanted to take a picture SO BAD! But, I didn’t because I follow the rules. They were right by the trombone player and they can’t wait to tell Mr. Travis (our trombone playing neighbor) all about it!

Kids with the two percussionists

New Orleans is a difficult place to be a parent. You want to teach tolerance (like, not pointing at the guy with a cig hanging from his lips and saying, “HE IS SMOKING!” in your loudest voice.) You want them to be curious, but also to not read any t-shirts in New Orleans. Ever. Because they are terrible. Every time.   But, if you don’t breathe because of cigarette smoke you miss the smell of the Etouffee, Jasmine, and Magnolia. And, if you avert your eyes from the classless t-shirts, you might miss a historic doorway or an interesting painting.  We did our best. And we will stick with, don’t read any t-shirts.

We surprised the kids with a last minute stop to the Palace Cafe for some Bananas Foster. Our waitress, Dria, was one of those people who was instantly likable and I wanted to be her friend forever. She artfully set dessert on fire table side, so now Thomas wants to be her new BFF too!

 

We reluctantly agreed to take the kids to the pool at 10:00, because we like them nice and worn out and we can think of nowhere else we’d rather be than a hotel pool in New Orleans at 10:00 at night on opposite day. We were changing into our suits and Mr. Bullington instructed Thomas to button up his shirt. He was wearing it in the wide-open style of Tom Selleck. “Dad”, he responded. “I want to look like I’m on vacation!”