New Orleans: A City for Music Lovers

Greetings from Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore outside of Pensacola. In case you wondered if I'd ever make it all the way to Florida, the answer is yes. It's been rainy all day, but tomorrow's forecast is dry to enjoy the fine "white sugar" sand beaches here. I'm overnight at the national park two nights, then plan to spend several more days in the area, hopefully also enjoying the beaches at Fort Walton, Destin and Panama City. After that I'll have to commit to a route through Florida.

New Orleans did not disappoint. My only regret was not getting down to Frenchmen Street until the last night of my stay there. Monday's not the best night, and I was sorry to realize only in hindsight that I had just been a couple blocks away Saturday night where I watched the Krewe du Vieux and Krewe Delusion parades. For the unfamiliar, these aren't "traditional" krewes, yet their satirical, risque parades have certainly become a New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition. These, plus the Krewe of Little Rascals kids' parade in Metairie on Sunday were as close as I was going to get to Mardi Gras during my stay in New Orleans, so I had to experience them.

The Spotted Cat Music Club was my favorite New Orleans stop, but I also really enjoyed the afternoons and early evening that I brought the dog with me and just wandered up and down Royal and Bourbon streets, listening to the street performers and watching people. It was tempting to stay long enough to experience Mardi Gras, but it would have been so expensive and would have definitely eaten into my Florida beach time.

 

 

I've still been trying to keep to the small, rural highways as much as is practical. I don't know how we ever found anything before GPS. I had decided I wanted to travel along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, see a few of the old plantation sites and go on a tour of the Destrehan plantation. Even using my road map and GPS, I took a couple wrong turns as I set out that day. You never know where you'll end up:

Leprosy Tour? Thanks, I'll pass!

Driving the rural roads out of New Orleans netted me the chance to see the beautiful beaches along southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I found many places that I would have loved to stay awhile, but if I'm going to make my way around Florida, I had to keep on moving.