Bob and Camille's Adventures in NOLA

Back in NOLA! This time, instead of staying in Kenner by the airport, we took a chance on the French Quarter RV Resort. What a beautiful place- paved streets and pads, a gorgeous clubhouse and the best location in the city. Well, it does border a fairly “rough” part of the city (and in NOLA, that’s saying something. Although, the news in the city was of a decrease in the murder rate –formerly the highest in the country. But, the murders were replaced by armed robbery- primarily tourists in the French Quarter.) The high concrete walls and barbed wire at the top were signs that outside the confines of the resort, things were a bit dicey. But, with 24 hour security, we felt comfortable and settled in for our stay.

We still were running without a spare tire, so we spent some time getting that situation remedied and reacquainting ourselves with NOLA before Bob and Camille (John’s son and daughter-in-law) arrived. On Wednesday, they landed about 4:00 – but with one bag missing. Camille was not happy to be without her bag- full of her new clothes and make-up. But, she was a real trooper (and even managed to get a new outfit out of it). The weather was threatening and we were hoping that we weren’t in for a Louisiana storm. After introductions to Chloe, a check-in to their B&B in the French Quarter, we headed out for dinner at Deanie’s Seafood Restaurant. We had crawfish and seafood and wine and got caught up. After dinner, the wind was kicking up and we were at the far end of the Quarter. The old folks were ready for bed, but the “kids” were just starting their evening. We reluctantly watched Bob and Camille walk towards Bourbon Street, the streets already filled with partiers and the music rocking out of the bars.

The next morning, we arrived at the B&B to start our full day of exploring NOLA. Bob and Camille piled into the car with stories of their adventures. I’m not sure what time they made it to bed that night/morning, but they had certainly started their NOLA trip with a bang. After strolling the entire length of Bourbon Street and having a few drinks, they got back to the B&B and ended up in the hot tub. The night manager joined them, striping down to his tighty whities, and brought champagne and brandy. They proceeded to drink and party all night. When a guest would come for check-in, their new friend would throw on his clothes, and, dripping wet, check them in and head back to the tub.

Needless to say, the morning was a bit slow for these two. But, they were up for a ride on the St Charles Streetcar and a walk around the Garden District. We had lunch at the Napoleon House where they have the most wonderful muffalettas. While some claim that the Central Grocery has the best in town, we love the toasted version at the Napoleon House – as well as the atmosphere. After lunch and some more walking through the French Quarter, it was time for our “Cocktail Tour”. My third and John’s second “Cocktail Tour”, it’s still a great way to learn a bit more about the history of the Quarter and find some great bars. Brem and Dippa met us for the evening.

One of our first stops was back to the Napoleon House. The building's first occupant, Nicholas Girod, offered his residence to Napoleon in 1821 as a refuge during his exile. Napoleon never made it, but the name stuck, and since then, the Napoleon House has become one of the most famous bars in America. Their signature drink is the “Pimms Cup” (my personal favorite). At the Napoleon House, they serve it with a cucumber – just the best summer refresher.
Pimm’s Cup
Fill a tall 12 oz glass with ice
Add 1 1/4 oz. Pimm's #1 and 3 oz lemonade.
Then top off with 7up.Garnish with cucumber

At Pirate’s Alley Café, Bob and Camille tried a “Green Fairy”, a concoction made with absinthe (130 proof). While they tried the “Green Fairy”, when it’s mixed with gin, it’s “The Obituary Cocktail”, mixed with champagne, it’s “Death in the Afternoon” and mixed with vodka, it’s a “Russian Funeral”. (The Green Fairy is made by pouring absinthe over a sugar cube balanced on a slotted spoon over a tall glass. It’s followed by water poured over the sugar cube. The cube is then burned and crushed into the drink. A chemical reaction ensues- causing what appears to be fairies flying through the green liquid. (Note: Absinthe is a strong-herbal liquor distilled with wormwood and anise. It can contain other aromatic herbs like star anise, anise seed, fennel, licorice, hyssop, veronica, lemon balm, angelica root, dittany, coriander, juniper, and nutmeg).

At Tujagues, the second oldest restaurant in New Orleans (1856), we tried a “Woodland Plantation Punch” (way too sweet) Originally an all men’s bar, there were no chairs. The men stood at the bar (and, not wanting to lose their place at the bar, would pee into the trough under the bar). Today, the bar is a great local hangout.

With stops at Muriel’s, Courtyard of Two Sisters and Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, we ended the night at Café Maspero’s to sample their gumbo then had a nightcap before sending the “kids” off for the rest of their evening.

John's Shed....

It wouldn’t be a visit to Louisiana without a stay in Napoleonville with John and Brenda. It really does feel like home to be there at John’s Shed (now, technically, we should be calling it “Jeff’s Shed” since John sold the land to his son, Jeff. But, some things just can’t be changed). Jeff has done a beautiful job of adding some HUGE trees to the property. We saw photos of the process of digging the rootballs of these trees out and transporting them to Jeff’s land and planting them. Amazingly, all of the trees are doing great.

We kept busy with John (Dippa) and Brenda (Brem), as always. Dippa did his fish fry one night – WONDERFUL! But, the highlight was the day we spend crabbing! We got an early A.M. pickup and were told to wear comfortable clothes and shoes, bring sunscreen and be ready to work. Not knowing what to expect, we piled into John’s truck and drove south toward Houma. We drove past a line of folks (mostly men) with lines in the water, some decked out with lawn chairs and umbrellas. We passed them by and Dippa found the perfect spot for crabbing. We parked by the side of the road and pulled out these wooden paddles with a long line of string with a hook on the end. The hooks were baited with turkey necks- fresh from the grocery store. Dippa threw out the string and anchored the wooden paddles on the rocks. He put out about 10 lines and then we waited. After a bit, Dippa would wade out in the water and look out to see if he had any bites. Once the crab grabbed onto the turkey neck, he would gently pull the line in. Then, the bucket crew (John and Brenda) would go into action, shaking the crab off the turkey neck and into the bucket. Then, it was John’s job to take the crab from the bucket, shake off the seaweed and put it into the cooler. Now this job had to be done with seriously thick gloves because those little devils had claws that would lock on for dear life. Things started slowly, but then heated up and Dippa was pulling crabs in by the bucket load. With no time for the bucket crew to run the bucket down to his catch, he’s drop the crab onto the beach, hold it down with his foot and yell for John to come get it! Those little guys can run! Imagine John in his “pecker head hat” racing after blue crabs on the beach. It was quite a sight! Within 5 hours, we had over 60 beautiful blue crabs in the cooler.

Time for a crab boil! When we got to Dippa and Brem’s, the stage was set for the big boil. Behind the pool house, Dippa had his Cajun sized pot already set up. The blue crabs were ready for their last swim. We took a few photos before they hit the pool and watched them turn a brilliant red. Once they were cooked, Dippa triumphantly brought platters of them into the pool house and at the table (covered with newspaper), we feasted on the most wonderful fresh crab ever! Two days later, we got another treat- crab stew. Brenda took the remaining crabs and turned them into a thick, rich stew.

Not to be out-done, with Dippa and Brem away for the weekend, their son, Jeff, came over to John’s Shed on Sunday complete with jambalaya fixin’s. We grabbed a glass of wine and a notebook and pencil and while Jeff cooked, I took copious notes, hoping someday to be able to cook a great pot of jambalaya. With andouille and spicy pork sausage, chicken, green peppers, garlic and onions, Zatarain’s seasoning, Louisiana rice and, of course, Louisiana hot sauce, it was a meal made for the gods. With Jeff’s cast-iron skillet cornbread and a salad, we were in heaven.

Does it sound like food is a focus in Cajun Country? Well, there’s no place on earth with more amazing food. After crab boils, jambalaya, crab stew and fish fry’s, we had to take advantage of crawfish season. So we bought fresh crawfish from the local crawfish stand and once again, Dippa worked his magic boil.

Then there was the feast at Huey and Katie’s house. Brenda and I barely made it back from Baton Rouge in time for dinner. There was a blow-up on I-10 – a rolling meth-lab blew up and shut down the freeway. Fortunately, we had the queen of back roads behind the wheel and we made our way through the back roads to Belle Rose, just in time for a mega-feast. Huey and Katie must have been cooking all day and we ate and drank profusely. I have to admit that one of the highlights was a sampling of syrup made from their sugar cane! Drizzled on a home-made biscuit, this thick, molasses-sweet syrup was meant to be savored. They even gave us a jar of our own to take home.

We were ready to head off—but now before Dippa took John out to Lake Verret for some Cajun fishin’. The boys came by in Huey’s red truck at 7 AM. When they returned a few hours later, John was wet and smelly and needed a good hosing down. It turns out that “fishin’” consisted of a series of pipes set 2 – 5 feet in the lake with one end open, the other end capped off. Holes are drilled into the pipes to allow water to flow though. The catfish find the pipes a great protective space and go in them to spawn. The “fishing” part is simply a matter of pulling up the pipes, letting all the water flow out and “pouring” the fish into the boat. Quite ingenious and very productive. This was one of the first catches of the season and the fish were absolutely humungous. I stayed to get a photo of the bucket of fish, but decided to leave when the executions started. Somehow seeing a fish hung by a nail on a fence post and gutted wasn’t something to savor at 9 A.M. in the morning!

Cruisin' Cajun Crawfish Rally Rayne, LA

We were pretty exhausted when we finally got to the rally. We decided to take a break from Chloe and have a lunch- just the two of us. We had just placed our order when the cell phone rang. It was VISA calling to ask about some credit card transactions. Well, it turns out that someone had our credit card number and was making purchases with it- some from London. So, on top of everything else, our main credit card had to be cancelled. This meant a day of calling all of the vendors that were on our automatic payment schedule to give them the new credit card number. So far, our road trip was less than fun.

But, with the Cajuns, it’s hard to stay down. With the Crawfish Races, the beer wagon, the great dinners, and a few nights of dancing, we were back in the swing. I was volunteered to be on the Crawfish Race payout table. A group of 6 of us took the bets ( 25 cent bets could be placed on any of the 6 crawfish in the race). Now, these Cajuns love to gamble and the payouts were pretty darn nice. While the race was on, we had to tabulate the bets, make sure that the money taken in matched and when the winner was announced, quickly figure out the payout. And when the race was over, the lines were there immediately, waiting for their cash. I don’t think I looked up once to actually see the actual race.

The skit, always a highlight of the rally, was amazing. They had a Dick Clark Bandstand theme and seeing Sis and Byron as Sonny and Cher was hysterical. They really looked like Sonny and Cher!

On the road again -- Florida to Louisiana

Before we hit the road for real, we had to stop at Cummins for our annual oil/filter change (a mere $600!). We were also at year 5 on our motorhome tires- and even though we were under the recommended mileage for a tire change, we were at the 5 year term limit. John worked out a great deal with Michelin based on some weather-checking on our existing tires. With some wrangling, we were able to replace all of our tires for ½ off! (It was still $2000!!) So, with new oil/filters and tires, we were off to Louisiana.

We stopped in Mobile to break up the drive to Louisiana. Chloe loved the lake at the campgrounds – and the ducks and geese. On our way out of the campground, John looked in his mirrors and noticed something funny on the VW. We stopped in the driveway on the way out and found a completely flat tire on our VW. While we were grateful to have noticed it before we hit the highway, it wasn’t exactly the best way to start our road trip. We pulled out the VW manual and learned how to change a tire on the Jetta. Then, it was off to try to find a place to repair the tire in Mobile. With tire repair places on every corner, we had to stop at several of them before we found anyone with the time (or the tools) to deal with us. At the Firestone dealer, we learned that 1- the tire was not repairable and 2-no one in the entire city carried this particular brand of tire. So, we headed out on the road to Louisiana – with no spare tire.

We arrived at John and Brenda’s house to find John’s shed in the midst of a tear-down and a huge addition on his motorhome garage. While it was great to be back with our wonderful Cajun friends, we were absolutely exhausted after a week of maintenance and problems. We spent the time before the Crawfish Rally getting a new tire for the VW (entailing a trip to New Orleans).

Winter in the Sunshine State

Back at Rock Crusher, we had time to spend with Mom and E.D. Mom and I took a trip to Tampa to see “Wicked”. The show was great – and brought back so many memories of all the plays we went to together years ago.

We always seem to be leaving Florida just before E.D.’s Birthday so our celebrations are always a week or two early. This year was a big birthday - 90 years old!!!!

What an amazing guy!

One wedding and a surgery

Chloe had her surgery last week-- no more options for motherhood for her. She did great--was back to normal by the following day-trying to keep her calm is the toughest part. She should have her stitches out this week- so she can get back to her normal crazed self.

John went to Jane's wedding (Kate's daughter) on his own last weekend. We didn't want to leave the dog in a kennel- so I opted to stay home (but still keep the new dress, shoes and bag!) Not a bad trade-off. He had a good time--most of the family was there- so he got a chance to catch up and spend some time with Steph. Wedding went off without a hitch--and evidently everyone had a great

On the other hand, John's PC died- so had to send it in to HP. Naturally, it arrived back with the hard drive re-imaged. So, he lost some of the photos that weren't backed up. But at least the data made it on our backup drive. But, all emails are gone- and now we have to reload all the software, etc. What a pain. He still doesn't have email working--so we're sharing my PC until we can get it fixed. On top of all that, our car had to be towed back to VW (key wouldn't go in the ignition..) and our cell phone has taken to making calls on its own. (What a way to make new friends- the phone will repeatedly call the last dialed number). Since this is our 3rd phone in less than 90 days, we got a new one (an upgrade, at that). It was supposed to arrive via FedEx for Saturday delivery (yesterday). But, turns out that they don't do Saturday delivery here--so we had to follow-up on that as well. Does anything work anymore? Needless to say, it's been a very frustrating week. (Oh, almost forgot the taxes-- we had some strange investment that gave us tax credits on our income taxes --never really understood it. Well, the partnership was liquidated and the properties sold--giving us a gargantuan capital gain on our income tax (totally unexpected). We owe a ton of money to the government --and also to the State of Massachusetts. And, to add insult to injury- it put our income into a bracket that disqualifies us from the Bush tax rebate!

Chloe's Graduation

Chloe graduated from Puppy Class --got her diploma and her photo on the "Graduating Class" wall at the Petsmart. John finally finished her little "puppy prison"-- can't say that it's a wonderful addition to our motorhome--but he did do a great job of making it- matching the woodwork (for the base). It's a bit of an eyesore-and is still untested. We start today with our short periods of leaving her alone. Fortunately, our neighbors are Canadians so we don't care much about what they think, eh?

On the way home from puppy class, we stopped to check out a kennel. We've got John’s niece, Jane’s New Jersey wedding at the end of the month--and don't feel that we can leave the rambunctious Chloe with my mom. I checked it out on the web--it sounded wonderful--daily activities like golf cart rides, nature walks, movies, home made snacks, individual condos. The reality--we turned onto a dirt road with double wide mobile homes. When we got out of the car, two huge German shepherds came out in their dog runs to bark at us. The two women in the office appeared to love dogs. Since we didn't have all of Chloe's vaccination records, we had to leave her with one of them while we checked out the "accommodations". She promptly took Chloe outside for a smoke break. The kennels were atrocious--the smell of disinfectant, concrete floors, chain link on the outside with rows of barking dogs. You couldn't talk over the sound of the barking. Upon seeing our horror, the nice woman said, "We have another area for our older, small dogs that might be more appropriate for your puppy". Inside the office, they had an area with two levels of cages and a TV showing "Animal Planet". There was a 12 year old Shitz Tzu in one cage, looking quite sad. I guess it would be OK for a few days...but this dog is so accustomed to 24/7 attention, it's hard to imagine what she'll do being left alone in a cage from 6PM to 6AM!! Next week, we're doing a road trip to check out a few more options.

In between dog walks, we had a bit of a problem with our heater. It's a hot water based heat --and it suddenly quit one day. John got on the slider tray in the "basement" and discovered a water leak. After much work, he finally replaced the fitting --but not after a lot of water made it onto the slides. And, with our lovely Florida weather, mold started to take over. Now, we had a real problem. So, John has spent days unpacking the entire basement and spraying all of the underside surfaces with mold killer/inhibitor. Our site looked like Balkan gypsies lived here...for days, we had all of our boxes and stuff sitting outside, covering them up with tarps at night. Since everything was out, John decided that we should sort through all the boxes--and clean them all. What a job!! Unpacking every box, washing it out, drying it completely (no more Mr. Mold for us!) Well, it took a week - and we still have a few boxes left to deal with.

So much for our relaxing time in FLA. We've only got a month left here before we take off. We've got a week of maintenance the second week of April- then we're off to Louisiana.

We've been watching the British sitcom- "My Family" every night. John normally hates sitcoms--but he loves this one. We watch our 30 minutes of evening news- scream at the TV --then turn on My Family so we can have a bit of a respite from U.S. politics. My mother- who is a political junkie (literally, watches coverage of the campaigns all day-and has watched EVERY debate) -- is so fed up with it all that she's claims to have sworn off watching any of it