Carl's Blog

I’m heading back to NOLA for my final trip of the summer before returning to work in August.

Was expecting sunny, hot weather…

I had been chasing the rain on my drive and it seems it decided to stop so I could catch up. But looks to be moving on without me in a day or so.

Today I will be stopping at the Lake Charles Visitor Center and grabbing lunch in Lafayette at Prejeans. Hoping to visit the State Capitol in Baton Rouge.

In NOLA I have tickets to a jazz show at Preservation Hall and another cooking class at New Orleans Cooking School. In between there will be many bowls of gumbo and I’m going to try out a vegan restaurant in the French Quarter. So I hope you enjoy my stories.

Time to hit the road.

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First stop is my visit to the Louisiana  visitor center just across the stateline. Sadly the walking trail was closed.

On to Lake Charles…

So it was raining cats, dogs, alligators… You name it and it was falling from the sky. So I skipped the Lake Charles Visitor Center.

So straight on to lunch about 1 hour down the road.

At some point, I don’t remember when, but I saw an alligator that was hit by a car and was dead along the side of the road. This was a first for me, I’m use to deer, but not an alligator.

Speaking of the road, drivers be crazy. I understand the sign says 75 MPH, but it’s raining so hard I can barely see what’s 10 feet in front of my truck… I’m going to drive slower, but not these other drivers, and the worst are the semis throwing their own rain clouds. I’m amazed there weren’t any accidents

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I did make it to Lafayette safely and to Prejean’s for some wonderful gumbo and bread pudding. $35 with tip. The best of the gumbos was the duck gumbo. My only experience with duck before is ones that friends of mine shot while hunting. This meal I didn’t have to watch out for shot while eating. This made we wonder, were to they get their duck and with a bit of research I learned that they are farmed like chickens or turkeys, a quick internet search and I found Maple Leaf Farms. I know nothing about this farm other than what they posted on their own website. I’ve just linked as an example of sustained duck farming.

Look at how dark the roux is for that gumbo… I’ve not been brave enough to get my homemade gumbo that dark.

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On to the Capital; however, I didn’t stop. Parking proved to be terrible. There was a parking lot but it wasn’t clear if you had to pay or not and all the street parking had QR codes to scan to pay. I decided on a trip to Barnes & Nobles instead

I saw this cool game that tempted me, but I ended up getting a book from an author I like.

The rain did finally stop and left me alone all the way into New Orleans. I stopped by Walmart to grab snacks and fill up on gas then on to my hotel.

I got a room on the 8th floor with windows that look down towards Bourbon Street.

One thing I noticed about this visit was a larger police presence. They even had horses. 🐎

I took some up close pictures of the neon signs on the street.

After getting settled in, unpacking my “fancy” shirts, and relaxing it was time to grab a late dinner, well at least for me.

I checked out a few places off Bourbon Street, but ended up at The Vampire Apythocary, my usual first meal place. You can find it off Bourbon Street on Saint Pete. If you walk down Saint Peter to the river, you will get to the cathedral.

I opted for the baked salmon and a Vampyre Sazerac. $57 with tip.

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After paying my bill, I just sat at my table, sipping my drink and catching a few of the special Pikachu.

I’m tempted to walk to the river.

I didn’t. For one thing, the street got dark and 2nd the street was closed for repairs. So I wandered back to my room for a shower, some cookies and time to finish this post, but maybe not in that order. 

“The cookies were first”

Until tomorrow. – I may have secret access to a “special” speak easy. Keep that a secret.