The final day in New Orleans has arrived. I had plans to get tickets for the river boat tour but all the ones being offered included a buffet lunch and I really didn’t want to eat a buffet. So if I return, I will have to remember to book a tour earlier and probably not travel on a major holiday; however, if I had planned better there was an option to take a tour on Christmas Eve the night that the city lights a bunch of bonfires along the levels to help Santa find his way on Christmas.
This morning the day started with fog.
I had been doing on the days before I made a loop around the French Quarter and worked my way back to Canal Street. I stopped at French Truck Company for a coffee and a chocolate croissant. I also needed to use the bathroom and many of the places have a code to the bathroom. I could have bought a cup of water for $1, but I hadn’t have breakfast so why not eat a croissant.
It was still too early in the morning for any stores or many places to be open, most open at 10 AM. So I went back to my hotel room, finished my coffee and typed up my Christmas Day blog.
I left the hotel with a goal to buy a new bracelet and a new ring. I was able to find both, but not at the same place. I’m pretty sure I paid too much for the ring, but it is very hard to find rings that fit my fingers, so I am happy.
I think you can probably guess what will drive the narrative next, it’s lunch time. I tried the Trio Sampler or whatever it was called at Monty’s on the Corner. The meal didn’t disappoint and I got to sample a variety of New Orlean’s cuisine.
After lunch I signed up for a free Tour of The Sazerac House, which is basically a sales pitch for Buffalo Trace and Sazerac Rye Whiskey. You do learn the history of the cities cocktail, The Sazerac and how bartenders changed the recipe from Sazerac Cognac to bourbon and created a unique bitters to New Orleans.
The fog never really cleared out of the city all day. Here are some final pictures from the roof top pool of the hotel I’m staying.
And so ends my trips. The only thing left if for me to drive home. Until the next adventure.
Christmas day is finally here and the next Doctor Who Christmas Special will be airing later today on Disney+ so I will need to be back in the hotel room by 11 AM to watch before all the YouTubers and bloggers post their reviews and spoil the show. But enough of my nerdiness on to the morning adventure.
So I started the morning off with a 1 mile run, followed by a 1.25 mile walk. I planned on running the full distance but decided relax, knowing I was going to still walk a bunch later in the day. You know after the Doctor Who show.
An advantage to being up before 8 AM Christmas Day, is there is little to no traffic, so you can stand in the middle of an intersection and take pictures. This is the view from corner of Dumaine and Chartres
Looking Down Dumaine
Looking Up Chartres
Looking Up Durmaine
Looking Down Chartres
Yes, I realize you can get a better view if you just use Google Street view, but my picture is from Christmas Day, 2024.
Not only did I need to make sure I was back in my hotel room by 11 AM for the Doctor Who show. I also needed to be inside before the rain storm predicted for mid day reported for duty.
Mid Day Christmas Rain Storm
Once the rain storm pasted by the weather cleared up enough for me to go walking about again, but this time to look for a late lunch. But before that, here is a picture of my Christmas cookies, the green icing was a bit too thin, but I did better with the red.
Now, back to lunch… Which was 3 crabcakes on a bed of spinach with grilled tomatoes from The Original Pierre Maspero’s. I was surprised to as many restaurants as I did open on Christmas Day. The drink was called a Black Pearl which is made with Amador Bourbon, amaretto, soda, and sweet and sour mix.
I had to look up the drink recipe so I visited their webpage. They didn’t use stock pictures, but took pictures of the real wait staff and bartender. Just found that interesting. Oh, the crabcakes were pretty good. I’d give them a 8 out of 10. They can’t compare to the ones I had in Maryland back in October of 2023. As a sidenote, I’m going to need to reorganize my categories here on the blog. I’m thinking of adding years under the vacation category. I had trouble going back an looking up where I was in 2023 for the crabcakes.
Look at how the clouds are so low they cover the top few floors of these buildings. Just thought this was cool.
Going to call it an early day, I only walked half as far as yesterday, 5.5 miles and the drinks I had at restaurant followed by the mulled wine I made in my hotel room have made me very sleepy. Until tomorrow’s adventure – the last day in New Orleans.
I started the day off with an early morning walking hoping to get some good pictures of the sunrise over the Mississippi River. The morning was very clear, thus with our clouds the sunrise doesn’t have as many colors, but it was still very pretty.
Earlier PictureLater Picture
The pictures above were taken about 15 minutes apart, well maybe. I wasn’t really paying attention to time.
I think I took pictures of this “love lock” gate/fence thingy last time, but here it is again or possible for the first time.
Sorry this is so fuzzy
If you break up with your true love, do you have to come back and cut off your love-lock?
I continued my morning walk through Jackson Square and then down Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is very different in the morning with all the bars closed and the cleaning crews out picking up the mess from the previous night. If I understood the news this morning, a new cleaning company was hired by the city to clean up the French Quarter and they started this week. However, they started at Canal street and were working their way down Bourbon street, I was walking up the other way so I finished my walk on cleaner streets. I did have the joy of seeing a dead rat, a live rat and some guy on a bicycle offered me marijuana at 7:30 AM. As the guy rode away he kept commenting that it’s legal here… I guess he was hoping I would change my mind. Here are some pictures from along my walk.
Sorry if you looked through the pictures hoping to see the dead rat. I did think about taking a picture but decided I would give the little animal some respect in its death. 😂😇☠️
After getting some breakfast, I headed back to Canal Street to get a street car heading toward the Art Museum and the City Park so I could visit the Botanical Gardens.
Street Car on the 48 Line
I had a nice morning walking around the Botanical Garden; however, it is quite small compared to other ones I’ve visited. It did have a children’s theme park section with playground equipment and mini rides. I didn’t go to that side of the garden.
Taking the street car back toward the French Quarter, I arrive sometime after 1:00 PM and realize breakfast was a few hours in the past, which explains why I was feeling hungry. Time to grab some sea food from Landry’s.
If you are near Landry’s in New Orleans, try their version of an Old Fashion. It was one of the best I’ve had, but it is based off peach flavorings instead of orange. You could easily have a few of them before you realized that last one was one too many. I wanted to get a beignet, but I hate waiting in long lines so I skipped Cafe Du Monde again and tried to get a beignet at Cafe Beignet; however, they closed at 2 PM because of it being Christmas Eve. So I settled for some ice cream.
Oh, I forgot to mention I did do a bit of shopping before the ice cream. I went to two Christmas themed stores looking for, well honestly, I don’t know what I was looking for which is probably why I didn’t buy anything. If I had wanted a statue of Santa or the Grinch I had a great choices to choose from. I was tempted to buy the animated Charlie Brown TV statue, but not so much that I wanted to spend $35. I did stop by a shop selling hot sauces and I dropped $45 on a few hot sauces and spice mixes.
This picture was take on Christmas Day, the day after my visit on Christmas Eve which is why it is closed.
I walked passed this store but the aroma coming out the door drew me back hence the spending of money.
With all this walking, my Garmin watch let me know I had walked double my 8000 daily step challenge for a total of 10 miles of walking around the Botanical Garden and the French Quarter. So with my ice cream purchased I headed back for an early day.
Last year I traveled to New Orleans the day after Christmas for a short trip. This year I decided why not celebrate Christmas in New Orleans. The advantage of revisiting a city is you can revisit the places you liked and look for different things to do.
I arrived in New Orleans around 4:30 PM and checked into my hotel, turning my truck over to the valet to not see it again until I leave on Friday morning. The drive getting here was very much like the previous year, so I won’t bore you, go look for it if you are new here. I can say the same annoying traffic jam on the bridge going over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge happened. Back to the details I want to say about this trip.
After getting settled into my hotel room, so wish I had a good view out of my windows to show you, but I’m in the back corner on the 10th floor so I get to see the other back sides of the hotels around me and nothing of the city. So if I want to see the city, I’m going to have to go into it.
I was hungry and went to the Vampire Apothecary that I enjoyed last year to try another meal and desert. This time I tried their salmon sandwich, purple velvet cake. (The chocolate cake from last year was better.)
After dinner I walked around to try to find Christmas decorations and lights.
Tomorrow the plan is to see the Botanical Gardens.
I had a good thinking in the hot springs this morning and decided I could work up the courage to cross the mountains again. Highway 207 isn’t really that bad, I was in a rental car, and taking those curves at the 45 mph speed limited seemed a bit fast to me. Gladly, I’m an early bird so I didn’t have too many people behind me. I did make up for the slow curves, when given a nice straightaway.
Lake Tahoe and Brunch
I spend my morning between breakfast and the soak in the hot springs, surveying eateries in South Lake Tahoe that would give me a view of the lake. Amazingly, there aren’t that many that show up on a Google search. Parking also is a big problem. The large hotels on the California side all have parking garages, just like Hotel/Casinos do on the Nevada side. This doesn’t allow for much parking spaces. This influenced my choice of dinning to only 2 places, Riva Grill on the Lake (has the best view of the lake), Artemis Lakefront Cafe (decent view of the lake, but set back from Riva Grill) and Empanash (no view of the lake). I went for Artemis, because I wanted to try some Greek food. I got there around 10:30 AM so they were still on their breakfast menu, so I channeled my inner hobbit again and had second breakfast.
Enough about the food, here are some pictures from the beach. Most of the beach is private property and only accessible if you are staying at the resort there, but there is a marina and you can walk out on the pier.
If I’m judging my location correctly, one of those mountains over there is the one I climbed up in yesterday’s post. It’s the one above Emerald Bay.
To the top of a mountain
After doing some shopping at the souvenir store were I bought a Lake Tahoe T-shirt and magnet. (These items are a must when I visit a place.) I decided to visit the sister resort, which is a sky resort, to David Wally’s. So back up route 207 with a left turn to keep going up past lots of different resorts and sky locations. This gave me a really good view of the valley below, which I wish I could have taken while driving; however, I was driving and taking photos would have been a bad idea. I’m going to have to save up for a GoPro or Insta360 camera for my next adventure in the mountains. Enjoy the view looking down at the wetlands. Enjoy the bonus squirrel cameo.
Drinks and Saloons
I returned to Genoa, Nevada to have a drink at the oldest saloon in the State of Nevada. I had what was in essence, a Kentucky Mule, which they called a Six Shooter. It wasn’t bad, the choice of ginger beer dominates this drink and at least that tasted good. What I should have ordered was a Bloody Mary; even if I don’t like the drink, they make the mix themselves and I over heard the bartenders discussing their current supply from when they made up the mix the other day. So if you are in Genoa, stop at the Genoa Bar and Saloon, bend down to open the door and enjoy an adult beverage or too. If you are lucky the food truck will also be open and you can get a burger and fries.
Before leaving Genoa, I visited a few shops that were closed the last time I was here. Bought some desert and local Nevada honey.
I’m going to end tonight at the David Wally’s Saloon and take one final soak in the hot springs before calling it a night. I need to be in Reno by 8 AM to return the rental car, so I’ll have to leave here by 7 AM just to be safe. Until the next adventure, I hope you enjoyed my rambling. Stay safe, stay happy.
This morning when I woke up I debated just sitting in my room and reading a book, but reviewing things to do near Lake Tahoe I decided to drive to the Eagle Falls Trail and walk to Eagle Lake. It’s only a 1 mile hike, up a mountain. Going up took me almost and hour, but coming down was quicker at 45 minutes.
Pictures going up to Eagle Lake
I’m glad they had rocks or logs along the trail that you could sit and listen to nature. The trail was not difficult to find your footing, but the “stairs” were still steep. This was a very popular trail due to the short length, so I wasn’t alone with people of all ages and their canine friends. There were even some individuals that had fishing poles and nets, specifically to fish in the lake and river that feeds the lake. I did see some fish jumping in the lake, but I didn’t witness any one catch any fish.
Eagle Lake
The texture of the bark on the tree fasinated me.
Wow, the water was crystal clear, but I shouldn’t expect anything less. My question is how did the first fish get up to this lake? Something to ponder.
The hike back down
I’m sorry this pictures are not in order. And I can’t seem to make wordpress to order them chronologically. They are basically in reverse order. For example, the squirrel, who I think was looking for a handout, was the 2nd to last picture I took today, the bridge was the picture I took before I took the picture of Lake Tahoe thru the trees.
I only hiked 2 miles, but almost all of it was vertical. I also had the sole of both of my hiking boots started to come off and by the end of the hike I was wearing reverse flip flops. The soles were only attached at the heel.
I’m glad I decided to put my running shoes in the trunk. With my hiking boots out of commission I wasn’t going to try to hike anymore trails plus I really need to get hiking poles that I can pack in my luggage. Just doing some free thinking. Back to the narrative.
So, I put the top down on the Mustang and drove back to the resort to make lunch, do laundry and write up this blog. I’ve got tomorrow (Friday) left to experience the area. Going to take the rest of the afternoon to recharge. There is a part of me that wants to get a picture of the sunsetting over Lake Tahoe, driving some of the mountain roads are nerve racking even in a sports car that hugs the road.
Short video collage of the sounds of nature, with music playing to fill in the dead spots.
If you read yesterday’s post, I teased you with blue eggs for breakfast. I honestly didn’t know that chickens laid anything other than white and brown eggs. Nice to learn something new.
Yolk of blue eggYolk from the brown egg
The yolks are brighter, deeper yellow than the regular white eggs. I’m thinking the better color is from the food the chickens are feed. There is something to be said about free ranging chickens vs those that are not.
Natural heated spring soak
After breakfast I headed over to the hot springs to soak in this natural spa. The water was very hot, 106 degrees Fahrenheit. I soaked for about 15 minutes, about all I could take then relaxed in a chair before going back in for another 15 minutes.
As I was leaving, a group was getting started in the big pool on aquatic aerobics. They looked like they were having fun. I will be returning over the next few mornings to enjoy a morning soak. Don’t worry, no more pictures of my feet.
To a museum
It’s time to get some history on, so off to the Nevada Museum in Carson City. The building was originally one of the federal government’s mints for gold and silver coins.
Silver coins minted for each stateall coins are from the 1970sClose up of the Texas CoinCoin Pressing MachineTools used to measure and test the quality of coins
There is also a section on the history of the mining in the mountains near by. The reason Carson City became a federal printing press for USA coins was because the silver and gold was being pulled out of the mountains. We will get more mineshaft pictures when we visit Virginia City later in this post.
The first image is of a Virgin Valley Black Fire Opal, the second picture is of a shaft minecart being pulled up from the base of a vertical shaft, and the final picture is down a mining shaft.
And I hear you saying, what about the guns, and war equipment, every museum has to have this stuff, right? Well here you go… Enjoy guns and more guns.
If you want to learn more about dueling and why to men, will mostly men, would stand only a few feet from each other and shoot at each other, check out this podcast, BE WARNED!!! the hosts have potty mouths and you will have to deal with some adult language, the information about dueling is worth your ears burning a bit. We Are Not So Different
To Virginia City
The drive to Virginia City from Carson City is a very short drive, only 16 miles. These are mountain miles so it takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
The majority of the buildings are along this 2 way street with a speed limit of 20 mph.
I drove down the road with recording video. It would really be nice if they didn’t allow parking on the street so you could see the buildings better. Almost all of them are from 1876 after the rebuild of the city following the fire of 1875.
You can learn more about the city and the fire here at the official Virginia City Website.
One of the saloons, Ponderosa Saloon, was a bank in its former life. Inside you will vault #1 from the bank. At some point they decided to link up the underground vault to a mine shaft that is about 300 feet behind the building. You will have to visit to get the whole story, I’m just here to show you pictures.
After the tour of the mine, it was time for a train ride. The ride is very short, but you get a view some of the remains of the above ground evidence of the mining below ground.
After the train tour, I went on a final walk through the town, back toward where I parked my car.
Now back to my room, eat dinner, type of this blog and recharge for tomorrows tour around Lake Tahoe.
Welcome to the next installment of my travel blog for June 2024. As the title says, we will be exploring the Carson Range today and tomorrow, or at least we will be staying on the Carson Range side east of Lake Tahoe. I’m planning on exploring Lake Tahoe on Thursday and Friday, so keep coming back. On to today’s adventure..
Sunrise… well and attempt
First, I want you the reader to know that I almost needed a blood transfusion after trying to get these pictures. I should have realized that being so near a wetland the mosquitos would be a force to be reconned with.
I’m thinking this video shows dragon flies feasting on the mosquitos.
Now on to the sunrise photos.
A morning walk to Genoa
Genoa is 1.5 miles north of David Walley’s Resort, where I’m staying. Along the way wild life was encountered both on the journey there and back.
Enjoy some lizards, bees, and birds. The bunny rabbit and squirrel were too fast for me to get a clear picture of them.
Genoa, Nevada
Genoa is the oldest permanent settlement in Nevada. It was founded in 1851; however, Nevada didn’t exist then, it was part of the Utah Territories. The original settlers were part of the Mormon Church and the settlement was originally called Mormon Station. You can learn more here at the official Nevada Historical Website.
The Pink HouseLillian Virgin FinneganOldest Saloon in Nevada
You are probably thinking “why is there a statue of a woman holding a tray of candy?” Well, there is a story behind this statue. Back in 1919 the town wanted to install electric streetlights but didn’t have the funds. Lillian suggested the town hold a Candy Dance. Citizen danced and purchased candy from the local candymakers, and the funds raised went to purchasing and installing the streetlights. The city liked her idea and vola “let there be light”; however, there always is a however when it comes to city budgets. Who was going to pay the monthly electric bill for the lights? Well, candy will. If a Candy Dance worked once why not make it a yearly event, and the city did just that. The tradition lives on to this day. The city has expanded it to include an Arts and Craft Fair and the money goes into the Genoa City budget. Sometimes it pays to live in a small town.
Before heading back, I channeled my inner hobbit and went for 2nd breakfast at the Genoa Country Store. I enjoyed an egg sandwich with sausage on an English Muffin. Now being recharged, I headed back to the resort.
Coyote?
Onward to a Museum… after a short break
Honestly, I need another rest after walking there and back again; round trip was 3 miles or a 5K race. I did contemplate running the track tomorrow, but I’ve ruled against it. The weekend after I get back I’ve got a 5K. Too much of a good thing can turn out bad, hey, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Back to the history lesson.
This museum is only open from 11 AM to 3 PM and is located in busy city building. The center room and the downstairs is the museum while the rooms on the side and front are for city business. The cost is $5 and I feel that is a reasonable fee. On the main floor the walls have murals. As you enter the wall on the left tells the history of the Mustang and Nevada’s push to create a safe place for wild horse herds to roam. I didn’t even know there are herds of wild horses, but 10 states have reserved areas for them. You can learn more here at the Herd Managment website.
Sheep, I want to now talk about sheepherding. Why? because I can… or it’s actually related to the history of Nevada. Sheep herding in Nevada began in the 1880s, when Basque families from Spain and France immigrated to the Western United States for better job opportunities. They supplied the gold and silver miners with mutton and wool. This was a solitary life for the herder who could only count on his dogs and the 100’s of sheep he was managing. You can learn a bit more here at the National Park Systems Website. What little is known about these men comes from the carvings they left on the Aspen trees in the area.
Now let’s take a moment to talk about the first peoples, the indigenous tribes of the Lake Tahoe area. They called themselves Wá∙šiw, or Washoe in English. I’m just going to copy directly from the tribes website, “The four directions of Wá∙šiw territory was occupied by different bands of the Wá∙šiw that made up the whole of the tribe. Although one tribe, each band was unique in its own area of occupation with subtle differences in cultural diversity and language patterns.” To get the full history I recommend following the link to the Washoe Tribe Website and downloading the PDF writen by the tribe telling their history. To quickly summarize, European settlers moved in for the gold and silver and destroyed the tribe’s way of life. The Wá∙šiw were always an adaptable people and they managed to survive and keep their traditions if not their way of life. At the museum there is a room dedicated to this tribe which was famous for its weaved baskets.
One last thing before we move on to more modern times.
As a fan of archeology and digging things up to learn more about the past, the statement here saddens me. I realize this happened before archeology became a solid science, but I wonder what history we could have learned if an archeologist had been called in to excavate the area. From what I understand about the Indigenous tribes of the area they didn’t do much with stone, because it was heavy, and they moved around frequently. Why did they take the time to carve this stone statue? We will never know. Which gives me the chance to stand on a soap box and preach for a moment. It is a federal crime to dig up, remove or relocate artifacts found in public parks and native tribal lands. If you happen upon something, record the gps location, take pictures don’t touch anything, and then report what you found to the state or federal government agency. If you want fame, I’m sure you will get more credit for reporting and letting the professionals do their job than making a TikTok or Instagram post about it. I’m now getting off my soap box. Let’s continue to more modern times.
Let’s look at some medical equipment and telephone equipment…
Isn’t that old water fountain cool? And check out all those phones? f
Wow, it’s taken me 2 hours to type, edit and upload all of this content. Time does fly when you are having fun. I’m having to remind myself to enjoy the collection of content as much as writing about it. That’s all for today, tomorrow there will be blue chicken eggs for breakfast and I’ve decided to drive to Virginia City myself and skip the guided tour. I honestly didn’t want to be trapped for 5 hours. Virginia City is only 45 minutes away and I can visit or skip the museums along the way. So until tomorrow, have a great day, enjoy a pizza. I had one for lunch.
Walked down Canal street to the river front. I thought about taking a street car, but after yesterday’s attempt and a notice on the official app, I decided walking would be faster.
I tried to get a beignet from Cafe Du Mont again, but it wasn’t open at 8:45 AM. So, I went to church again, but this time with my DLSR camera to get better pictures and I knew the doors opened at 9 AM.
I thought about getting another coffee at Cafe Beignet near the meeting point for the New Orleans tour, but decided I’d already had enough at breakfast so just decided to take some pictures of the steam boat and train station nearby.
I’m now sitting on the tour bus waiting for the tour to start.
Stop 1: Cemetery 3 Hear are some facts about New Orleans funeral practices.
You cannot open a grave for a year and a day. So, if some dies before the time frame, you have to rent a tomb or find a friend who will loan you one for the time. These above ground tombs get up to 400 degrees in the summer speeding up the decomposition process. The boneman will come back later and place the remains in a bag and reseal them in the tomb. These bags now, because of Hurricane Katrina, are non biodegradable with markers and identifiers of the deceased. The flood waters destroyed and damaged many of the tombs and remains were moved around with the waters.
Interesting story behind this tomb below. Skelly spent all her money on the tomb to spite her daughter who is not legally allowed to be laid to rest inside. Obviously, this was not a good mother/daughter relationship.
Some more facts… Families take care of tombs and reuse them for family members. The ones that are falling apart are family lines that have ended.
Now on to the Garden District… The Garden District was created from an old plantation that was subdivided. The further away from river for wealthy closer to river for working class, industry smell. Lessons are architecture
2nd most haunted house in New Orleans – yellow fever victims – Nicholas Cage owned it before going bankrupt.
2nd most haunted house in the city
After the tour ended I had to find a Lucky Dog Vendor on my nieces recommendation.
Sausage DogNot bad for a street dog.
Kate, the tour guide said I should try a Sazerac.
So here we go…
The Sazerac from Cafe Beignet. It’s a cocktail made with Sazerac Rye, absinthe, Peychaud’s Bitters and a twist of lemon. The one here at the Cafe is a bit sweeter than I like.
I went to the Ritz to buy my sister one of their signature candles. Check out the decorations in the lobby.
Then it’s time for a short rest.
It’s only 5 PM, and I’m not going to just sit in my room. So off to Bourbon Street..
I’m hungry. Let’s go eat at a vampire restaurant.
The place is called Vampire Apothecary Restaurant and Bar. Check the linked website to learn more. I highly recommend a visit. The portions are small, but the taste is amazing.
Vampire Tea-Brined Chicken Thighs
There is a magic show later, so I’m eating and drinking slowly.
Vampire SazeracRelax Renfield! Bourbon Milk PunchBoth drinks have been the best I’ve had in New Orleans
The Sazerac here was so much better. It had to be the handcrafted absinthe and bitters.
Time for tea and cake.
Chocolate cake and Blood Tea
I’m going to call it an end to this post. Maybe I will tell you about the magic show in tomorrow’s post, but maybe not.
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