Bourbon Street is the highlight of today's entry!
I woke up at 4:30 in the morning on our 2nd day. The boys were heading out for their first chance to fish, and I was looking forward to a Chilly morning with coffee. At home, morning is my favorite time, no heat, no sun, and a simple sweater makes my morning coffee the most enjoyable time. I figured, may as well enjoy the morning til the ridiculous humidity set in.
Well, let me tell you.....there is NO SUCH THING as NO HUMIDITY in New Orleans. I walked out to the shock of a lifetime that morning. I expected it when leaving the airport, this...was a complete BLINDSIDE. I really can't describe the let down...I know I cussed with an ARE YOU KIDDING ME muttered. I didn't enjoy the morning, I didn't enjoy my coffee, and I couldn't even enjoy Facebook....the cheap WiFi router didn't reach the backyard......let's just say, I felt like a caveman who's fire just burned out. Needless to say, I went back inside with sadness in my heart. Oh...I forgot that going back inside, meant I was walking into a meat locker freezer....and couldn't decide which was worse, the muggy, sticky, hot 5am weather, or the house being an industrial size walk in freezer.
It was a IN and OUT kind of morning.
What I had to look forward to was picking up our final two in a few hours, and finally getting some sight seeing in. The excitement of the days activities....made the up and down...in and out bearable. If I got too cold, I went outside, once I felt the thick layer of ooooooze on me.....back inside I went.
totally adorable and ready for the day.
We drove to the airport to pick up Kera and Gabriel....when a gnarly storm cloud we were watching.....opened up a can of whoop ass....Recap.....CALIFORNIA....where the idea of a storm is a sprinkle..(and I laugh at the STORMWATCH crap our news put on for chance of rain)..so, when I say HOLY CRAP a storm, trust....it was gnarly. It didn't even start like normal ones we see here, where sprinkles turn into heavy rain (from what I can recall, the last true storm we had was in the 90's...lol) This started like a "normal" REAL storm I grew up with, and within moments turned into heavy hard hitting water hitting the windshield so hard you couldn't see ANYTHING.
I really hope the video plays, although I have NO idea which one it is...I hope it's the CLEAN version
Our oldest daughter was ARRIVING in this storm, and of course, I'm ever so Grateful when I see her and Gabriel coming safely down the escalator ...and arrived in one piece.
It's Friday, the Party of Six are all accounted for, and it was time to see things!!! Matt and David had seen alligators at the place they went fishing that morning, and of course....so after we grabbed a quick po'boy lunch we set out to CITY PARK.
WE WANNA SEE GATORS....
it was only one that we saw, and a whole LOT of turtles swimming around him, but my want and need to see a gator.....fulfilled.
ONE of the gators they saw that morning
the only ONE we saw that afternoon...lil guy, bust still a gator.
After gator watching we set out for a cemetery. Yes, a MUST on the TO-DO list. I could have spent a solid week there. It was not only beautiful, but filled with so much history. We just ventured aimlessly, taking in the stories of those who were laid to rest. Okay, so we didn't know their stories, but I made them up in my head. I am so....NOT lying.
I guess I got caught up in the "moment" because after a long time of not seeing any one from my group, I start to faintly hearing my name called.... I respond, and I hear Dave screaming at me to GET OVER HERE....I guess they heard screams (I did as well, but it was kids playing in the backyard that was next to the cemetery) I guess 5 people were on a search and rescue. I felt badly, but ....I got over 300 photos of this amazing cemetery.
We then went back to the house to get ready for our Bourbon street night. This is when MOST people will shower, change at minimum, and refresh hair and make-up. However, when you are in New Orleans in August and only a suitcase of clothing....limited outfits....those are ALL pointless acts. To destroy a whole different outfit with sticky, soggy, humidity...WHY BOTHER. So a little fresh powder, a little added hairspray...and it was all we were about to do. I can't even think of a time in MY LIFE....I had ever done that before a BIG night....just wearing what I wore ALL day. I can't describe properly HOW the skin felt, how the clothes felt ON your skin, or how your hair...just wasn't gonna do a damn thing. It was miserable....how do people LIVE in that?
The six of us piled into the van and headed out for Bourbon street, which was literally a 5 minute drive.
First impression.....
7:05 PM
well....it's Bourbon street.
It smelled bad, like what you would imagine the homes on HOARDING:buried alive would smell like. The strong urine smell, the FILTHY smell, it was a smell I rather never SMELL again.
We arrived early, because we are NOT young and party animal types. 7pm. Yes...before it got crazy, and had the opportunity to just take it all in. I would have rather taken it in with a gas mask protecting my sinuses...but ...whatever. The stores were cool, the bars were filled with people getting "booby shots". I was enjpying the sights, the scenery, and just trying to find the VIBE that I was on Bourbon Street. Finally we came upon our first street performers, who were amazing, and we watched...they danced, they entertained, they got the "mood" going for me. FINALLY...I was "on" Bourbon ST.
As it got darker, it got crazier....and we got HUSTLED by this lady at Jesters Bar. She was hounding Kera to come in and get a dollar shots, Kera was being polite and declining, trying to walk away...my stupid butt says "come on, it's a BUCK..let's do it, we're in New Orleans".....
BIG....HUGE ..... MISTAKE. The woman proceeds to give a shot to Kera...directly into her mouth, then gives me mine.......
8:14pm
this felt as inappropriate as it looks, but I was determined to have an EXPERIENCE
Oh I got the "experience", believe me....it started as soon as we were done with shots and she says,
" okay, shots are 9 dollars, times two, that's 18 dollars, I like tips, so make it an even 20"
WHAT?????? Huh???????? What happened? I was completely baffled....how did I come in for
A BUCK...and walk out dropping a TWENTY.... She smiled when I said...what happened to the dollar shot .....you SAID dollar shot. Her smirk...that's for jello shots, you guys had Kamikaze shots. I didn't see a damn jello shot ANYWHERE, and I looked...what I saw was a scamming, lying, getting her money any way she could THIEF.
see the sign behind us....1.00 Jello shots, but there is NOT one jello shot in that place.
She's all smiles cause she just got "hers", I'm still trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
We continue on with our walk up the street, avoiding ANY one selling ANY thing from here on out! Just taking it all in, the noise, the lights, and unfortunately....the smell
I have to say the MOST disturbing sight of the night, wasn't the lack luster gay parade (it really could have been so much more), the homeless peeing in the gutter, or even the very scantily dressed thirsty women...it was the CHILDREN.  |
| that lil guy can't be more than 4 |
How can a Mother set up her YOUNG children on BOURBON STREET at night..to boot...banging on 5 gallon buckets? Someone make me understand this. The first set of 3 kids in their lil wife beaters bothered me....the SECOND set of even YOUNGER kids (assuming they are all related because they had the same white tanks on)....
That absolutely infuriated me...LIVID. Where was a parent, oh wait...we did see a woman earlier in the evening walking around in her house coat, with a shower cap on her head....hmmm, that was probably her, setting her kids up in 3 very selective PRIME areas...(yes three....I was a little too wasted from the lying shot lady to get pic when we came up on the LITTLE SISTER.....in her pink wife beater, banging on her bucket...but I have it on video..."OMG....and HERE'S THE SISTER" would be how I reacted on that said video...with absolute disgust. Sickening that a Mother would do it, this in Bourbon Street, New Orleans.....this isn't Sesame Street....you moron!
These are KNOWN and promoted to be such streets of Drunk, obnoxious, inappropriate, loud PARTY scene....why are your babies here? .....WORKING?
(I just had a sweet home Alabama moment..."you have a baby....in a bar"
So many BAD THINGS can happen on these streets. I'm a 40+ year old woman in a group of six, and I didn't feel safe enough to look inside my purse, let alone set it down for a second.
It was a Friday Night, and please, for the love of God, explain to me how that even remotely sounds like a perfectly fine and dandy thing to do with your kids.... How about you get a sitter, go out there and bang the damn buckets your damn self..til all hours of the night, and when it finally calms down enough that the tip bucket hasn't seen any action in an hour or so....THEN ... you can go home. I wonder if those kids have a "pimp" experience when they get home, and the tips are counted out...do they get yelled at if they didn't earn enough? I don't claim to know or understand the reasoning behind WHY a parent would do this....but what I do know, and do understand is .... they are children and have no business being out on the streets earning you a dollar....PERIOD. Why can't you just
let your kids enjoy some Disney Channel entertainment....not the ADULT ONLY entertainment offered right smack dab where ya set them up.
Yes....this whole child thing, set me off, and I am VERY opinionated about it. Because, it's not right on a safe street....and again this is "Bourbon Street"
...not known for it's FAMILY FRIENDLY FUN.
'Just Sayin'
By the end of the block, that shot...HIT. I didn't see it coming, I was fine one minute, and the next....not so much. Because I rarely drink...ONE shot mixed with the frozen margarita I had been nursing all night...took me, and took me hard. I had a laughing fit, that I can't even justify...it would NOT stop.
Shortly after we got to the end of the ONE block, they all decided tit best to head on out. I felt betrayed....really....we're on Bourbon street, and we're going home after a walk up the street...man, ya'll are fuddy duddy's. There is so much more to see...smell....experience....lol, but that was the alcohol thinking for me...lol. True Story.
8:34 PM
I was feeling FINE
Cafe Du Monde was on our TO DO LIST, and was a short walk away, so that was our mission...the cafe-then home. I had to milk more time out of the night...geez it wasn't even 8:30 yet.
It was a few blocks away, and if NOT for the smell, it was a pleasant walk....then again, as I said...I was feeling FINE.
On the walk away from Bourbon Street.....something CRAZY happens...my SISTER, who also LIVES in California....was walking TO Bourbon Street. I didn't even know she was there....(it was her friends Bachelorette weekend). But, seriously....how crazy is that. It was and probably will be the biggest OMG moment of my life. We laughed, hugged, took some pics, and as we parted our separate ways, I warned them of the DEVIL lady who lies about dollar shots. (I heard the next day, some of her group did FALL for it). Oh Emmm Geeee....I ran into my sister on Bourbon St....
It surely shows the AGE GAP between us.... that at 8:50PM we were leaving the party,
and her group was arriving...LOL.
Finally arrive to the Cafe, unfortunately. I can't tell you much about it, because as the time went on, the alcohol got deeper in my system, or something. I had another laughing fit, I guess I had powdered sugar all over me from the beignets... but I don't recall too much....I just know it was "good"
9:15 PM
I wish I could say I got home and went to bed, without incident. I had to have my daughter and friend help me shower....because seriously, it was like that stuff was fermenting in my stomach and getting stronger. I was NOT fall over drunk, or even Puking drunk, I was...OUT OF IT drunk...my cognitive function was GONE. MS may play a part in my inability to handle alcohol...or I just may be a light weight extreme....who knows. Either way, It was Goodnight Gracie!
I Crawled into bed ...and I was fast asleep....by 10:15 PM
One more day in New Orleans......
Day 3 August 20th...
Dave, Matt, and Gabriel did a morning fishing trip.
When they returned it was time to decide what the last day in New Orleans would entail.
It was pretty uneventful, the kids, Dave and I went off on our own as Matt and Rachel did their own thing.
Getting into the van....it smelled beyond belief, they tried to blame my "spitting up" being the smell, but it was VILE...fishy....and death. Come to find out the boys bought a bucket of shrimp bait...and it sloshed out into the back of the van....a piddle of it...and they didn't bother to even try to soak it up, air it out, or anything. It was horrid....that heat just cooked it into the interior.
We visited the WWII museum, a mall, and walmart. Oh and the Pit Bull and Paroles place....that was one thing Kera really wanted to do, I gave up my GUIDED cemetery tour for this, and it wasn't even open. Big disappointment.
We didn't do much, just taking it easy.... The heat and humidity were taking its toll on me, I did get a do-over for the Cafe du Monde... Beignets....and , yes....they were amazing!
We did a final night in New Orleans...dinner. All 6 of us....good food, but I'll admit I think we were all just exhausted. Whether it was the weather, the go go go, or the anxiety of the next morning....it was quick in and out, and back to the house.
The boys went and watched a UFC fight in the french quarter, we girls.....got the house back in order, our bags packed,,,because in the morning ...we were DREAM bound.
What do I take away from New Orleans
I take away that New Orleans is Dirty. It didn't matter WHERE we were, where we drove through, around, or anything....there was NOT one place I found appealing. I was disappointed that such an amazing city was in such shambles. I question if it was like that before Katrina, because, although that's everyone's excuse....I would have loved to see a "tourist" city, that was actually safe, clean, and well..... welcoming. They need to take some of our TOURIST money, fix their streets (don't take away the history, or anything)....but fix the streets that need fixing. I don't know how many trips, near falls, and falls happened on our days in New Orleans...amazing no one broke or sprained an ankle.
I experienced something new. I did enjoy the atmosphere of Bourbon street, but am in no hurry to return. Once was enough. I may even say, once was too much. I think we did great by going early and getting out before it got too crazy.
The people were all friendly, just trying to make their money...which was all fine...they gotta do what they gotta do. (except the kids...I'll try not to start up that tangent again).
The roadways in New Orleans, a hot mess, hard to navigate, understand, or drive with much confidence. The overpasses were filled with random people, some homeless, some people just gathering to play cards....very LOW overpasses. I would rather not drive those streets again!
I never felt SAFE, but I didn't feel threatened or in danger either. It was just a feeling of uneasy, I guess is how I would put it. Memories were made, laughter was given, and ....that is what I take away from the day. Good friends, Good times, and Good memories.
