New Orleans and a notable hot spot (Sept 17-20, 2016)

I forgot to mention, that we have our Can-Am motorcycle with us as secondary transportation as once you are hooked up at campgrounds, it is more convenient to have other transportation.

Our next stop, The Big Easy and the French Quarter RV Resort.  The almost 4 hour drive was blessedly uneventful.  The use of "resort" at this campground is a bit of a stretch, but it was within walking distance (daylight hours only) to the French Quarter.  It is basically a post Katrina parking lot turned into a gated-walled RV compound with a pool and pretty nice concrete pads and good wi-fi. Opportunistic capitalism at its best.

It has been many years since we visited New Orleans (pre-Katrina).  We had a couple of nostalgic locales on our list to revisit and to also explore what's new in NOLA. Mother's is old restaurant (established 1938)  that we longed to return to after our last visit. Just the best down home southern cookin' you can get.  Their specialty is the Ferdi Special, ham and roast beef sandwich with "debris" gravy.  You know your mouth is waterin'. It should be.  I don't know who Ferdi is, but their sandwich is awesome. I hope this place never goes away, it will be a sad day.

Ferdi Special with debris gravy

New Orleans is really a mysterious place to me. The legendary foods and flavors, architectural beauty, the nostalgia of time past, the ugliness tourists who seem content to relieve themselves of all inhibitions, even the ones they most certainly shouldn't, the haves and the have nots mixed together with music and a spirituality that is sensed in the heavy moist air at all times. It is awesome and a little melancholy at the same time. I just love it.

Not sure if this is a musician waiting for his gig to start, a waiter on his way to his shift
or a millionaire. He could be any of them or none of them. That is The Big Easy!

Blue cheese and fig appetizer

Yes, fried green tomatoes!

We took Uber around the Quarter at night and walked during the day.  It was hot, but we enjoyed walking the streets, eating the eats and a free walking tour and trolley ride through the Garden District on a rainy day. We had a terrific meal at Eat NOLA, pics don't do it justice.  Put it on your list to visit, you won't be sorry. 

The famous Commander's Palace, the closest I got was to take this pic. 

Our next stop, a short 3 hour drive from New Orleans is the Cajun RVera (cute play on words) motor home park.  It is located in the middle of nowhere Louisiana and has a huge pool and lazy river water park.  As the weather Louisiana is still in the 80 degree range, we will enjoy the pool.

But first, a visit Avery Island, home of the Tabasco Factory and the Mcllhenny family.  This family has been perfecting pepper sauce since 1868.  We took the Can-Am about 30 minutes from the Cajun RVera (go lost) in 90 degree heat, but finally made our way to the factor.  The history was fascinating and the tour, visitor center and gift shop was a good way to spend a day.

We got back to the camp site and quickly jumped into our swim suits, we have been talking about a refreshing dip in the large pool and float down the lazy river all the way back. We barely make it through the bath house when we were told the pool was closing two hours early. Lovely. :-( We negotiated a quick cool off dip, but then had to get out.  I guess going places out of season has its disadvantages.

Our next stop, Austin, Texas.

Czerwinski's Down the Hatch at the Beach and Birthday Bash (Sept 9-17, 2016)

About 10 months ago I mentioned that I would like to someday go to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM.  As is so often the case,  my lovely spouse set out to make my dream come true.

Hey, I have an idea, he says...let's make it a road trip and pull the Can-Am motorcycle with us.  We can see if my family would like get together somewhere near the coast then we can continue on to the Albuquerque, should take us about 6 weeks round trip, we will be back home around late October just in time for Halloween. 

And so it began...

We left St. Pete, Fl on September 9th for an overnight stay at a fledgling campground with the sweetest 75 year old owner named Glen.  This campground was at the right overnight stopping point for us after about 5 hours of driving. Sparsely populated with only two other campers, Glen made us feel welcome and provided immaculate facilities.  

Our next stop, Down the Hatch Beach House in Gulf Shores, AL for a week of Czerwinski family fun.  The house was perfect for enjoying time by the sand and sea.  The company was great, we laughed, ate, drank, watched the Bills game and celebrated my birthday at a lovely dinner.  Great time.

We left the beach on September 17th for our next stop, New Orleans, LA.

Grooming

As we were traveling outside the country for at least 50 days, some of life's pesky realities of life on the road reveal themselves.  Mike was in need of a haircut and my gray roots were showing up like lillies in the Spring.

We started our barber reconnaissance early in the week, learning terms we might need to know like Peluqueria = Hairdressers, peluqueria de cabelleros = Hairdressers for men, pelo - hair.  I searched the internet and found another traveler who had written out some spanish phrases specifically for a gentleman's visit to a local peluqueria.  Not too short, that is enough off the top, etc.  It was helpful.

We identified a "Spanish Super Cuts" that was not too far from our apartment.  It had a red, yellow, green traffic signal out front to indicate your potential wait time, Mike liked the efficiency of the place.  Armed with our page of phrases, we entered the establishment and asked the most important question, Engles? No was his response.

Mike keeps his hair shortly shorn.  As I was speedily searching my translated words and phrases, Mike said, Number three all over and made a halo gesture around his head.  Apparently that was all the translation that was needed.  The barber got to work, mission accomplished.

Our next stop was at the local department store which also included a pharmacy area.  Apparently coloring gray hair is an international activity as well.  There were a plethora of choices of product and color.  They even had a similar brand of non-chemical color which I would use at home.  The color numbering was slightly different, but I picked one with a picture I thought was close and took it home.

I did the color right before we left Valencia before Portugal, so if you don't recognize the redhead in the Lisbon pictures coming up, it is me.  :-)