NOLA WOW!

From Memphis, New Orleans was a stretch drive for us. We decided to do an overnight halfway and right off the expressway. We are learning more and more from prior stops so we were totally prepared with food for the stop and even had the walkie talkies charged! Wouldn’t you know it. The first and only stop we have ever been to that actually had local restaurant choices walkable from the campground in a nice level, pull through, spot. I still felt like a good Girl Scout upon arrival…finally.

So the next day, right into New Orleans we rolled to Lake Ponchatrain RV Park and Marina only 15 minutes from the French Quarter and equally close to all the other wonderful areas of NOLA. We arrived on a Sunday with plans to fly to Florida on Tuesday for a week during Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Week…

Hi everybody! Or perhaps I should say…”HOWDY!!!”…as that is what we just heard from our new neighbors here in Beaumont, Texas! 😊 This is Kimberly! 😊

But this blog post is not about Beaumont—look for that next week!

We just left New Orleans (aka NOLA) after an amazing 3-week stay (aka vacation, but I say that word lightly, lol).  I am here to tell you about the first week of that home-base. That is because after 2 nights in NOLA, we flew back to Florida to be with family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday! And I was so happy during that week, I “volunteered” to share the stories/memories here! 

We were there a total of 7 nights and our goal was to spend as much of that time as possible seeing as many people we love as possible. We definitely achieved that goal, scheduling to the best of our ability, yet we still missed so many of our friends and family! 

I should stop here and share that this trip home to Florida included Mollie. And while we debated whether we should medicate her (or Jana), Mollie did great on her first “planes, trains, and automobiles” day! We were so relieved. We still don’t understand the $95 each way fee we had to pay for her to be in a carrier where our feet go, but oh well…it was so worth it to have her with us. 

Back to the parties…I mean gatherings of friends and family. We didn’t miss a beat, and the first night in Lakeland, we spent with “The Shirleys” (aka Herc and Helen). These 2 are precious friends of mine for over 30 years. Jana always grateful for a home-cooked meal, by someone other than herself, and Helen never disappoints, so we saw them again on Sunday, when they also let us do laundry! 

On Wednesday, Megan came to town, and we spent the afternoon at The Joinery, a fun place in downtown Lakeland overlooking Lake Mirror. Several friends dropped by including Karen and Ron, Mindy and her family and the biggest surprise…my cousin Paul and his fiancé, Amy. Unfortunately, this was one of several times during the week that I was so happy in the moment, I forgot to take pics!

Thursday – Thanksgiving!! It’s our favorite holiday!! It’s especially wonderful when we get to be around family, and with good food!!! This year, that happened at my Sister’s house in Winter Springs! Her husband John is the very best strawberry/pretzel dessert-maker in the world, and that is the real reason I’m there! JK, it was my very favorite day of the week, being with wifey, Mollie and Megan, Cheryl, John, Emily, Jack, Sandy, Glen, Maddie, Kitty, Stan, and Snowflake! 

On Friday, we had breakfast with a dear friend, Betsy, at a cute coffee shop in Lakeland, Black & Brew. Later, we dropped by Terry and Kess’s house for a happy hour, that I wish we had scheduled as happy HOURS, because that is how much we treasure our time with them. From there, we went to Cob & Pen, a restaurant/bistro in a renovated 1927 Tudor house, in Lakeland. Although many friends were invited, 2 of my most favorite people, and most admired NICU nurses I know showed up…Kimberly Wilkes and Donna Shenefield! We could have talked all night!!! (again, no pics)

Saturday, we met our “landlords” Terri and Josh for lunch at Acropolis, a Greek tavern in Riverview. These friends have always gone above and beyond for us, supportive and informative as we transitioned to this chapter. They will always be known as our first stop on this journey!

 Next, we headed over to see “the Greens” – Pierre, Cindy, Liam and Ethan! Mollie was scheduled to hang with them for a few hours while we went to visit my cousins. Our visit with the Greens was short, but always so sweet!

Cousin Paulette hosted a family get-together at her house in Riverview. It was so nice to see Cousins I hadn’t seen in years, or even met!! As always, Paulette cooks for an army, and we devoured an amazing Italian-themed dinner! Self-proclaimed Christmas-lovers, Paulette and her husband Kevin, go all out on the decorations! Their house is beautiful and filled with love. 

Sunday evening was spent with another dear friend, Miriam, and her husband, AJ, at their gorgeous house in Plant City. This is becoming a tradition I hope, as the Indian food is spectacular, and AJ makes the best margarita ever!! Miriam and I in one corner, Jana and AJ in another…as I got caught up on what the latest news is at LRH. Miriam keeps me in the loop, and that makes me happy! 

On Monday, we had lunch at a favorite spot, Stein & Vine, in Brandon. The food and craft beers are unforgettable. And we got to hug and love on our dearest friends, Laurie, Dori, and Jenny!!! 

Our last day, we had a “drive-by” visit to see our favorite neighbor of all time, Eva, at her condo in South Tampa on our way to the airport. This literally was a spontaneous stop that we are so happy came together. Eva is a dear friend, one of the most thoughtful we’ve ever known, and she never forgets a thing!! She is also from NOLA….soooo…we got TONS of advice on where to go when we got back!

Wisely, we planned an additional 12 days in New Orleans after we flew back and still could have stayed longer. Special props to our friend Eva, who is from New Orleans, and gave us an impossible to achieve list of “must eats and drinks”. We were even lucky enough to have a quick drive by visit while in Tampa.

We didn’t waste a second getting set up and off to Dragos for the best charbroiled oysters I’ve ever eaten. We checked that off the list immediately. We were really fortunate to meet Adam at our campground. He does all the personal driving for campers and marina guests. We arranged to have him pick us up from the airport when we returned the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. We also hired him for the 3 hour tour of NOLA so we could map out our remaining time. And, when we didn’t want to drive the car into the French Quarter, Adam took us. Yay Adam!

From louisiananorthshore.com “There are a few things to know about the lake. First off, it’s not a lake. Lake Pontchartrain actually is an estuary, fed by numerous Northshore rivers and bayous, and connected to the Gulf of Mexico by the Rigolets (pronounced Rig-oh-lees) Strait and Lake Borgne.

A large body of water, it encompasses about 630 square miles and is roughly 40 miles wide from west to east, 24 miles north to south. The water, averaging 12-14 feet in depth, is brackish, mostly freshwater on the west but increasing in salinity the farther east you go.” 
This is important. My brain could not reconcile the fact that we were on Lake Ponchatrain and that the water was brackish. Lakes can’t be brackish and aren’t affected by tides. I paid attention in class that one day and I have lived my life on boats in various waters. Lakes are fresh water, rivers brackish, oceans salt. So I had to look it up. It’s an estuary. Whew, I feel better now.

We hit up Cafe’ Du Monde’ a couple of times for Cafe’ Au Lait and Beignets. That was some sweet decadence that we don’t do very often but I have to admit, NOLA gifted me with 3 pounds I did not have when I arrived partly due to those awesome, powdered sugar covered, puffed up doughy thingys. 

We ate oysters raw and char-broiled in a few spots. What a treat that was. We went to “Coops Place Tavern” where we ate Cajun and Creole favorites you can only really find in NOLA. We had jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp creole, beans and rice and turnip greens. I’m pretty sure we fell into a food coma after that meal.

We walked around the French Quarter and hit up the market for a new fedora and some hot sauce. We wandered into Pat O’Briens for a hurricane and a beer on their amazing patio. It happened to be on the Thursday that the Saints were playing the Cowboys in New Orleans and Pat O’s was like being at one big tailgate party. 

We loved our morning on the Hop on Hop off double decker bus. We take those tours anyplace we can. We learn so much more that way about the history and local lore.  After the holiday season, things turn into Mardi Gras season. We saw and heard a lot of the Mardi Gras energy as we explored. Most of the trees are weighted down with beads from Mardi Gras of the past. And there was no shortage of colorful masks, outlandish outfits and giant headdresses. 


Kimberly traveled for work for 4 days so I spent a day at City Park. From new Orleans.com:  Serving as New Orleans’ largest outdoor attraction since 1854, City Park is one of the oldest parks in the country. With its iconic oak trees and picturesque moss canopies, this 1,300 acre green space brings in millions of visitors each year. People come from near and far to enjoy the beautiful trails and scenery, as well as the endless amount of vendors, museums and activities within the park itself. Wrapped inside the borders of City Park stands the exquisite NOMA, the city’s oldest art institution with famous works from all over America, France, Japan and more! And just outside of the museum you can take a walk through The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, a five-acre garden with over 60 uniquely designed sculptures displayed among the 200 hundred year-old oak trees.

 I spent hours at the sculpture garden.

Verti Marte was HIGHLY recommended for the best muffuletta and not to be missed. I even remember watching the version of “diners, drive-in’s, and dives” that featured this exact New Orleans favorite sandwich and location. I was proud to have found it and street parking. I ordered a half of a giant muffuletta, since I was solo that day, and it must have been an off day. The muffuletta was so disappointing but I was happy to have had the experience. 

Preservation Hall was a definite highlight for us. Live New Orleans Jazz in a small, acoustic venue. Learn more about its history from the Preservation Hall Foundation…
Situated in the heart of the French Quarter on St. Peter Street, the Preservation Hall venue presents intimate, acoustic New Orleans Jazz concerts over 350 nights a year featuring ensembles from a current collective of 50+ local master practitioners. On any given night, audiences bear joyful witness to the evolution of this venerable and living tradition. The story of Preservation Hall dates back to the 1950s at Associated Artists, a small art gallery at 726 St. Peter Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Upon opening the gallery the proprietor Larry Borenstein found that it curtailed his ability to attend the few remaining local jazz concerts, and began inviting these musicians to perform “rehearsal sessions” in the gallery itself. These sessions featured living legends of New Orleans Jazz – George Lewis, Punch Miller, Sweet Emma Barrett, Billie and De De Pierce, The Humphrey Brothers, and dozens more.

We had front row seats to a great live show and could hardly sit still. The music was awesome and the old timers playing were amazing.

Some unique things I absolutely loved about New Orleans… impromptu marching jazz bands, absolutely no regard for proper attire, and it’s diverse population. We saw diversity ranging from age, race and languages spoken. New Orleans felt very inviting and happy. Although we certainly saw a range of economic stress and overall bad infrastructure, the people seem happily unique. It felt “fun” to be in New Orleans.

I totally loved our campground. It had a busy Marina attached so I could spend hours watching yachts being lifted out for service, a busy fuel dock, shrimp boats coming in daily with their take, sailboats provisioning for the day, and just plain ole boat people that I feel such kinship with. I enjoyed my time in the French Quarter as much as I enjoyed my time at our campground. I loved our little spot for 3 weeks. 

Mollie had some firsts on this stop. This was her first airplane round trip. We had practiced with her travel bag just a few times before our trip. In one week she had taken more car trips , plane rides, shuttles, taxis, hotel rooms, restaurants and beer gardens than she had ever done in her life with us.  What a trooper this puppers has been since we’ve begun this adventure.  She gets better every time we move.

Today is our first full day in Beaumont, Texas. And, yes, you’ll hear more after our one week stay here. It’s Christmas and New Years in Austin this year. Stay tuned!