Chapter Seven: New Orleans, LA

 New Orleans, LA

The Party Started the moment we arrived

There's a New Orleans!

We made it!  New Orleans!  We have seen many great cities but have yet to see New Orleans until now.  It's been on our list for a long time and it feels surreal now that we are here.

Our day started in Baton Rouge.  We finished packing our bins and then packed the car.  Check out is at 11am and check in isn't until 4pm so we have some time to kill.  Baton Rouge and New Orleans are about an hour and a half apart but that is the boring way.  We took a route that is 3.5 hours and took us through new parishes for our quest for completion, but first we took Francis to the Raising Cane's Dog Park one last time.

The drive was really nice.  We got to drive along some bayous that looked like they were right out of Pirates of the Caribbean.   We didn't get any photos so just imagine what it might have looked like.  

We are filling in the toe of the boot!

We arrived in New Orleans at around 1:30.  We should have taken a bit more time but there are always breweries to kill time.  We found parking right in front of our Airbnb and then walked 15 minutes to Brieux Carre'.  We sat on their patio sheltered from the rain and slowly drank a few beers while we talked with fellow travelers from Kansas City.  It was a great place and I am sure we will go back.

The names of the streets are shown on the sidewalks just like in San Francisco.  This makes navigation easier and really helps after a natural disaster knocks down all of the street signs and landmarks.  San Francisco adopted this after the Earthquake and Fire.

They had some cool shirts

After beers we walked by a market and picked up some Bahn Mi sandwiches and headed home. We unpacked the car quickly and then began the process of getting settled.  

Our Airbnb is one side of a shotgun style duplex.  It's long and somewhat narrow even thought it doesn't feel narrow.  It has been remodeled and is very comfortable. All of the rooms are lined up and going from front to back you pass through The Living Room, Kitchen, 1st Bedroom, 1st Bathroom, Sitting Room, Main Bedroom and then the Main Bathroom.  There is even a backyard for Francis.  We are looking forward to our month here.  

Tomorrow we need to get settled because we have visitors flying in.  My sister Sophie and her husband Josh arrive and will be spending the week exploring with us.

That's it for today but there will be much more to come.  We have so much to do and so little time!  If you missed the last post you can find it here. 

Keeping Busy Without Really Going Out

 Baton Rouge, LA

Francis is too busy to open his eyes

The Call of the Couch

This week we are going through a cold snap and this Airbnb has a really nice couch and TV so sometimes it is hard to get out there and do stuff all of the time but we are keeping busy none the less.  Here are some of the things we are doing to keep busy when we aren't exploring the city we are staying in because sometimes you have to take a break.

Clear Ice

I watch quite a bit of YouTube and I often scroll through the suggested for you stuff.  The other day a video on how to make clear ice showed up so I watched it and it was fantastic so I tried it and it worked!

Cooking

We cook a lot. Donna has been taking the lead this past week and the food has been great!  She has been making a bunch of meals with local ingredients.  I help chop those ingredients sometimes.  Other times I watch YouTube and let her know it smells good.  

Here are the recipes we made this week.

https://acadianatable.com/2021/12/27/cajun-cabbage-casserole/

https://acadianatable.com/2019/06/10/potato-brussels-soup/

https://acadianatable.com/2022/01/31/red-bean-mustard-green-green-onion-sausage-soup/

I also made Pain De Epi last week and baguettes this week.  

The counters are gross here so I have to kneed on a cutting board which isn't optimal.

It still turned out though!

These are my favorite videos for these recipes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36CisvPJYXI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBBJYda-dyA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLfLetvF96E

Taking Photos of Silly Stuff

I also keep busy by constantly taking photos of things that get my attention while we are out.  Most end up here but some just have no context and don't really fit with the story I am telling.  Here are a few of those.

We took a special trip to the grocery store for really cheap yams.  

And picked up some more really really cheap Mirlitons.

I have heard Yellowstone is good.  

Some butcher got an idea.  Maybe it will catch on.

This syrup is reveling in he fact that it is artificially flavored.  Who would buy this?

Nintendo Switch

Yesterday I hooked up The Switch.  I figured we would have low energy days during the Thanksgiving weekend.  I started playing Hollow Knight and Animal Crossing again.  Animal Crossing bought back waves of Covid Quarantine Nostalgia if that is a thing.

We have 2 weeks left and the list of things we absolutely have to do is short.  I know there will be a ton of things to do in New Orleans so taking it easy isn't such a bad thing, it just gives me less to write about.

That's it for today.  If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.  We had a fairly high energy day climbing to the top of Tiger Stadium.

Baltimore Close Up

 Baltimore, MD

Bodymore is another Baltimore nickname with a morbid slant.

Baltimore Close Up

I am always looking for things to post about when we have a "lazy day".  I got the idea to take close up photos in cities where we are staying so I started doing this in Baltimore.  

The Heritage Trail is marked in many languages

@cheerupofficial is prolific in Baltimore 

US40 goes through the middle of Baltimore

Looks like this truck got a little too close up, twice!

That's it for this post.  The activities here are starting to slow down as we get closer to our move out date.  If you missed yesterday's post you can check it out here.

Lazy Sunday

 Denver, CO

The Cacti are blooming in our neighborhood

Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners

 Today we took it easy.  It was close to 100 degrees out so we stayed in for the most part.  Mid day we went to Cherry Creek Mall and bought a phone case for my new phone.  Once the sun went down we took a walk and I tried out Night Mode on my Pixel6.  I am very happy with my new phone.  I also tried to take photos of the bats flying over our head but the shutter speed was too slow in night mode. 

Sky and Shadows come out nicely

The background is blurred nicely

Sunset

Full on Night Mode.  It takes a timed shot and uses image stabilization to keep the image sharp.

This week we have a quite a few things to do so hopefully I will be able to take some interesting photos.

Read about my new phone that took these photos here.