Louisiana... Finally

This should have been posted last November, but with homeschool and Christmas, this blog fell by the wayside.

We arrived in New Orleans which, in spite of its past reputation, has been ravaged by hurricanes and is but a shadow of itself. My uncle Pete met us at the airport and drove us to his house in Baton Rouge (about an hour away). Driving over Lake Pontchartrain was impressive. The lake seems to go on forever.

Since this was my first visit to my paternal homeland, I was really looking forward to having some good Cajun food. When we arrived at my uncle's house, my aunt had ordered Domino's. Trying not to be obviously disappointed since I was starving, the kids and I ate.

Afterwards, we went to my aunt Eva's house. My aunt Eva has lung cancer and is dying. She was the main reason for the visit. It was wonderful to finally meet my Dad's sister. She reminded my a great deal of my Mamo (Dad's mom).

(from left to right: Uncle Pete, Aunt Eva, Dad, me, and my cousin Brandie)

Amelie fell in love with Aunt Eva's puppy, The Dude:

The next day, we went on a swamp tour. Amelie and I really enjoyed it. Monty IV, on the other hand, was terrified that something bad was going to happen (left behind, eaten by and alligator, etc...)

Monty IV really does not care much for nature.

That week we went to visit the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge and the capital building where Governor Huey P. Long was shot (I could have sworn I had photos of it all... but I just can't seem to find them!) It was pretty funny. My cousin Brandie and I could not find where the shooting took place in the building, so she walked up to one of the ladies at the front desk and asked:

"Where is the spot where Huey Long was killed?"

The ladies did not bat an eye and simply directed us to the Governor's Elevator and the corridor in front of it. They must get asked that question a lot.

My dad, the kids and I went to check out a plantation while we were there. Houmas House was about a 20 minute drive from Baton Rouge. It was beautiful.

Its hard to believe that the people that lived in such beauty and splendor did it all based on the slavery of others.

We also visited Magnolia Mound Plantation, which is in Baton Rouge itself. MM is a colonial plantation so it did not have all of the grandeur of the other antebellum plantations. It was a very interesting home because there were no closets or hallways (in the original construction) as these were taxed as rooms.

Unfortunately, no photos of the inside were allowed.

On Thursday, it was New Orleans Day! We drove down to New Orleans and my Dad was very worried that he was not going to remember anything about how to get around the city. As soon as we entered Chalmette (the city just to the north of NO that was his old stomping grounds) it all came back to him like a flood. He was pointing out where the Frost Top was that he and his friends would show off their cars, the Catholic high school where the naughty girls went, the bar that would allow under age drinkers, and Chalmette battlefield where the Battle of New Orleans took place... and they would use to "park".

From this spot Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte held off the invading British soldiers by laying on a barrage of cannon and musket fire. It seems that the military would have realized sooner that marching your men out shoulder to shoulder would be a bad idea, but that brainstorm did not happen for another hundred years or so.

From there, it was on to New Orleans proper. The street we were on turned in to Canal, the main street in NO. We found some parking and headed into the French Quarter.

Jackson Square was so much more stunning in life than pictures can ever convey. There was a man serenading tourists with a trumpet. A lonely and sad sound that at the same time gave a feeling of hope.


There were two things I had to do while we were there: have beignets at Cafe Du Monde and have a real Hurricane at Pat O'Briens.

Cafe Du Monde was nothing like I was expecting. It is mostly an outside cafe, with the smell of coffee and fried dough floating and dancing around.


My mom had always said that beignets were the same as sopapillas. She was wrong. Sopapillas are crispy flaky and taste best with honey. Beignets, on the other hand, are soft pillows that are thicker and more of a bread-like texture. Of course, you can't leave the cafe without having a Cafe Au Lait. One thing my trip to Louisiana messed up for me was coffee. I had the best coffee of my life there. So rich and dark with just the right amount of bitterness.


From there, we wandered the French Quarter:



My heart ached as I looked around me. More than anytime during my life I wished I had a time machine to visit the city 160 years ago. The smell of sewage floated in the air. Bars and gift shops line the streets taking the place of ancient private residences.


This is a Hurricane from Pat O'Briens. Probably the most dangerous alcoholic drink I have ever consumed. It was so fruity and sweet. Very easy to consume more than one very quickly.

Having accomplished the two main tasks I had in mind for NO, we headed back to Baton Rouge.

On our last day there, we had lunch with my Aunt Eva and then the kids and I went to the giant mall near my uncle's house.

While it was a very fun and educational trip, it did fill me with a deep sense of sadness. Baton Rouge seemed like a slum. And New Orleans was like a prostitute; miserable but still carrying on because she does not know any other way.