Epic RV Trip -- New Orleans, LA

**SUN 5/26 French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

Last night at dinnertime we played Louis Armstrong on Pandora.  I figured what better place or time to introduce another major player in musical history than the birthplace of Jazz.  The kids were entertained when mommy danced inside the MH, and even more entertained when daddy got up to dance with me.  They laughed and clanged silverware on their dishes for us to kiss.  Chris turned up the music volume as "I'm in the Mood for Love" played and we danced our way to the back room and danced "Cheek to Cheek" behind the closed the door.  "What a Wonderful World" it is.  "When You're Smiling" bedtime goes a lot more smoothly.

Today we went into town to walk the famous French Quarter.  It was so hot and humid, we tried walking on the shady side of the street.  We stopped at a corner restaurant for lunch and I tried getting the kids to try something local.  I didn't think they'd go for crawdads, so I ordered battered baby shrimp and gator tail.  They made some really grossed out faces making it way more difficult to be open-minded.  Admittedly the alligator meat was a bit chewy, and they ate no more than a half-bite of either one.

The highlight of the day was Mardi Gras World.  We got gold beads as our entry tickets.  We watched a video that taught us that the words "Mardi Gras" means "Fat Tuesday" in French.  That makes sense since we recently learned that Louisiana was a French territory before it was part of the United States.  The colors purple, green, and gold represent justice, faith, and power, respectively.  It was fun to learn and TASTE a king cake (but no one won the plastic baby in our piece so we are not obligated to host the next party).  We toured the premises where the artists work and were they store every single art item they create because they often re-use or modify items so they don't start from scratch every time.  Many of the objects they make are styrofoam.  They can carve by hand, but now they also use computer programming to tell their robot "Pixie" what to carve.

I thought it was humorous that the state bird is the pelican.  The state flower is a Magnolia and we've seen some very large Magnolia trees out this way.

On the way back we stopped by City Park to see the "Singing Tree" which is a tree with various sized and tuned wind chimes hanging from it's branches.  The wind isn't strong here, but it was a novelty.
At camp we hopped on our bikes and rode the half-mile to the other loop where the splash pad was to play and cool off.  State parks are free for residents to use on Sundays so we enjoyed chit chatting with a few locals as the kids ran around.  It took concentration to try to understand everything they said with their Louisiana accent, but we got most of it.

Chores are more fun when you wear a mask and dance.

Another cool playground (except when Piper fell off the other sliding rail and hurt her tailbone).

Pretty tree tunnel to drive through.

**MON 5/27 MEMORIAL DAY  

Our flag is up, but there's no breeze here so it just hangs.  A local told us there's no wind because of all the islands so you feel the full effect of the heat and humidity.  The heat's already getting to me this summer... How will we experience each place and make it through summer?  agghhh.  I seem to go downhill fast in the heat, and I imagine my cohort is feeling the same.

Despite the heat, we lathered up in sunscreen and bug spray to go on the nature trail that opens up right at our campsite by the swamp.  According to my "Map My Run" App, we made it only a quarter-mile in before we gave in to the bugs and retreated.  We jumped on our bikes and went back to the splash pad.  Aside from the tick-bite scare, and staying out of the sun, it was great.  We think the bug stuck to Piper's leg while she was at the adjacent playground  was a tick because it was hard to get off her leg.  We didn't have tweezers or proper tools with us, but we got that thing off as quickly as possible.  No blood, so we don't think it was on long enough to bite or dig in, but we did our google research to know what symptoms to pay attention to.

There were tons of dragonflies here, and they move so suddenly it was hard to capture a picture of them, but I managed to get a few so I could zoom in to admire them.

The highlight of our stay was the steamboat dinner cruise on the Mississippi.  Our trip began shortly after the cargo ships moved out for the day, and right before sunset.  The sunset views were beautiful.  There were two companies sailing that night, but I'm glad we picked the Natchez because it was bigger, had a live band, a slightly longer cruise, and we got to go in the engine room to see the mechanics behind the paddle wheel.