Scribble World Travel Blog

Pontchartrain-World’s Longest Bridge!

The elevator wasn’t working this morning, so it made for a great workout making multiple last minute trips up and down 5 flights of stairs to check out by eleven.  We stopped at an above ground graveyard just because it was different and we were driving past it.

We drove across Pontchartrain, the world’s longest bridge-it was 23 miles long going from Metairie, Louisiana to Mandeville, Louisiana-trimming about 50 minutes off commute times to New Orleans compared with other alternatives.

The bridge so long, it’d be nice if there had been a pull out rest stop somewhere in the middle for tourists like us to get out and take pictures.  The speed limit was 65 mph though so there was little chance for sightseeing on the bridge itself, but we found a park in Mandeville to stretch and take some pictures.

Now, we’re at The Gulf Island’s National Seashore in Mississippi.  We stopped at a grocery store and I bought lots of good stuff-cherry tomatoes, carrots, honey dew melon, apples, and a peach.  Oh, and a pint of fresh strawberries at a roadside stand.  Life is good.

New Orleans and The Ten Dollar Beer

We spent a couple nights at the Canal Street Inn which was a comfortable walking distance to Bourbon Street.  There were homeless people hanging out under the bridge across the street.  In the morning, when I went down for breakfast a homeless guy came in and asked if he could take something to eat.  I said, “sure.” 

Chris & I walked around Bourbon street for a few hours and bopped in and out of different places searching for jazz and blues music.

One tip, ask the price before ordering. Chris ordered a beer at one really run down dirty looking place without live music or anything, because he really had to use the bathroom, and was shocked when the guy put the beer in front of him and said, “$10.”

Driving & Exploring Louisiana

We spent the night outside a state park by a marina.  We were hoping to stay at the park, but the employees came honking and knocking on our window at 8:55 to let us know the park was about to close.  So we paid a buck and parked at the marina instead.

Today has been a peaceful day-driving and exploring.  We walked around by a river in Morgan City, and stopped at a couple unique shops including a coffee/bookshop called, Cover to Cover.  I tried a Texas-Cream Frappacino, and was surprised to see a unique looking bag of gunpowder tea for sale, so I bought that too.  There were free tea samples, and the people were really nice.  I love places like that-such a unique and non-corporate feel.

Now, we’re in Baton Rouge, but we’re thinking about heading to New Orleans.  I was talking to a guy about things to do around here, but he said this was more of a college town and most of the stuff to do was in New Orleans.

Louisiana

Pretty straight course through Louisiana so far-we went to Intercoastal City, which turned out to be a dead end without even a gas station. They seem to be sparse in these parts. We were on Hwy 82. It’s already getting dark and lightly sprinkling. It rained non-stop the whole night on the border between Texas and Louisiana. Lots of run down destroyed buildings-everywhere seems so old. Lots of swampy marsh grasses. Saw a wild pig with babies near the side of the road. Pink birds. Cows with big floppy ears.

We’re listening to Sirius Satellite, the “Movin’ Easy”station. Chris is driving. Ox and Paws have both taken turns on my lap. I fed Chris Cheese Puffs 2 at a time. Now we’re headed toward? Not sure. The ditch is filled with water and garbage. Instead of garages, I’ve seen lots of covered parking spaces. We have about a quarter of a tank of gas left. Have gone 230 miles since Galveston. Just passed a small 2 pump old style station charging $3.19/gallon-Chris kept going, he says we can probably find it cheaper. It was $2.88 in Galveston.

New Orleans, Mississippi Riverboat Cruise

We went to New Orleans for New Year’s Eve. We were out past 2 A.m. We walked around Bourbon Street stopping at all kinds of interesting places. People were so friendly and chatty, it was fun just talking to people. We had a little wait before our dinner cruise, so we stopped in a place that made frozen hurricane drinks. One funny…well, maybe just unusual experience, was standing in line to use one of 3 bathrooms. There was one open, but the toilet wasn’t flushing and so it was gross and so we ladies were waiting for the next available working toilet, when this beautiful girl strolls in, all dolled up and in heals, sees the toilet not in use,says “y’all aren’t from around here are ya? This is what we call a porta-potty,” and she went in to use it.

The dinner cruise was great, there was live music, all the free food and free drinks you wanted, and a fireworks show at midnight.

New Orleans