Day 5: Out on the water in New Orleans
And Day 6 -- Po Boys and driving to Houston
The past few nights, I’ve been exhausted, so I went to bed without writing a new post. So there’s a lot to catch up on — this might be longer than usual!
Speeding around the swamp
We woke up early and grabbed breakfast on the way to the excursion I had booked for a swamp tour with Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours. I originally booked the larger, slow boat tour, but I had been regretting not splurging on the airboat tour, so when we got there, we asked if there were any spots left on the airboat tour. They let us upgrade, and it was the same time slot — and I am so glad we did!!
(Side note: If you have never heard Tiffany Haddish’s story about using a Groupon on a swamp tour, you should check it out.)
We hung out near the docks while waiting for the tour to start, and I made friends with a lovely dog named Deke. I rubbed his belly when I first walked up, and he kept coming back to me after that for more rubs, in between patrolling the yard for new smells and greeting each new group that walked up. He has a hard life.
Each of the airboats held up to 12 people — on that day, it was just us and a family of four, so it was a great, small group, and Shane and I got to sit up front.
Our tour guide said that they have to put a new motor on these airboats every 400 to 500 hours of drive time, and he said some other things about motors that I did not retain at all. Some one in our boat asked if it had a hemi in it, and it does not.
We both loved speeding around the swamps just south of New Orleans, and we got to see a ton of wildlife and cool plants. He pointed out a lot of plants that were good eating, and at one point he pulled the airboat close to shore to see if some mushrooms were worth grabbing to take home.
We also saw lots of different birds and, of course, gators! It was cooler toward the beginning of the tour, so we just saw some nostrils above the water and lumps swimming in the distance, but as it warmed up, we started seeing gators on the shoreline, sunning themselves. We saw one that was huge — our driver said probably 10 to 12 feet, and maybe 50 years old or more.
Also, our driver was insane, and he got out and booped the huge gator on the nose. It hissed at him, or whatever sound is that gators make, and he got back on the boat. Apparently, sometimes the gator will open its mouth to ask for raw chicken when he does that, but the gator was grumpy that morning.
We also got to hold a baby alligator! Apparently, folks find small gators and take them when they shouldn’t, and end up turning them over to the swamp tour operators. They take care of them until they feel they can release them back into the swamp on their own. Our tour operator brought one with him, and we all got to hold him — I was really surprised at how soft he was!
All in all, it was a great morning out on the swamp, and Shane and I agree that it’s the best thing we’ve done so far.
Mardi Gras World
After the airboat tour, we drove back to our campsite, and we got Popeyes for lunch on the way in. (We thought it would be funny to eat Popeyes in the place it got started.) It was fine for what we needed, which was a quick lunch, but eating it in Louisiana did nothing to improve it for us :)
We signed up for the 2 pm shuttle into New Orleans from our campsite. (Which, if you ever need a campsite just outside of touristy New Orleans, I highly recommend New Orleans KOA Holiday site. Very clean showers, nice staff, great amenities. And they have a couple of cabins if you aren’t the tent type.)
As soon as we got dropped off near Jackson Square, we started trying to get a Lyft to Mardi Gras World, where they build the floats year-round and you can see creations from past years. I don’t know what was going on, but we kept having drivers get within 3 min of us and cancel. So it took awhile to get there. It was at this point it would have been nice to know that Mardi Gras World offers free shuttles from the French Quarter because they know they are a warehouse far out from anything. Sigh.
Anyway, we finally got there, and it was pretty awesome. I had a hard time hearing the tour guide over a weird mic, but getting to see all the floats and how they make them was pretty cool.
Also, they have a machine that can cut out float designs based on what they program into it. It sounds like it can also create the float designs and cut them out with little human interaction — it sounds like it’s some kind of AI thing. Here’s a picture of the first thing it ever created on its own, according to the tour guide.
It also can take the designs they feed it and tweak them. It creates what they asked it to, something a bit extra based on their design, and something a bit less based on their design, so they have options to show clients.
Honestly, like most robots and AI, it’s both creepy and amazing at the same time. I wish there was more time or more information online about how it works — I have a lot of questions about, if it is indeed AI, how they trained it and more.
Apparently they also do a lot of non-Mardi Gras work, for clients like Chik-fil-a, Universal Studios, and more.
We also got to watch a short film about the history of the company, then have a piece of King Cake with the tour group. Shane got the baby, so he got a crown to wear!
On the Mississippi
After the Mardi Gras World tour, we took their free shuttle to the waterfront where we were due to catch our boat ride on the Mississippi that evening. We had about an hour to grab dinner, so we walked into Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant. It wasn’t worth it, y’all. Very disappointed with the food overall, even though our waiter was great.
We were in walking distance of our port, though, which was the important thing. We had booked tickets on the Creole Queen for the evening jazz cruise down the Mississippi. While it is a paddlewheeler, it is also diesel-engine propelled. Our first choice had been the Steamboat Natchez, as it’s one of the only steam-powered paddlewheel boats left, but tickets were sold out by the time I looked. (The perils of taking a trip based on where the wind takes you!)
The Creole Queen was still a great experience, though! We didn’t pay for the buffet dinner, so we went right up to the top deck and grabbed great seats right by the rail. There was a live jazz band providing background music, and Shane and I enjoyed a romantic evening sailing down the Mississippi, watching the sunset, and cuddling for warmth.
Day 6: Mostly driving
We got a bit of a late start packing up our campsite the next morning. Luckily, checkout wasn’t until 11:30, and we managed to check out by 11:15! (Although it was a pretty laidback staff and site — I don’t think it would have been a problem to be a little late.)
Before we got on the road properly, I told Shane I wanted to try a Po Boy before we left Louisiana. So I looked around Yelp, and Mano’s Po Boys had the best reviews. Y’all. I am going to think about my Shrimp Remoulade & Fried Green Tomato Po Boy for a long time. It was amazing, as was the Boudin balls we got as an appetizer and the Red Beans & Rice we got as a side. (We saw signs at a ton of gas stations advertising Boudin balls and cracklings on the way out of Louisiana.)
Apparently, Mano’s is quite popular with the New Orleans Saints, as it is across the street from their old training camp. When they moved, they kept coming back because it’s so good. There are jerseys and signed memorabilia all over the restaurant.
It’s also popular with the locals — we got there at 11:30 and got a table with no problem. There was a large table of old guys eating and talking in what seemed like a routine, and a couple others, but that was about it. However, by the time we left, every table was full, there was a long line at the counter, and people were hovering, waiting to descend on our table when we left.
After that, we hit the road to Houston. We got into our hotel a lot later than planned after we literally sat still on the highway about an hour from Houston for no discernable reason. Glad we had booked a hotel because of a thunderstorm coming in, as we didn’t check in til after 9 pm.
Random musings
Tour guides need to learn to keep their thoughts on politics, the economy, and COVID to themselves. We had two different drivers/guides share their (conspiracy) theories about stuff that took us right out of the tour.
Baby alligators are smooth and soft!
It has been really hard to dress for the weather the past week. I’ve tried to layer, but when it goes from the 40s in the morning to nearly 80 on some days, it’s difficult! And we need to overestimate how heavy we need to layer when we’re on the water — we should have taken our heavier jackets instead of windbreakers on the steamboat.
Loved it- worth the wait!