Road Trip To New Orleans Day Four

Day Four, the last day, of our journey was upon us. We awakened, got cleaned up and readied ourselves for the final leg of the journey, our drive home. Before doing so however we had to fuel ourselves with lunch and without asking we all knew where we would be stopping, Chuys. Chuys (pronounced Chewies) is a regional chain of Tex-Mex food and we've managed to eat there every time since we found it when we've gone to Dallas for a concert because simply put the food is good as is the ambiance. Once properly fortified (and after certain peoples bowels were emptied) we departed from Dallas.

The drive was rather uneventful, full of conversation much as most of the drive had been throughout the last four days. I arrived home not to a loving family waiting to greet the returning beloved father but to an empty house. It seems my wife and son were out because they got bored and didn't know when I'd be back. Ah well, there's something to be said for quiet time too, isn't there? I missed my family during my road trip but it was good to get away with just the guys. I think that it is vital to do things like this every once in a while.

I can honestly say that during this trip I broke from my normal patterns and tried to eat things that I usually would shy away from and I came away from the experience better for it. There were good times, good music, good people and most of all good food. It's made me more open to trying different kinds of food when I get the chance to go back to Peru, hopefully next year if all goes well. Until then however I only have one question. When and where's the next road trip Tom?


Enchiladas, Rice and Beans at Chuys

Published by Don Leach

Road Trip To New Orleans Day Three

Saturday found us sleeping in a bit late so we quickly got cleaned up and packed all of our belongings so that we could check out of the hotel. A mere two blocks or so away was a local joint called Nola's and that was where we decided to have our lunch. Once again I decided to try something that I had never consumed before and the choice was a Crawfish Pie more commonly known as the Crawpie. It looks like an empananda and was quite tasty. I also had some of Chris' po-boy which he could not finish. To wash it down I had a Snapple Green Tea and a Big Shot Cola which is made locally right in New Orleans.


After looking at some of the show flyers that were on the wall (including a killer one for X) we decided to head over to a cemetery to take a look. Since New Orleans is below sea level everybody has to be buried in crypts or else when it floods the bodies will rise up out of the ground and start floating. Some of the crypts were well taken care of and some were falling apart. That comes from either extreme age or the fact that a family cannot pay to maintain the crypt. In these cases the bodies may be moved and the plot sold to someone else.



The pyramid crypt seen above is said to belong to actor Nicolas Cage and will be his final resting place whenever he dies. Originally I had wanted to see the 9th Ward area where very few people live anymore. After Hurricane Katrina almost nobody that lived there came back, they just relocated and left their houses. Parts of the ward are deserted and a lot of house are falling down. Unfortunately it was farther away that I would have liked so we elected to start our drive back.

After jumping on the highway I got engrossed in my new Android cellphone and Tom missed our exit so we ended up going the wrong way. Instead of backtracking we elected to take a "shortcut" that would get us back on the correct highway. Or that was the theory. The shortcut seemed to take forever due to the numerous small towns and the equally numerous slow drivers. Eventually we reconnected with the highway and all was well. After a brief stop at an outlet mall we found a fish market in Baton Rouge that had a great deal on shrimp for Tom and they directed us to another place called Tony's Seafood market & Deli that was bigger and better where he could get some crawfish or mudbugs as they are commonly known. While there I went over to the deli side and decided to try some boudin since that was something that had been highly recommended to try and I hadn't had any at that point.



Once there however I changed my mind and had the boudin balls after the worker gave me a sample of each of their three kinds. First was seafood, next was crawfish and last was Cajun. As I tried each of them they got better and better and I ended up buying a dozen of the Cajun boudin balls. I can honestly say that this was the best food I had all trip long! Tom and I were smiling and laughing as we devoured them in the truck, that's how good they were. You know it's good food when it brightens your mood and makes you happy, even giddy. The long drive into the night continued and our plan was to stop and get a room in Dallas and get something to eat there.

We realized however that by the time we got there nothing other than fast food joints would be open so we elected to discontinue our plan of only eating at local places on this trip and have a late dinner at the single open restaurant that we could see, Cracker Barrel. Hey, the breakfast food was pretty good and since it was so late it came out pretty fast too. Again, there was no reason for pictures of the food there. After about another hour and a half of driving we were able to stop and get a hotel room but were unable to use the internet because of the policy of this unmentionable hotel to charge for it. Needless to say, we won't be going back there again. So off to slumberland we went and when we woke up, day four of our journey would begin.


Published by Don Leach

Pictures of Rush in Concert, New Orleans 6/10/11

Published by Don Leach

Random Pictures From My New Orleans Road Trip

Here are a few pictures from the French Quarter in New Orleans:













Published by Don Leach

New Orleans Road Trip Day 2

Day two of the road trip started and after getting cleaned up we went to the French Quarter and had lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys where I had the Alligator Sausage Po-Boy that you see below. It basically tasted like sausage, nothing more nothing less. I could only finish half of it so I had the other half wrapped up and ended up giving it to a street musician.



Next we went around the Quarter looking for souvenirs which took a little while. While we were doing this we also went to Cafe du Monde where we had beignets and then went on to the riverwalk. While there I bought some alligator jerky that turned out to be extremely spicy and it set all of our mouths on fire. It was so hot it made me glad I didn't try the alligator on a stick (seriously, they had it). Afterwards we continued to look for souvenirs and to see what the Quarter looked like.



I asked in one shop about the location of vinyl record stores and was told that there were no longer any to be found in the French Quarter. Half a block away I found a small book/record store where I happily purchased two 45s. Did I go back to correct the lady in the shop? No, it would more than likely have proven to be a useless gesture.

We'd been out for several hours so we decided to head back to the hotel even though it meant that we needed to walk the mile and a half or so distance in order to get some exercise (and not pay for another cab ride). Once there Tommy and I went to the pool for a nice cool swim because it was pretty muggy and we had gotten hot during our walk. Chris however elected to stay in the room and watch tv. Maybe they had different shows on than what we have in Tulsa. After getting ready we headed back to the French Quarter for dinner where we decided on Felix's so that Tommy could get oysters on the half shell which he desperately wanted and I could get the blackened alligator I had been looking for. I also had a cheeseburger po-boy but decided not to take a picture of it. The alligator that you see below was excellent and I highly recommend it.




The appointed hour had come to head to the New Orleans Arena and see Rush. This was the seventh concert by them that I had seen (should have been 3 or 4 more) and they never fail to impress. Age is of little consequence for how masterful they are musically and if you get the chance, go see them while you can. It's worth it. Great songs, great between song banter, great light show and some very great music all add up to a good time in my book. The only negative thing was the people around us who waited until after the show started and then decided to go get food and drinks. Seriously, if you pay that much money shouldn't you actually watch the band instead of constantly getting up and down going back and forth from the concessions stand?


Anyway, a cabbie tried to rip us off and charge $10 each to go back to the hotel so we ignored him and found another. Here's a hint, there's always another, you just may have to wait a bit to find a good one at a decent price. Upon our inquiry the lady at the front desk told us that there was a local burger place about a block over so away we went and there found the bar and grill that it actually was, where I grabbed some mozzarella sticks. Afterwards the moment had come to hit the sack and get ready to see some more sights tomorrow before starting our journey home. More to come.

Published by Don Leach

Road Trip To New Orleans Day One

After a long day of driving (almost 13 hours thanks to a shortcut that took longer than the directions said) we have arrived in New Orleans and are safely ensconced in our hotel room. It was difficult to say goodbye to Connie and John but we will see each other soon. Tommy, his son Chris and I are here to see Rush in concert. This is my first time ever in New Orleans so tomorrow we'll be doing the tourist type things like going to the French Quarter and seeing the sites before going to the concert. It will be nice to see Alex, Geddy and Neil for the seventh time playing some of my favorite songs ever.

On teh trip down we stopped for dinner in Shreveport and I had a beef BBQ sandwich that was pretty good. Sorry, no pictures of that but tomorrow there will be plenty of the town and the food. I'm pretty tired as I didn't get much sleep last night and none at all on the trip so I'll be cutting this short and going to bed in a few minutes. I'm ready to break out of my normal patterns and try some different kinds of food than I normally eat. Exactly what kind you ask? Check in later with me and you shall see. Manana.

Published by Don Leach