Return to New Orleans

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Having left Quito, Ecuador, at 11:30pm, we landed in Atlanta about 5:30am and wound up in extremely long lines for customs. Apparently a large number of international flights converged upon Atlanta at about the same time. Then I had an extra half hour in the agriculture line because I had forgotten that I had a banana left over from a sack lunch in my backpack. I barely made it for the flight, but from then on it was very relaxed.

We had a comfortable flight from Atlanta to New Orleans on a flight less than half full. We spread out so that everyone had a seat. We approached New Orleans from the east over the bays, watching tug-driven barges move across them. Here we have just caught sight of the Mississippi River.

We sailed over the working Mississippi River and looped out over the wetlands west of New Orleans.

We swung back toward the river to line up for the New Orleans airport.

It was interesting to fly over the refinery and to see the ships on the working river.

We sailed right in over the ships and soon were on the ground at New Orleans airport.

Jeff and Brenda picked us up at the airport and we went to Dot's Diner near the airport for a luxurious breakfast. We then went to Northshore Church for the morning service.

Exploring Downtown New Orleans

Monday, July 13, 2015

We decided to drive down to New Orleans for the day to do some exploring. It had been a long time since Brenda and I had just poked around New Orleans.

The first thing we wanted to do was to find the Avenue Plaza Hotel on St. Charles Avenue where we would be staying on our planned return trip the first of August. It was a Wyndham hotel, and we wanted to check out the possibility of a trip there for Mardi Gras next year since we had never been to Mardi Gras. Being right on the route of the parades, it seemed to have good possibilities.

The place where we most wanted to vist was the Riverfront. When we reached the edge of the Mississippi River, the tour boat Natchez was just heading out. I was just playing with the two superimposed images of the Natchez.

We walked along the edge of the river and had a good view of the bridge and the dock for the ferry that we had taken several times.

We remembered well the red streetcar that runs close to the Riverfront.

We enjoyed the boats of all sizes on the river. This appears to be a small ferry.

We walked on down to the fountain and the entrance to the Riverfront Mall. The large paddlewheel tour boat was tied up alongside.

Of course a high priority inside the mall is to go to Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee. That gave us a good place to watch the working tugs on the river, a thing I really like to do.

It is fascinating to watch the large freighters pass along the Mississippi River right through downtown New Orleans.

I take this to be a tanker. But if so, it's an empty tanker, considering how high it is riding.

I love watching tugs. The big one above seems to be controlling six big barges going downstream.

After our relaxing time of beignets and coffee and boat watching, we headed back toward Pearl River. I had enjoyed the time with Ashleigh and Jordan in Quito, Ecuador, and Brenda had enjoyed the time with Elyse in Pearl River and surroundings. We headed back toward Georgia comforted by the thought that we would be back to see them again soon.