Hurrication Day Four....Still in NO

On Sunday morning the news from home was that there wouldn't be any power for quite a long time. In fact, we found out later Sunday afternoon that we wouldn't have to return to school/work for an entire week. It was pretty obvious that this would be a great time to take the summer vacation we missed since Greg worked too much and couldn't get away. New Orleans was interesting and new, but not the kind of place to stay a week with the kids.

But before we left good 'ole NO we knew there were places we needed to take the boys to see. So Sunday morning, or more like around lunch time we caught the trolley as close as we could get to the French Quarter. We only had to walk about 3 blocks to find the famous Cafe' DuMonde were we introduced the boys to Coffee Au Lait and Beignets. Yummy! I think we found a new favorite! Then we took a stroll around Jackson Square and tried to inject some history lessons into the day.

Just behind the square the mighty Mississippi River was cresting pretty high but beautiful to watch and we walked along the banks through the parks down to the Aquarium. I remember the New Orleans Aquarium as one of the best I've ever been to but it seems to have been downsized a bit maybe after reconstruction from Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless, it was full of great exhibits and history about the native waters as well as others. Our favorite was the White Alligator (not albino as you would think). The Aquarium employee in charge of the exhibit was gracious enough to tell us all about this incredible creature while we posed for pictures. The alligator came right up to the glass and let us get a closeup.

Greg, Craig & Clayton walked back to the hotel after our visit to the Aquarium. Christian and I spent about an hour walking through the mall in downtown New Orleans. It was a very nice upscale mall and I managed to find a cute pair of sandals and some school clothes. Later that evening we took a Trolley ride down to the Garden District and had ice cream sundaes and Apple Walnut Cobbler at Houstons. Then back to the hotel to wash a couple loads of clothes. The boys amused themselves in the workout room while I washed clothes and cut coupons.

Time to make plans for the rest of the week..........

Hurrication Day Three.......

Most of Saturday morning was spent watching the news to see just how much damage Ike did in the Houston/Baytown area. After checking in with friends and family the news was better than expected. Lots of trees, fences and roofs damaged but no major problems with our homes. The school seems to have suffered more damage than the homes in that area. The worse news was that 90% of the homes and businesses in our part of South Texas were out of power. It was pretty clear that it would be a while before we would going back to school.

The boys and I went downstairs to have the breakfast buffet at Don Shula's restaurant. It was so good and so relaxing.At about 11:00 am we started trying to think of things to do. We talked to the concierge and thought about a ride in the swamps but the weather was off and on sprinkles. So she suggested we visit the new Insectarium or the Aquarium. Great ideas until Greg suggested that we drive over to Baton Rouge and see the LSU Tigers play in their home stadium. I got on the internet and found tickets. We bought them and printed them downstairs in the lobby and by noon had 4th row tickets to the game. It didn't start until 7:00 pm so we had some time to kill.
The Audubon Nature Insectarium was walking distance so we decided to give it a try before the ballgame. Wow, what a fun place to hang out! We saw all kinds of insects from Centipedes to a pantry full of Cock Roaches! Yuk! The place was very interactive and fun. The last exhibit was a butterfly garden. So many beautiful butterflies that landed on you as they flew by. I would recommend this visit to anyone.

It took us only about 45 min to get to Baton Rouge for the LSU game. The weather was threatening and we passed by several places along I-10 that had high water from the surges casued by Hurricane Ike. But sitting on the 4th row of a great College Football game was priceless. We were so close we couldn't see the field because the football players were standing on the sidelines and blocked our view! We got to see the Tiger rolled by in his cage up close. It never rained so we had a great time. After the game we drove around campus and talked about how much fun college life can be. This just might be our new college goal!

Hurrication, Day Two......We are Outta Here!

I guess in the previous post, when I called it "Day One" of our Hurrication, that it isn't exactly accurate. See we didn't actually get in the car and leave until Friday morning, September 12th, at 7:00 am. I washed clothes, packed suitcases, cherished personal belongings, and everything I could think of to evacuate with on Thursday night and had it all by the front door. On Friday morning I woke Greg up with the update that is was headed straight for us. It was forecast to come ashore at 1:00 am the next morning.

We packed the car, got the sleepy headed boys in the car and started driving. We waited this late mostly because we didn't want a repeat of the traffic problems with hurricane Rita. But also we hoped there was a slight chance this wobbly storm would jig or jog out of our path. No such luck. Greg had made reservations in Lake Charles at L’Auberge du Lac Casino. Sounded like a fun place to wait out the storm and we were there by noon. But the storm news didn't put this part of Louisiana out of danger and we decided, while sitting in the parking lot at L’Auberge du Lac that we needed to head further east. Hey, how about New Orleans? The boys had never seen that city and Greg and I hadn't been in ages. It could be fun and only about 3 more hours down the road. So I got on the phone and booked a reservation at JW Marriott right off of Bourbon St.

Just a few hours later we were pulling into Downtown New Orleans and passing by the infamous Superdome. Our hotel was right in the middle of The French Quarter on the corner of St. Chrles and Bourbon St. We checked in and checked the tv news for updates on Hurricane Ike. All the way up here, the car radio had warned of rising water even in this part of Louisianna. The weather outside was fine with just a few sprinkles every now and then. We hoped we had traveled far enough out of Ike's reach.

Our first thing to do as Tourists' in New Orleans was to take a walk down Bourbon Street. I have to admit I was not impressed at all. It was very dirty and full of sites the boys really didn't need to see. So we quickly had a nice dinner at Bourbon House Seafood & Oysters. It was a really good meal. We walked around our hotel a little to get our bearings but it began to get dark and rainy so we headed in to watch the news about Ike.

The Hurrication had begun!!!!!!