When The Saints Go Marching In at Musical Legends Park

Audubon Aquarium and the delicious Domenica....

Another last minute change of plans today. While James, Amy and Fred took off for a swamp tour just north of the city, the 5 kids and I headed in to New Orleans to visit the Audubon Aquarium. The kids enjoyed having a good look around for just about 3 hours. The Aquarium was beautiful and clean and had a variety of exhibits. I particularly enjoyed the tunnel under the great tank where some divers were feeding the rays. Following our visit, we headed north to Cafe Beignet at the Musical Legends Park on Bourbon Street. We enjoyed some jazz and a drink before heading over to the restaurant Domenica next to the Roosevelt, an elegant Waldorf Astoria Hotel. We met our cousin Nathan there whom we hadn't seen in a great number of years. We noshed on gourmet half-priced pizzas and a pint of beer and then Nathan led us on a little walk to the French Market. It was nice to catch up with Nathan but pretty soon, it was time for us to pack up and head back to Metarie where the kids enjoyed a good, long splash in the pool. We're off to bed as we need to make an early start tomorrow to the New Orleans Cooking School.

St. Joseph's Plantation

We had to delay our day at the National Seashore due to some incredible storms that rolled in over night. With more storms forecast for today we decided our time might be better spent touring the St. Joseph Plantation and Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. We arrived at St. Joseph's at around 11 and were greeted by an older man and woman, descendents of the Waguespack family who have own the property for over 138 years. Our guide, who stayed at the house as a child when it was inhabited by her grandmother lovingly told the story of the homes' original inhabitants in the 1830s leading up to the last century when it was owned by members of her own family. The antebellum creole house sits on a fully-functioning sugar plantation that has been the background for many shows and movies including 12 Years a Slave which was filmed primarily at the sister plantation Felicity which sits about a half mile to the east of St. Joseph's. After a quick lunch under the moss and fern covered trees, we headed southwest to Jean Lafitte. We were hoping to spot some alligators but another heavy storm rushed our visit. Before we left, we were able to scramble along the quick 1.5 mile loop through the bayou at Barataria Preserve. There were beautiful cypress trees, roots stretching skyward, and enormous silk spiders but not an alligator in sight!

New Orleans!!!

Our adventure in to the city was delayed somewhat by an early morning call from our eldest who is traveling overseas. Seems somewhere between Venice and Florence Aidan misplaced both his passport and remaining rail reservations. Luckily the passport which was once believed lost was in is backpack. The rail tickets? As far as we know, they are enjoying a little Sicilian sunshine... Once we finished trying to sort him out, we headed in to New Orleans. We spent the day in the French Quarter, taking in a few of the sites including Madame John's Legacy, an 18th century National Historic Landmark as well as 1850 House which is an antebellum row house on St. Ann. We enjoyed our packed lunch in Jackson Square before heading on to Bourbon Street. We were caught in an amazing rain storm but luckily had already taken cover in one of the bars - phew! After a quick stop in to Pat O'Brien's we headed east. It looks as though there has been a good deal of rebuilding since we last visited New Orleans in 2010. After cruising past Fats Domino's house in the lower 9th ward, we headed west to Metarie to enjoy some fun in the pool and a home cooked meal. Tomorrow, we'll be venturing out to the National Seashore in Mississippi (sorry James...).

Kentucky!

The sky was dark and stormy when we set out from dry Dry Ridge this morning. First stop - Alltech, a microbrewery and distillery in Lexington specializing in bourbon and, my favorite, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. Dream come true. Alltech specializes in animal feed and founder Pearse Lyons (a Dubliner) began the brewing and distilling as a hobby!

The kids joined us on the tour however Abby and Emmett skipped out early to throw a football in the parking lot. Ben stayed with us for the tour which saw us through the expanded brewery and distillery. Our tour included several tastings of the beer and whisky which included a Kentucky Bourbon Stout and some fiery Rye Whisky. We stopped in to 'Sweet Spot' in downtown Lexington so the kids could grab an ice cream before we hit the road. An hour and a half later we were at the General George Patton Museum. When we finally caught up to Emmett, we discovered a number of artifacts from Patton's youth and military days. An impressive man with an impressive career but what I liked most were the number of quotes and references to trust, ethics, leadership, honor, bravery and valor. As the Museum is in Fort Knox, we not only had to clear security to get in, we shared the sights with a number of soldiers. We cruised past the federal depository and down to Nashville, saving an hour with the change in time zones. Now finding ourselves a bit peckish are heading off to Hattie B's. Tomorrow is the final leg of our trip to New Orleans!

Football Hall of Fame Canton,OH

We left Pennsylvania at about 8:30 heading south on 90 to the Football Hall of Fame. When we arrived at the Hall we learned that the AFC drafts were inside the museum for a special gathering so opening was delayed for about an hour. No big deal; we headed around the corner to take in our packed lunch on a little piece of grass we found. When we arrived back at the Hall, we found the players were just leaving. Several Steelers players stopped to sign autographs but our own Malcolm Brown was nowhere to be seen. The hall held information about the history of the game as well as its most outstanding players. The stewards were incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and the number of exhibits was extensive however as the kids pointed out, it would have been even better if there were a few more interactive exhibits for the fans to enjoy. We left the hall in good spirits anyway, and hit a tasty little barbecue spot in Florence, Kentucky. After another 30 minutes we arrived at our home for the night in Dry Creek which is in a 'dry' county by the way; no Kentucky Bourbon Ale for me....(!) Oh, well, at least we remembered to pack the box-o-wine. I bet you wish you were here Robyn.

Good night!

Racing over the Hudson

Erie PA

Well we're about 534 miles closer to our destination of New Orleans. We cruised along the pike, through New York over the Hudson and on in to Pennsylvania. We found our way to Erie in about 8 hours just in time to see the sun set over the lake. By the time we got down to the edge of the water, the sun was gone but the kids enjoyed getting out to stretch. Up and out fairly early tomorrow to make the 2 hour drive to Canton, OH and the Football Hall of Fame!

Just handling the final preparations for NOLA 2015. Stay tuned....