Beignets, Boats, & Jambalaya

Day 21

We woke up to another sunny day (I think that’s 12 in a row), left the campground around 8:30 AM, and headed across the Lake Ponchartrain causeway into New Orleans. Although I really don’t like driving over high or long bridges, each time I drive across such a bridge it gets a little easier.  

Our first stop was at Morning Call in City Park for beignets and café au lait.  I’d drive across that bridge anytime for such a delicious pastry! The park was very lively; Tai Chi classes going on nearby and a high school graduate, posing for a professional photographer in the gazebo opposite the café.  

The New Orleans Jazz Festival is going on right now, so as we drove out of the park and toward the French Quarter we passed a continuous flow of concert goers walking toward the Fair Grounds where the multi day event is being staged.  Wished we had more time; I’d have love to spent a day listening to jazz in the Big Easy.  

Continuing our driving tour of the city we passed a number of murals painted on warehouses.  There’s no shortage of art or music here.

Our main activity for today was to visit the World War II museum, which was located in New Orleans because the landing craft used at Normandy, the Higgins Boats, were built here. 

We spent 4 ½ hours in the museum that covered the causes for the war, the early opposition to American involvement (aka America First), Pearl Harbor, Japanese internment camps, African American participation, women’s participation, D-Day, & the atomic bombs. The museum includes multiple buildings, a 4-D Omni movie, and a building dedicated to Boeings airplanes including the Corsair that my father flew.

a Naval Pilot's flight jacket

a Naval pilot

During our visit we took a break and had brunch at a nearby café, the Surrey’s Juice Bar.  Joni enjoyed Bananas Foster French toast and I had Hog’s Head Benedict with Creole hollandaise.  Fantastic!

 

Returning to the museum after our meal we continued visiting the exhibits and stayed until closing at 5 pm.  We then resumed our auto tour of the city, driving through many neighborhoods including a section along Frenchman’s Avenue, where live jazz blasted from from every bar.  We were still too full to go out to dinner, so we picked up some take out jambalaya, shrimp creole, and gumbo that we consumed back at our campsite.  We arrived just as the sun as setting and enjoyed our last dinner in New Orleans under the stars.