On Friday noon as we checked out of the French Quarter RV park, we watched people setting up in the overflow area so they could “dry camp” for the weekend. We had no idea that the French Quarter Music Festival draws so many people. We moved to the Pontchartrain Landing RV park which is located about five miles north of the French Quarter on the inland waterway near Lake Pontchartrain. It is a fair size park with good facilities located on port authority property, near some marinas and factories in a very remote area. Most of their sites are narrow and some are a bit cramped. We were lucky that they run a shuttle bus to the French Quarter 3 times per day so that we did not have to rely on cabs. Parking was absolutely impossible during the festival so we never considered that to be an option.
We explored the French Market on Friday afternoon, listened to more music, and ate dinner on a patio at the ‘Famous Gumbo Pot’ right near the Mississippi River (too bad the food was only fair). On our way back to catch the shuttle, we walked by Bourbon Street which was starting to crank up as the sun went down – what a crazy place.
Saturday morning, we headed to the French Quarter on the 10 am shuttle so that we could do more exploring. Once we saw how busy the festival area was becoming, we decided to explore different parts of the city. We really enjoyed the free ferry from Canal Street across the Mississippi River to Algiers Point since we were able to get a good view of the music festival and the buildings near the shore.
We then hopped on the historic St. Charles Street Car line to view some of the beautiful mansions in the Garden district – which were built by the wealthy ship owners to compete with the historic downtown homes. However, since we weren’t the only tourists with the same idea plus the locals crowding onto the street car – this is a trip we will have to repeat when we can see more. We decided it would be impossible to get into any of the museums so we headed back to listen to more music. We dropped into the St. Louis cathedral for early Sunday mass – somehow the Gregorian music didn’t fit the jazz tunes coming from the outside.. LOL.
By now the downtown core was totally shut to all traffic. It was wall to wall pedestrians and party goers. We have never been in a festival that covers such a large area of a city. This party totally consumes the entire French Quarter.
We headed up a few blocks from Bourbon street to the Maison Dupuy and ate at their ‘French Quarter Bistro’. The food was excellent. Paul’s crab cake and Jane’s red fish were fantastic dishes – topped off by a piece of cinnamon apple pie! What a meal.
We then hopped the shuttle bus back to the RV park – went out to gas up the truck and buy a few groceries and prepared to depart the next morning.
Early Sunday morning, we left New Orleans and headed north on I – 55 to Tunica County, Mississippi, now the third largest gaming area in the U.S. and about 20 miles south of Memphis. We were amazed that I-69 leads directly to the casinos – an interstate highway only 15 miles long which was almost deserted on a Sunday afternoon. We booked into the Harrah’s Casino campground which has over 200 sites, only a few of which were occupied. Casino camping is usually inexpensive, and often comes with a good choice of eateries in the casinos. True to form, the sites are first class pull thrus, but the only disappointment is that wifi is not included – and we were not prepared to spring for $12.00 a day to be connected. We paid a short visit to the casino and decided to pass on the Paula Deen buffet – we weren’t sure that our arteries could handle the cholesterol overload after a day of driving.
To see our pictures of New Orleans : click on : http://picasaweb.google.com/pjkralik/NewOrleans
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