New Orleans, Day 3

11 November 2014

Another great night of sleeping, we both woke up pretty refreshed in the morning. We had a busy day planned, so we were out of the hotel by 8:15.

A short drive later we were deep in the French Quarter on the hunt for the elusive beignets at Cafe du Monde. Unlike yesterday at 10AM there was no line and we got a great table with a view. The beignets were good, I think between the two of us we had a ½ cup of powdered sugar on our plates. We were serenaded by a gospel trumpeter while we ate.

The Central Grocery, the inventors of the muffaletta, were closed on Monday. But with it being Tuesday we crossed the freshly washed street and waited in line. Yes, I did write freshly washed street. There are a number of horse drawn carriages in the area, so it looks like they wash the streets down between 6-9 AM (since there is no stopping / standing / parking at that time). Unlike Mackinac Island, they did a much better job. On the other hand they have fewer horses. On the other hand there are more drunks using the streets. Bet you didn’t know I had three hands.

Anyway, the Grocery opened at 9 and the dozen of the early risers tromped in to place our orders. The sandwich staff didn’t look happy, but I’m guessing they are used to seeing people right away. We also got a small container of their famous olive salad to try on our sandwiches at home.

Next we drove across town to the printing plant of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Susan had co-workers that she wanted to meet. While we were there we got a tour of the building. The presses were not running since it’s a morning paper, they print overnight. But they are huge, two story monsters that cover half a block.

Back in the car and started the ride out of New Orleans. The good times had indeed rolled, but we needed to roll on. We crossed out of Louisiana and headed back through Mississippi.

First stop was “Gulf Coast Gator Ranch” in Moss Point. We had been stymied in seeing gators in the wild. My son has lived in Florida for quite a while and has never seen a wild gator. So we were going to get a gander at a wild gator even if it was at a ranch.

The ranch is run by a family that has been in the Gator business since the 60′s. The second season of Gator Boys on Animal Planet was filmed on their ranch. And when I say ranch, I really mean their 440 acre swamp that is next to the Grand Bay Wildlife area. They have small gators ranging from a few inches to 5′ in pens along their building. There is one 24” one that you can hold.

Behind the building is a fenced in 3 acre “pond” that is home to 70+ gators. We got our cup of gator food and tossed some out into the pond. The gators took notice and swam over to get some treats. The gator chow floats so they swim up and snap it up.

But we were on the prowl for “wild gators” so we climbed on the airboat (a first for us), donned ear protection and headed out into the swamp. A few minutes later we were in a secluded area. Our guide, got a bag of marshmallows out and tossed one into the water. Pretty soon, a gator came out of the weeds and snatched the tasty treat. While tossing more sugar at the gator we got a lecture on the lives of gators and what the big differences between crocodiles and alligators.

We cruised around the swamp some more and got to see two more gators and an a number of turtles. Airboats are cool, but they are really, really loud.

We had confirmed wild gator sightings, with pictures! Off to our next stop.

In Mobile is the USS Alabama one of the WWII era battleships. It’s been turned into a floating museum. It’s been in place since the 1960′s and they have done a good job in keeping it in great shape. For the next two hours we climbed through the ship, looking at how 2500 men lived to fight in the war.

Since it was Veterans Day it was busy aboard with families roaming about. The ship is very impressive, very claustrophobic. Not sure that I’d last long in the space with all those people since it felt crowded with 200 people aboard.

Next door to the USS Alabama is a small airplane museum. We did a quick tour through it, we had been to a number of plane exhibits. We had both done submarines, so we passed on the two that were docked there.

Next was the drive back to our marina with stops for veggies, food, beer, wine, etc. We got back to the Marina about 6PM. Two dock carts (a standard dock cart is about three times the size of a standard kids wagon) later and we were done for the day.

We had Central Grocery muffaletta dinner! They were wonderful. Even though they had been made 9 hours before, the bread was fresh, the meat and cheese combo was perfect and just the right amount of salt and olive oil from the olive salad. While the ones from Napoleon were good, these are clearly number one.

Our tour of the Big Easy was a great success! Laissez les bons temps rouler!

4 thoughts on “New Orleans, Day 3

  1. What a great snapshot of “Nauwlins”!!!
    Glad to see you guys enjoying the “Deep South”.
    Beverly and I are in Nashville where it is a balmy 25 degrees tonight. We are leaving Nashville tomorrow to return to our home in Birmingham; hope to spend this weekend on the boat which will be in Demopolis for a while — work/play — go figure!!! Have fun, Seas the Day!!!

  2. Uh oh, small dad mistake….USS Alabama is a South Dakota-class battleship, not a destroyer ;)

  3. Wish you guys would have asked Gun and I about seeing gators. Gun has a place he takes his tours and is friends with the owner. If you dock in Naples or Marco Island, it is close to both, there is a place called the Oasis visitor center on Big Cypress National Preserve that you can see tons of gators actually in the wild. We are flying back to FL today 11/26/14 from our Mexican Riviera cruise. If you would like any ideas of places to see on your way call me or Gun, remember, you know 2 Florida natives, we know lots of neat places. See you soon, love Pammie

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