An overnight at friends and Houston then on to the Big Easy but will it be?

Well we pulled up stakes in San Antonio and drove to friends in Houston. Steve and I were interns and residents in DC and Jo and Melinda, Steve’s wife, were nurses that won our hearts at the same hospital. The Washington Hospital Center now MedStar was and is the largest hospital in DC. And it was a fabulous place to train with administration appreciating the staff and a plethora of rare and common diseases that gave us a great experience before launching us out into the world. Too many stories to go into here but the four of us reminisced trying to remember names that went with the many memories we shared. Steve went on to start a GI practice in Houston and retired from that practice about two years ago around the time I retired. I think we both miss some parts of being a doc and not so much the call and drudgery of electronic medical records and office back end business. We only had enough time for a quick stay but it was great catching up. Turns out they are buying a place just north of us in Florida so hopefully we will get together more often that the 36 years or so since our last visit.

After an overnight in Houston we headed to our New Orleans stop. This leg of our journey was a 318 mile trek that took us across lush green woodlands, fields and bayous. One of the stretches of I-10 in Louisiana the US took us across the third longest bridge in the US running through water and bayou. It is the second longest bridge in the Interstate system at 18.2 miles long. I can’t imagine what it would be like were there to be an accident or breakdown on the bridge but fortunately we made it across enjoying the green landscape after what was weeks of dirt and rock desert that while pretty in its own right got old as we are spoiled green landscape people in Maine and Florida. We arrived at our campground without any issues.

The campground didn’t have great signs as to where to go to checkin and I was feeling pressured as we received a call asking if we would be arriving by 4PM when they closed. Kind of an odd time to close given so many people would still be on the road at that time but we fortunately got there by 3;30. This campground caters to long term stays and not short stays like us and I had to ask where to go making them point it out on the map they tossed at me. As I’ve mentioned before, most if not all campgrounds draw on the map what road to take and circle your campsite with many actually driving you to your site to be sure you don’t go the wrong way or hit something. Clearly customer service wasn’t this facilities forte. We got to our site and set up camp for a two night stay giving us the following day to explore and see New Orleans.

The following morning began with one of our rare not great weather rainy days. This trip and the last we had been blessed with great weather missing tornadoes, hail, snow etc for the most part. So we were not upset that we had to explore in the rain. After a relaxing morning we headed out to go to New Orleans. Despite New Orleans being in the name of this campsite it turns out we were an hour away from downtown. The quickest way to New Orleans was across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. The causeway is actually a bridge and the Lake is actually an estuary but both were impressive. The causeway is the longest continuous bridge across water in the world at 23.79 miles. It is made up of two double lane bridges in parallel that have 9500 cement pilings! I suspect this bridge and the I-10 bridge would have had difficulty getting environmental approval if built today but I loved being able to experience both.

We arrived in New Orleans to rain and mist and incredibly narrow streets. Not the best combination for my truck but we found a very convenient parking lot near the restaurant we were headed to and the rain stopped as we parked! We had intended to go to Brennan’s the famous restaurant for good food (and for us old folks TV ads where they substituted Folgers instant coffee for brewed coffee in the giant silver pots they use to serve coffee). My sister’s husband actually had them burn him by spilling coffee (not sure if real or instant) on him while serving. My sister cant remember if they comped them or not. That experience aside my sister said the food was great and as it turns out others think the same as we couldnt get reservations until much later than us old people eat. So I checked Yelp and found a tavern with classic Louisiana food and good reviews named Pierre Maspero’s. The restaurant is one of the oldest in the French Quarter and was where Andrew Jackson planned the defense of the Battle of New Orleans where the British surrendered to Jackson.

After dinner we walked around with me looking for Beignets to top of a food trip. The French Quarter had many people speaking French and lots of cute buildings and alleyways that on a sunnier day would be great to explore. I think this is one of the places Jo would actually want to return too to see more of the town.