This was to be a mini road tour compared with our USA road tour the previous year, with our final destination being New Orleans.
After Graceland we headed through Tennessee and into the State of Mississippi, briefly entered Alabama and then re-entered Mississippi, our destination being the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile long parkway, in the form of a limited access two-lane road, it commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee. It is a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road, devoid of billboards, fast food outlets, buildings etc. Their are various stop offs en route to view 'points of interest' though in fairness they were scraping the bottom of the barrel; stopping to view an area of grass that had 'once homed some people' was about the best of it. The countryside was similar all afternoon, with low lying land, lots and lots of trees and very little traffic. We had to leave the parkway to find a motel for the night. The evening meal was a ‘dry’ one, it being Sunday and not a day when alcohol could be sold !
The following day we continued along the parkway, stopping off every now and again to enjoy the tranquillity and the countryside. The problem for us after a while was that it was all ‘same, same’, it reminded us of an English country lane, but one that goes on for hundreds of miles. We left the parkway and headed cross country with a final destination of Vicksburg. Upon leaving the park, we started to see wooden houses (complete with rocking chairs), mobile houses and lots and lots of Baptist churches. The countryside started to vary, although inevitably it was low lying and so not really dramatic. We stayed on the outskirts of Vicksburg, in a ‘Scottish Inn’, which was cheap, but damp. We were starting to find the state of Mississippi very humid.
In the morning we headed to the Vicksburg National Military Park. The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War- a war which was the deadliest in American history, caused 620,000 soldier deaths (more deaths than all other wars combined that involved the United States) and an undetermined number of civilian casualties, ended slavery in the United States and restored the Union.
The park provides a wealth of information for both the Civil War buff (which we were not) and the uninitiated. There are numerous cannons; points of interest where major battles took place; monuments and obelisks commemorating the dead; the salvaged remains of the USS Cairo (an iron clad gunship) and the inevitable military cemetery. In addition to it being a very interesting place to visit, it is very peaceful and the drive takes you through some beautiful countryside and wildlife (we even saw wild turkeys). We spent a couple of hours in the park, then headed into Louisiana with the aim of reaching New Orleans by the evening. We were obviously not sure what to expect as Hurricane Gustav had hit only 10 days earlier and millions of people had been evacuated from its path. As we got closer we started to see the devastation caused by the hurricane - lots of fallen trees, damaged power lines and many buildings either damaged or destroyed by falling trees. At the outskirts of Baton Rouge we saw queues of people waiting for handouts of food and water, all being overseen by the National Guard. We crossed bridges spanning the swampland (swampland has a distinctive smell !) and into the outskirts of New Orleans. We had real trouble finding somewhere to stay with many hotels either being closed for hurricane repairs or full of displaced and homeless people. Tired and irritable we finally found a hotel about 10 miles from the centre of New Orleans and headed to the bar. We got chatting to a couple of people and before we knew it we were steaming drunk - on reflection with events back home and a long day, it was much needed and left us hungover but reinvigorated.
As a consequence of our drinking binge, the following day was a hangover day - we sought out a 'Dennys' for an American 'All Slam' breakfast and then shopped at Best Buy where we get a new laptop, an external hard-drive and 3 Ipod Nanos - all for under $1000 !!! After dropping off the hire car we found a hotel near the French Quarter in New Orleans for the following 3 days and then chilled in the hotel for the remainder of the day.
We caught a taxi into New Orleans and booked into our hotel - one benefit to us of the hurricane was an absolute lack of tourists, hence we ended up staying in a $495 a night room for $99 - marvelous. We were only 3 blocks from the French Quarter and so set out for voyage of discovery. We instantly warmed to the French Quarter and the surrounding area, it encompasses quite a large area (which keeps you occupied) and has a safe feel to it and a good vibe. We went to Jackson Square, saw St. Louis cathedral, walked around the quarter enjoying the architecture and the near empty streets - there were probably more National Guard than tourists ! Finally we ended up on Bourbon Street and found a restaurant called 'La Bayou', where we ended up with some fantastic Cajun food - fried alligator (very tasty, like chewy chicken); red beans & rice; Jambalaya (seasoned mixture of rice, meat and vegetables cooked in one pot); gumbo (a thick soup) and crawfish. The food was some of the best we had all holiday. After that we booked a swamp tour for the following day and then caught a tram to give us a chance to see a bit more of the city - there is alot of urban decay as you leave the tourist hub, as well as many houses still boarded from the hurricane.
The weather picked up over night, as Hurricane Ike (which had already struck Turks & Caicos) was heading towards Texas, being on the fringe of the hurricane New Orleans got heavy winds and very heavy intermittent rain. We walked along a deserted waterfront, which overlooks the Mississippi. We had to keep dodging heavy spells of rain (one 'dodge' was spent under a covered area trapped with a mad local dude, certainly no younger than 65, who sang a song of your choice for whatever cash you wanted to give him. As Jo and her youngest sister Charlie both love Dock of the Bay we chose that one and were pleasantly surprised to hear a very good voice, though the consistent snapping of his fingers was a bit weird........We checked on the tour and were not suprised to find out that the swamp tour had been cancelled. We ended up going to the Audubon Insectarium which was suprisingly interesting and passed a few hours. We then caught a tram out to see some of the city's many beautiful cemeteries and their distinct above-ground tombs. Later on we wandered down Bourbon street, I found an Irish Bar that served guiness properly (and in an imperial pint glass) and then we wandered into the very touristy Voodoo shops. In the evening we headed back to 'La Bayou' where we had some great crawfish fishcakes and blackened redfish. We then headed down Bourbon Street - it may once have been the home of jazz, sadly now it is the home of stag and hen nights and reminded me of Blackpool ! There were 'gentlemens Clubs', strip bars, karaoke bars, '3 for 1' drinks offers and the street was packed with gangs of lads and the innevitable drunks. It seems really sad that a street with so much history has become such a tacky place. We did however find an oasis on the street, 'Musical Legends Park', which has a cafe called 'Cafe Beignet'. We sat in the couryard, drinking and enjoying a jazz band called 'Steamboat Willie', who specialised in 1920's jazz. Weird how Jo was able to sing along to what felt like some quite obscure music, grinning as each new song came on and eyes lighting up with recognition.
Our final full day we fortified ourselves at a great breakfast place (we just can't get enough American style hashbrowns), then went on a shoping spree, interspaced with drinking coffee and listening to jazz bands on the streets and in open bars. We bought lots of unnecessary things as well as the obligatory voodoo dolls, sent postcards and then chilled in a bar listening to a truly insane cajun/bluegrass band (and enjoying the Corona 2 for 1 offer !). In the evening we ate fried oysters (obviously an acquired taste - very mashmallowy) and then headed for Preservation Hall for what we hoped would be a memorable evening of jazz. Preservation Hall is a noted jazz performance hall, it has limited seating, no power (hence no microphones etc), no bar and is only opens for 3 hours per evening (8pm - 11pm). It is usually crowded so we arrived early and despite the low number of tourists in the city, we still ended up sitting on the floor. The band was out of this world, they were a 7 piece band (drums, double bass, piano, clarinet, saxophone, trombone & trumpet) and we sat through all 3 sets, I vow anyone not to be moved when they played 'Saints'. This was what we had come to New Orleans for and was probably the most memorable music of the holiday. After the last set we headed back to the Irish bar for guiness & jamesons (well for me anyway), walked back along Bourbon Street to catch another set of 'Steamboat Willie' and then headed back to the hotel.
The final morning was an opportunity to indulge in more hashbrowns before heading to the airport. A flight to Miami, then onto TCI and we were home.
We had another great trip, there were highs, namely the music (Tootsies, BB Kings & Preservation Hall) and the food (alligator, gumbo, crawfish & fried dill pickles), as well as lows (the hurricanes and uncertainty back home & finding out Kes & Sarah were planning on leaving the island).
Overall it only went to enhance our appreciation of the diversity of America and the general friendliness of the American people.
The only question to ask is - where to visit in the States next ?
