New Orleans: The City That Care Forgot

The drive from Houston to New Orleans proved to be a stubbornly long one, nearly eight hours, which broke us just a little. It’s no surprise that after nearly two months on the road we’d reach a limit, but knowing that didn’t make it any more pleasant. What did make it more pleasant was a roadside stop for a shrimp po’ boy (me) and several whole crabs (Zeynep, who suffered a puncture wound when one of them fought back post-mortem).

The RV park Zeynep found is smack in the middle of the city, much more an urban setting than anywhere else we’d been, and an easy walk to the French Quarter. The first evening we hit up a highly-rated gumbo place for dinner, with mixed results and an appearance by a very sad looking unicorn, our first indication that New Orleans wasn’t going to be our favorite stop on the trip.

That evening we also walked by Bourbon Street on the way back to the Airstream, and boy oh boy does the French Quarter earn New Orleans’ “The City That Care Forgot” moniker. And not in a fun, rules-be-damned, you-only-live-once sort of way.

The next morning we went to one of the places in the French Quarter that serve beignets. The soggy balls of fried dough and fresh-from-the-freezer-bag potatoes matched up well with the live jazz musicians playing at 9a who regaled the sad audience with sad stories about how cool New Orleans used to be.

Because this is apparently something we do on road trips now, we decided to earn our sad fried dough balls and wandered out of the French Quarter to a local bouldering gym where, see below, Zeynep was in beast mode. We also found a döner (!) place nearby, and proceeded to have the best meal New Orleans had yet offered up.

The main event of our stop in New Orleans was planned to be (and was!) visiting a friend of Zeynep’s from when they both studied in St Petersburg several eons ago. This particular friend is a former US Embassy staffer, a former five star hotel concierge, and currently an in-demand salsa instructor. Suffice it to say, a very New Orleans person to hang out with, and despite being a transplant to the city a strong redemption for a place we otherwise aren’t rushing to visit again.

From here, back on the road, to Montgomery, Alabama.