New Orleans – Good Food, French Market, New Orleans Mint, and Music in the streets!

Since we arrived late on Friday night, we spent the morning sleeping in and enjoying the general relaxation. When it got to be lunch time we realized we needed to head out for something to eat.
After meandering down the street just a bit we decided to stop into Jazz Cafe. Husband opted for the red beans and rice with shredded pork and sausage. Mom and I decided on the chicken tender and waffles. I was so glad that I opted for this southern favorite. The portions were VERY generous with 2 waffles and 3 chicken tenders, that appeared to be more akin to half of a chicken breast each than the skimpy sizes that we are used to seeing. The waffles featured just enough syrup to make them somewhat sweet and very delicious. The chicken was seasoned just right with a crispy exterior and juicy middle. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. We had such a lovely conversation with the waitress and she even indulged us to sit and chat for a while.

After that leisurely meal, we continued our wanderings toward the French Market. The streets have a European feel but are uniquely American at the same time. Lots of people crowded the streets today – several Bachelorette parties, tourists, and people just enjoying what the city has to offer.
  
We passed near Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral and stopped in to feel the peace and beauty of the park.
  
After sitting in the park for a brief rest, we continued on our way. Next stop the French Market! There was all kinds of beautiful art, jewelry, practical items, food and tourist baubles. I spent so much time ogling the beautiful things and thinking of what I might want to purchase that I failed to take any photos here. There was an entire booth that was just spices and spice mixes, booths selling a variety of foods, some booths selling jewelry of various types, and we stopped for a while at a booth that offered exquisite stone drink-ware – of particular interest to me was the one made with Tiger Eye and 2 other stones.

Across the street from the exit of the market was the end goal for the day – the New Orleans Mint. This mint was one of 3 taken over by the Confederates during the American Civil War. It was the only mint that produced a specific design for the Confederate minted coins.
  
While the first floor of the mint was about the mint itself, its operations and its eventual close; the second floor featured a New Orleans’ Musicians exhibit. Several of the musicians instruments were damaged extensively during Katrina but are being lovingly restored so they can be appreciated for generations to come.

  Fats Domino’s Piano was among the items damaged, restored, and displayed.




Unfortunately, some items may never be repaired. This fiddle belonged to Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Mr. Brown left New Orleans just before Katrina hit but left his fiddle behind in its case. The fiddle was found near where Mr. Brown’s home used to be in the condition seen below to the right. Mr. Brown passed away 2 weeks after Katrina in Texas.
 
In a special exhibit celebrating Louis Armstrong there were many artifacts including his first cornet and his last trumpet.
  
Once we concluded our time at the Mint, we ventured back to home for the week. Since we were passing by St. Louis Cathedral again, we decided to see if we could get inside for a look around. Before we reached the doors, the square had the most amazing musician. The music was beautiful and I could have stayed to listen for hours. The instrument is of an African design over 800 years old, although this version he made himself. The instrument is fashioned from a gourd at the base, covered with calf skin. The strings go up both the left and right side of the neck of the instrument and he strums them simultaneously with thumb and forefinger of each hand. After we watched for just a brief time, we continued on to the Cathedral.
 

Alas, they were having evening mass which we did not wish to disturb. Looking at the list of Rectors, the church was established in 1720. Wow…I can’t even imagine. I’m hoping we can get near there again to look around inside.
Since we couldn’t tour in the church we grabbed a bench seat to listen to more of the wonderful music. CD’s were purchased and then we wandered back to the condo to rest a bit before dinner time.


We headed back out around 7 toward Bourbon Street to see what food sounded good. There were  lots of people having a wonderful time and entire portions of the street were closed off to traffic allowing plenty of room to walk.  Eventually, we found ourselves at Pat O’Briens. Such wonderful food. Hubby opted for Jambalaya (he’s working his way through all his New Orleans favorites) and we opted for the special which was a grilled chicken breast with a creamy mushroom sauce, asparagus, and crispy potatoes. It was delicious and my plate was empty when I pushed it away. We stayed for dessert with hubby opting for Pecan Pie,  Mom opted for Bread Pudding and I chose the hurricane cheesecake. We were stuffed but so pleased with our entire meal.



Making the trek back to our “home away from home”, we passed several street singers doing a wonderful job and wandered down Royal Street where we did a lot of window shopping in the antique stores. It didn’t take too long before we decided we would definitely need to go back when the stores were open.

All in all, a very relaxing and enjoyable first day in this amazing city.

D.C. on Shutdown

Now that we’ve found ourselves in the fine state of Virginia we thought it might be a good idea to explore. Of course the Government was on shutdown at this point, being unable to reach a resolution on budget and healthcare, but we thought it would be nice to get a look around D.C. anyway. Besides, we needed to escape the hotel room for a bit and there were beautiful fall colors to enjoy.

I had previously visited D.C. in 2003 with a friend for half a day and the streets were packed with cars and spectators. I remember driving and finding a place to park being more frustrating than Chicago ever thought about being. I was in for a surprise this day though…

The streets were surprisingly empty. There were a few tourists wandering the sidewalks but nothing was open. As I heard a few talk among themselves, some in other languages, I felt badly for them. Here they had planned their vacation around seeing America’s Capital, experiencing the Memorials and visiting the Museums and none of it was open to them.

 

 

Of course, there was the extra difficulty of all the government employees who were not working at the time and therefore not being paid either. Having just moved cross country, we found ourselves in this situation. Overall the shutdown seemed like playground shenanigans to me, “I can’t have my way so I’m going to pick up my toys and go home”. How irresponsible for an elected government but they didn’t suffer for it, The People did. I have no doubt that the polls will be well attended in the near future.

Hearst Castle & North

This morning we woke up relatively early, for a vacation day, and headed to Hearst Castle.  We had been successful bidders of a complimentary tour of the Grand Rooms a few years ago at the Spouses' Club Auction and wished to see if we could get that tour.

We were checked out of the Motel extremely promptly and headed straight to Hearst.  Although they had just recently opened the Visitor's Center there were already quite a few people headed in.  The kind gentleman at the Ticket Counter was able to accommodate us and we were set to get on the 9:50 tour of the Grand Rooms.

We made use of the 15 minutes before the bus boarded to checkout the rest of the Visitors Center.  Noting that their Cafe offered a good variety including beef from Hearst Cattle Ranching, we set our lunch plans.  We quickly went through the introduction rooms where I was amazed to note that Hearst Castle was designed, engineered, managed, and partially decorated by one of the first licensed women architects in California, Julia Morgan.  I can't even imagine what kind of force of personality she must have been to see that project through it's 28 years of buildings, additions, revisions and challenges.

We boarded the bus which takes you up the hill via many switchbacks to the Big House, showing you the

land, it's surroundings, and the many improvements along the way. Wow, was all I could say. The view was breathtaking and commanding.  California State Parks and Friends of Hearst Castle have done a wonderful job of maintaining the beauty and magic of the site.  They share their enthusiasm with their visitors throughout your time there.  While on the bus, we learned that the switchbacks not only provide an easier route to the house, but the house itself was designed to play "hide and seek" with its visitors as they approached in order to build their anticipation of seeing it.  In fact, I would see the house and then as we turned a switchback it was once again hidden from view by trees or surrounding hillsides.  This left no doubt that the owner and architect planned well and had a sense of whimsy.

Once we arrived at the house, it was difficult to believe that it could have hidden at all.  What a magical place of beauty and wonder.  Mr. Hearst used his home to entertain movie stars and other influential people.  I have no doubt that these walls have been privy to many stories and secrets.

I was quite the shutterbug inside the house and have many photos to remember the tour by.  There were so many innovative architectural features such as glass block installed near the net of the tennis courts to illuminate the indoor swimming pool below. I am SO glad we made it a point to travel to this wonderful location and experience it's treasures.

With our tour completed and a quick bite, we needed to be heading out for our next adventure.  I was sad to leave this great site and wish we'd had more time but something tells me that it would take several visits before one could have seen all there was to see at this location.

We'd only been on the road for a small amount of time when we noticed people pulling off to the side of the road to view the Elephant Seals at Point Piedras Blancas.  There were SO many of them sunning themselves on the beach.  We were quickly informed that this time of year, they are in the process of shedding their skin and thus why they were burying themselves in the sand.  It was entertaining to watch them slide into the sand to create a burrow and then use their flippers to flip sand on their backs.

The stop also provided the opportunity to see the lighthouse nearby from afar as the drive was closed to visitors.  You can see the huge white rock to the right of the lighthouse in this picture.  These rocks project largely from the water along these shores and are the reason for the beach's namesake as well as the necessity of the lighthouse for this location.

It wasn't too much longer before we were back on the road headed to Monterrey Bay.  We had heard good things of this town and the Aquarium was supposed be particularly fabulous.  We were not disappointed.

This is a GREAT aquarium with plenty of interaction for guests and wonderfully educational exhibits.  They have a wetland habitat for some of the local birds to enjoy, as well as exhibits for Puffins and Seals.  We stepped outside briefly to watch some of the local otters play in the water just outside the Monterray Bay's perimeter.

Probably what I found the most interesting though was the exhibits where they have garbage strewn among the fish's environment so you can gain an understanding of human's impact on the Ocean's inhabitants.  In case you are wondering, yes that is a fish living in that boot.  Everything was done wonderfully and I must provide kudos to the staff.

We couldn't stay long as we still had a long drive ahead of us to reach San Francisco.  We continued along the coastline, and here are some of the other sights that greeted us along our drive.

 We got to our hotel in San Francisco around 10 PM and once parked and settled in, tried to get some rest to prepare us for enjoying San Francisco on the morrow.