We have been working hard on the boat, spending lots and lots of time ripping up teak, sanding, epoxying, removing screws and repeating for another section. Between all of those little stints of work, I have been traveling for work, Deb has been keeping the little one occupied and Chasity has been going to school and tutoring. All in all, everyone was ready to get off the boat for a couple of days and enjoy some family time.
We have a timeshare that we had banked our days on several years ago and it was about to expire. We decided to cash it in right here locally since we didn’t have a whole week to go somewhere with Chasity’s school schedule. We decided to stay right in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
This was a nice place with a bedroom, living room, pull out bed, bathroom, kitchenette and patios that had grills and a place to relax outside. We had a week so we booked it for the whole week and stayed on the weekend and then had some much fun, we went down and stayed another night during the week and just drove back up to the bus stop in the morning to take Chasity to school early the next morning.
When we arrived, we got all settled into the room. It was called “Club La Pension” just off of Canal street. The great thing about this is it was only a couple of blocks from the street cars to go down the River front or even out to the Garden District.
As we were getting our stuff arranged in the room and checking out the accommodations, I was looking for something and Chasity called me in with this very indignant voice stating “Look at this, I think we should get a refund” I looked up and saw that they had a chair on the ceiling. It was kind of cool and not something I ever would have thought of doing, bit it certainly fit in the odd decor of the place. It was just enough to remind you that you were not in any normal city and you should prepare for art, music, and unique personalities everywhere you went. As always, New Orleans did not disappoint.
After checking in, it was a bit late and we wanted to get some dinner. As we pulled up to the place we saw a restaurant on the corner called “Huck Fins” It didn’t have too many people in it so we were thinking it may be more hype than good food, but it was getting a bit late, it was next door to the hotel and we were hungry. With all of that we went in.
The people that worked there were GREAT. Every single person from the host, to the servers (and we say servers because we came back here a few times during our stay).
Our server suggested we have the Alligator but not to get it fried like most people do, because then it just tastes like a chicken nugget. She suggested blacked and we followed that guidance.
What came out were small chunks of meat (bite sized) and it was very tasty. It had the consistency of pork (it was a little tougher than chicken, but not as tough as beef. It was VERY good though.
From there all other food choices were great as well. From the kids chicken strips, to sausage, jambalaya, po-boys. One day we went back for breakfast and I may have had the best pancake over here.
The next morning we checked out the patio and seating area on our floor of the hotel. McKinlee loved running along the patio. The odd thing is those windows were all doors that opened into another room so I was making sure they were quiet where I could 🙂
From the hotel we walked down Canal street and went to the Insectarium. It was pretty cool and we learned a lot about some of the local bugs, including termites (yuck). The girls also poked their head into this little dome where there was a cockroach case. It gave me the heebie jeebies just watching them do this. I am not sure how well you can see it in the photo below or not. There were hundreds of roaches in this small 4 foot by 6 foot display.
In the museum they had some cool attractions for the kids like a small VW Bug that was deemed the “Love Bug” and they had a whole display on those little bugs that come out in the south and fly all over the place mating.
They don’t live long because we are not seeing them now, but 3 weeks ago they were everywhere. The kids would go in the car and play on the steering wheel and there was a little movie that played on the windshield about the bugs. Chasity took her place as the Chauffeur for any other kids that hopped in the backseat to watch the movie.
The overall museum was really pretty good. They had a large interactive area where the kids learned about all kinds of bugs.
There was fish tanks that showed all of the water life in a marsh or swamp and while the alligators they had in the display were fake, McKinlee share was cautious walking anywhere near it. I would say that is a good fear to have 🙂
We also went into an interactive movie theatre that Terminex sponsored, which I found ironic in itself. They talked about bees and beetles and love bugs and all of the local bugs and how they are helpful to nature, pollinate plants and all the cool things that bugs do.
So I found it a bit comical that the company sponsoring the ‘celebration of the bug’ also is the hired guns for when they are getting on your last nerve.
We took the streetcar along the river front down to the french market. McKinley was determined to get someone walking on the walkway that window to waive to her. She swung her little hand so vigorously and finally after about a dozen attempts someone looked her way and she got the returned wave. It made her day. We were actually looking for the farmers market which is located in there, however it apparently doesn’t into the fall and winter so ended for the season in late September.
We still enjoyed the ride and then when we went to go back, we found out you have to have exact change for the streetcar ride and there wasn’t any places that would make change, so we just walked back to the hotel about 2 miles. I carried McKinlee for part of it and Chasity certainly was a bit bored and tired from walking, but it did us all some good. Besides we had a big dinner plan for the night, so it was good to walk a bit of that off proactively.
We boarded another streetcar after getting changed for dinner and rode it out to the Garden District and we were going to “The Melting Pot” which is one of those fondue restaurants. We thought the girls would get a kick out of it and they certainly did. They brought out 2 kinds of melted cheeses to start with and then it was on to the meals, then deserts. It was delicious and very filling and while I think the girls had fun, it is a long dinner experience. We got to the restaurant just before 5pm for our 5pm reservation and were seated prior to 5. We didn’t leave until about 8:30 or so to provide a little sense of how long you can sit and just chat and slowly cook your meal and enjoy each others company.
At this time it was well past dark and on the way back to the hotel, Swab was just about asleep in Debs arms and Chasity was feeling rather independent and wanted to go sit by the window on the other side of the street car and look at the sights. She looked so grown up over there. Time is flying by, that is for sure.
All in all it was a great little trip. We also put some of this in a video that I suspect the family will care more about than everyone else, but if you are considering a trip to New Orleans, I would recommend the place we stayed as well as Huck Finn’s Cafe. We enjoyed our dinner at the Melting Pot and we even went to Fogo De Chao one night which was another neat thrill for the girls.