After reading poor reviews of the Soda Shop at the museum, we decided to eat at the American Sector, again. I got the charcuterie plate and Mike got a shrimp po boy.
American Sector Restaurant visit 2
National WW II Museum visit 2
We went back to the WW II Museum to finish the second half. It was super busy with school groups and tours. We picked Wednesday because it is usually a lighter traffic day.
Note the last picture that looks a lot Chris Evans….Captain America is real.
The National WWII Museum
945 Magazine St
New Orleans, LA 70130
St James Cheese Company
We saw this restaurant when we were at Creole Creamery. It is highly reviewed when you look-up places to eat in NOLA. It is part cheese shop and part cafe with inside, patio and courtyard dining. We ate inside since Mike’s eyes were dilated. Mike got the brie and ham sandwich with chips. He was sad it was missing vegetables. I got the cheese and charcuterie plate with three choices (you can get up to 10). It had brie, blue cheese and gouda. I was actually supposed to have 2 cheese and 1 meat but they messed up. They did eventually bring me out prosciutto with mustard and pickles when they realized their mistake.
St James Cheese Company (Uptown).
5004 Pyrtania St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
Deanie’s Seafood Visit 2
After the park and store, we headed back over to the lake shore to Deanie’s to try some different things on the menu. This is still tied with Kenner Seafood for our favorite place to eat on our trip. The shrimp and crab is so fresh. I felt like I was playing Battleship with Mike while we ate. We both got the shrimp platter. I also got crawfish balls. This is the place that gives you boiled potatoes instead of bread.
Deanie’s Seafood
1713 Lake Ave
Metairie, LA 70005
Mardi Gras World
We spent the day at the Mardi Gras World. It is a museum/company that builds floats for Mardi Gras. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. It is one of several huge warehouses on the Port of New Orleans They fabricate the floats out of paper mache, foam and fiberglass. The Krewes (clubs) own the actual float trailer and they pay these people to create the decorations based on the krewe’s theme. The parades are sponsored by different krewes and there are multiple parades beginning on January 6th through Fat Tuesday. Last year there were 39 different parades. Some of the decorations are saved and reused in different ways on other floats in the future. They even gave us beads and King Cake.
Fontainebleau State Park
While driving by, we decided to stop and explore the state park. It is built around the ruins of a sugar mill built in 1829. It is a 2,800 acre park that backs up to Lake Pontchartrain. Near the parking lot we stumbled across some small alligators that were floating in a sunny water spot. They were cute until we both decided that their was probably a momma gator near by and we backed away quickly. FYI…alligators move up to 35 mph on land and 20 mph in water. That is much faster that Jana and Mike. We stuck our feet in the water and it was pretty cold.
Fontainebleau State Park
62883 LA-1089,
Mandeville, LA 70448
7 Sisters Oak Tree
This is the largest Southern Live Oak in the USA. It is estimated to be between 500 and 1000 years old. In 2018 the limb spread exceeded 153 feet and the trunk is 39.6 feet in girth.
Seven Sisters Oak
On Private Property
200 Fountains Park Blvd,
Mandeville, LA 70448
The Causeway
We took a road trip to the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain for the day. It includes the cities of Mandeville and Slidell. We crossed the lake on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge. It is the longest continuous span over water in the world at 23.8 miles long.
Wikipedia
Frenier Landing
After our tour, our guide recommended this restaurant. It was on the way back to New Orleans from Laplace. It is right on the shore overlooking Lake Pontchartrain. In fact, after he loaded the boat, he was meeting his wife there.
For an appetizer we chose crawfish queso and chips. Mary got the caesar salad and corn and crab bisque. Mike got fried shrimp. I got shrimp and crawfish ettouffe. It was all good.
Frenier Landing Restaurant & Oyster Bar
113 Dottie Ln
Laplace, LA 70068
Swamp Tour #2
Last week we took a large group (22 person) swamp tour and it was pretty good. I did not really like how they interacted with the animals by feeding them and getting really close. I think that nature and wild things should not be impacted by my presence. Part of our slow travel is to leave as small a foot print as possible.
We found a private tour company that does not feed or interfere with the swamp animals. They give tours of the Manchac Swamp. The area is protected by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. Our guide was Terry and he is retired with a background in wildlife management. We used a small flat-bottom boat called a “Go Devil” that took us into narrow spaces that we had to duck under branches and avoid spiders.
We saw several alligators and birds. The trees and plants were beautiful. We often stopped the motor and drifted in the water enjoying the sounds of the swamp. We were so happy to share this experience with Mary Claire.
Our tour company was Wild Louisiana Tours.