Day 3: Shrimp and Petroleum
Monday, September 04, 2006
It's the end of day 3 - literally. I'm in a lovely hotel in Galveston. They heard this is my birthday vaca so they upgraded us to a suite with a Gulf view. Yeah! I love upgrades.The drives seemed shorter and less monotonous today. We were so sick of cotton yesterday that the interstate was a welcome relief to our "scenic" country roads. Today was sugarcane. It was equally annoying, but we just stayed on the interstate and zipped right past it all.
We spent our morning inNew Orleans. It was so very different than the night before. We had the FQ nearly to ourselves. We ate beignets at Cafe DuMonde, then walked north just outside the FQ to tour the St. Louis Cemetary One. On the way, we crossed over Bourbon Street but smelled it long before and after we'd passed it. Lovely. On our return from the cemetary Bourbon was being cleaned and the sidewalks were still soapy in places (and the trash was gone). We spent the rest of the morning walking the streets of the FQ looking at the various art galleries.
After New Orleans the plan was to drive through "the bayou" (still not sure where that is) on our way to Galveston. We ended up at Oak Allely Plantation. I had wanted to see that, but I wasn't into a tour. However, we ended up taking the tour because it was the only way to get on the grounds. I had hoped it would have gardens like Monticello, but it had very few. Of course what it lacked in flowers it made up for in Live Oak trees. The grounds were beautiful. The house was a house - just old and big (with 16" thick walls - solid brick).
On a whim we took the St. Bolivar ferry into Galveston to avoid Houston. It was new as neither of us have used a car ferry. Not that exciting, I know.
Today's Highlights: French Quarter sans anxiety, beignets, sugar cane, Oak Alley, car ferry
Photo: This is looking across the street from our hotel. The Cornstalk Hotel is named after the fence which is a FQ landmark apparently.
posted by Shannon @ 4.9.06,
