Washboard Wanderings

We were in New Orleans last night and it was quite an adventure. We did a lot of walking and a lot of looking. It was a really cool time. We heard some soothing southern music, saw some neon lights and some historic sights.

We took a walk down famous Bourbon street taking in some of the craziness of the party and enjoying the clanging metal on metal as washboards led us in and out of many places.

Taking a stroll up Canal St. to the waterfront, what I really wanted to see was a riverboat on the Mississippi. We were only at the waterfront for maybe 10 minutes, but not long after we got there a big riverboat with it’s starry lights went trolling by. It was awesome.

From there we traveled down Decatur until we came to Cafe Du Monde, definitely the most recommended spot we should visit, and it was easy to see why it was so well liked. Open 24 hours, it serves a variety of customers and employs a kaleidoscope of people. It is famous for many things, but known mostly for its mouth-watering beignets and we willing partook. Sweet deep-fried dough and buried with icing sugar? Yes, it tastes as good and probably better than it sounds. A delicious sweet sensation. I do have one tip though. If you are ever eating them, unless you want to experience a brief clip of a Canadian snowfall, don’t breath out through your nose while you are taking a bite - the icing sugar is wild.

We walked from Decatur toward Frenchman and as we drew near to the busy area, it was easy to hear more local music wafting from the stores. After checking out a few different groups of musicians, we hit the jackpot while walking further down the street. Tucked in a sunken doorway was a group of dishevelled hippies wailing bar-room tunes from the 20s and 30s. They told us about some friends of theirs who were playing a show not too far away (i.e. 9 blocks). After wearing out the soles of our shoes we stumbled upon a rundown, but packed place full of what were undoubtedly the friend they were talking about. It was the clothing that gave it away, but some of the smells let us know for sure we were in the right place - we, having showered that day, stood out from the crowd. It took us about 30 seconds to realize that the forthcoming experience would be worth every step we took to get there. Two bands performed, playing a variety of music from Louisiana folk to some sort of acoustic punk/hardcore, gang bar-room songs. For some reason there were upwards of 5 dogs wandering around the “venue” and there was a gaping hole in the bathroom door but the experience was truly…unique.

We completed our experience this morning by going to Mother’s Restaurant for breakfast and trying some of their famous baked ham along with fresh biscuits and some southern grits.

Nothing like a day in New Orleans!

- Josh