New Orleans cont.
2005-04-10, 9:06 p.m.

Ok, our first full day in NO went much better. We woke up early, had a way too expensive, but extremely delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and headed out to catch our 8:30 shuttle to the swamp. The trip to the swamp took about 45 minutes. It was an interesting ride. There were 14 other people on the shuttle. Lucky for us, we were the last pick-up. We got the really cool seats in the front that faced out the door. We were sitting right behind the driver, so when he pointed out something interesting over the loudspeaker, we actually couldn't understand a thing he was saying, lol. There was one family with a daughter maybe a year or two older than Amanda. Everyone else was elderly. Not really a lively group, either. Amanda and I, on the other hand, couldn't seem to shut up. We tried not to call attention to ourselves, truly, but then we kept trying to get the other one to crack up or try to shush them. I, of course, won by actually SINGING to the radio, heh heh. A parent can always win by singing to the radio. And it was Stevie Nicks, which is great because of a scene in the new Freaky Friday. The mom (in the daughter's body) says the makeover the daughter (in the mom's body) got made her look like Stevie Nicks. Daughter (again, in mom's body) says, "Who's he?" Amanda knows who Stevie Nicks is. Probably since she was in the womb, as I love Fleetwood Mac. But any opportunity we get to quote movies, we jump on it. So of course, as I'm singing Leather & Lace and Amanda's telling me to be quiet, I say, "But it's Stevie Nicks." And Amanda, of course, says, "Who's he?" Then, as per the usual, we bust out laughing. Needless to say, we were NOT amusing the other passengers. Which, duh, made us laugh more.

Now, on the trip to the swamp is when we started to realize that something in New Orleans didn't agree with Amanda. Her eyes started itching. A lot. Then they swelled a little. It would be like this the rest of the trip. The trip to the zoo proved to be really hard on her. Nice, huh. The scare the night before, and now allergy problems. And let me tell you, buying allergy medicine and eye drops in the French Quarter ain't cheap, folks.

So we finally make it out to the swamp. There were several other people already there. We go in and pay ($76.50 for both of us, with hotel pick-up & drop off. Yikes! This better be good.) There are two tour boats out. Everyone headed to the far boat, but Amanda wanted the closer one. I ask one of the guys (sorry, captains - they're called captains) if it mattered which boat, and he said nope. Now, it totally worked for me that she wanted the closer boat because the captain was kinda hot. And he sounded like a Cajun Danny Bonaduce. Sorry, but I love the way Danny Bonaduce talks. So we took that boat. It was a great choice. The other boat took right off, but captain Charlie decided we'd be able to find alligators before we even left the area we were in. Darned if we didn't. Two of them. He threw out, get this, marshmallows. Seems alligators love 'em. They swam right up to the boat for them, too. We have some pretty good pictures. Maybe one day I'll figure out my scanner.

So anyways, long story short (too late), we had an awesome time on the swamp tour. Totally worth the money. We only saw one more alligator, but he told us we were kind of at an iffy time, as the weather was warm, but the water was still cold. Still, it was cool We saw lots and lots of snakes. Capt. Charlie joked about one being right over our heads, but it turned out not to be a joke. There really was one up there. Pretty crazy. Amanda took lots and lots of pictures of snakes. In some of the pictures you can even see the snakes, lol.

When we got back to New Orleans, we had the shuttle driver drop us off in the French Quarter. We took a ferry over to Algiers Island to see Mardi Gras World. The people on tripadvisor.com gave Mardi Gras World great props. It's a warehouse where they work on Mardi Gras floats and props and stuff. To take the tour cost me $22.50 for both of us. Yikes. Better be good. :D Well........ I didn't think it was. The best part of the tour was the King Cake we got before we toured. Yum. Good stuff. I ended up buying a mix the day we left NO. Anyways, $22.50 to see a bunch of moldy, broken, spider-web covered props. I mean, there were some cool ones. We saw Spongebob and Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas. We also saw the two largest Mardi Gras floats. Overall, though, I didn't think it was worth the money.

The best part of Mardi Gras World was the shuttle driver - New Orleans Nate. He was terrific. He was worth the trip over. He lives on Algiers. We actually went past his house and we all hollered "Hey" to little Nate. He had his schtick down, alright. He rhymed, he sang, he charmed. He was absolutely a highlight of NO.

Ok, so after that we walked around the French Quarter a little more. I decided that day that, in a wicked case of irony, after finally attaining my life-long goal of going to New Orleans, I was going to die there after being hit by a streetcar. I was so busy watching for traffic that I consistently forgot to watch for street cars. It would have been funny had I not come so close to being hit. Actually, now that I'm back home, it IS funny. But not then. Amanda bought Mardi Gras masks and those porcelain-faced jester dolls, or whatever they are. She was amassing quite a collection of masks. We went back to the hotel and she decorated the room with them. And the dolls, of course. It was a little freaky. I was thinking she was starting to fit right in in New Orleans. Ok, this is getting a little lengthy so I'm stopping for now. Ya'll take care!

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