Wow, life in the time of coronavirus is changing rapidly. We just spent a few days in the New Orleans area. Friday we went into town and visited the French Quarter. The streets were lightly trafficked, except on Bourbon Street where the crowds roamed and the bars were open - and loud.
By Monday night, the entire city was shut down, with all restaurants and bars closed and the police blocking access to Bourbon Street.
OK, let's roll back. Our oldest son Tory flew down to join us for our New Orleans sojourn - it was great to spend time with him, even if just for a few days. On our first full day in town, we spent time in the French Quarter, the oldest section of New Orleans.
We had not started serious social distancing 24/7 at that time, so we visited the famous Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets.
We also sat by the Mississippi and watched the boats go by, and walked along the quieter streets of the French Quarter.
In the early evening, we spent an hour at an outdoor jazz club on Frenchmans Street, chilling and listening to music.
By Saturday, warnings were getting more dire, so we decided to stick to outdoor activities. We traveled about 75 minutes to the Louisiana bayou and spent a couple of hours boating on the Cajun Man's Swamp Tour. Beautiful swamp country and lots of wildlife, including turtles, ibis, bald eagles, and alligators.
On our way back to New Orleans we pigged out on crawfish and shrimp at Big Al's in Houma near the bayou.
Another day, we traveled for about an hour to get to Gulfport, Mississippi and spent the day on very uncrowded beaches. People were parasailing with their rigs powered by fans and gasoline engines.
It was time for Tory to return home. After dropping him at the airport, we traveled to New Orleans' Garden District, where we did a self-guided audio tour. The usually crowded streets were largely vacant. There were many beautiful mansions from the 1800s - some owned today by celebrities such as John Goodman and Sandra Bullock.
With the city shutting down, it was time for us to move into Texas and more adventures. More about that in our next blog post.
NOTE: We are planning (at least for now) to continue our RV travels. If you think about it, an RV is great for social distancing (except from each other). We have your own bathroom, and kitchen where we cook and eat. In the small space, it is easy for us to wipe the surfaces clean even through it is just the two of us. We do not have to worry who else may have touched those surfaces. The neighbors are friendly but not too close, and except for necessary trips to the grocery or drug store, we are restricting our activities to the great outdoors.
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