Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: The French Quarter

Today's Temps: High 76º, Low 63º

New Orleans! The Big Easy! Mardi Gras! We're here! Time to check things out. Dennis made pancakes for breakfast. After some discussion we decided to go to Mardi Gras World for a tour. Mardi Gras World is the headquarters of the Kerns family who make 75% of all Mardi Gras floats. The entrance fee is $20. We saw a short video of the history of Mardi Gras and the Kerns family, got to taste a piece of King Cake and then took a tour of the workshop. So many beautiful floats and colorful props.

As we were leaving a shuttle pulled up in front of the building. It is a shuttle provided by Mardi Gras World that goes to the French Quarter so we hopped on. It dropped us off near Canal Street. Once there we started to walk around. We stopped at a corner and started talking to one of the bicycle taxi vendors. I realized she was being super friendly in order to get our business. She stated her rates but after while she said she was bored and would give us a ride for whatever we would give her. We agreed to $20 and she gave us a tour of the French Quarter. Very fun!

After that we spent the rest of the afternoon just wondering around. We checked out the French Market and bought a tropical smoothie at the Organic Banana. Yum! By 3:30 we decided we had enough and headed back toward Canal Street to find a shuttle back to Mardi Gras World. Dennis spotted one stopped on the street before we got all the way back and we were able to get on.

Back at the camper we let Buddy out and fed him. Then we went to get a bite to eat. Just up the road from the campground we noticed a place that had multiple vendors selling fresh seafood. There was one place that served cooked food but the kitchen was closed. We asked for a recommendation for a place to eat and she sent us to the WestbankGrill. We ordered the Large Fisherman's Platter. It came with cat fish, shrimp, oysters and a soft shell blue crab all deep fried. I didn't like the crab but every thing else was great.

My brother had his heart surgery today. I received updates all day from his daughter and by early afternoon was informed everything went well and he was out of surgery. Wonderful news.