HNY from NOLA

The only thing everyone said we should do in New Orleans was eat. Eat as much as we could, in as many places as we could find. A lot of people had specific recommendations. Nobody told us of places which were bad. It was hard to go wrong.

Louis Armstrong Park, at the end of our street

There was a catch. It was bowl season and the Oklahoma Sooners were playing the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugarbowl. As the crowds of black and gold faded away hordes of people in red and white took their place.

College football is serious business.

So our culinary expeditions had to be well planned. For example we could not bring ourselves to wait in line for Cafe du Monde, which is very famous. We knew it was famous because of the queue, which often stretched through the cafe, on to the street, and along the block. We decided to get our beignets elsewhere.

Here are some highlights.

Andrew Jackson

The Backspace Bar gave us a meatloaf sandwich to remember, let us split it, and gave us the okay to eat it with our hands: "Grip it and rip it," the bartender said.

The height limit in the French Quarter keeps the roof line low

Cafe Amelie has an offshoot, Petite Amelie, which made a top-level gumbo and fresh sandwiches. It was one of the few places we visited more than once.

A number of the alleyways are not accessible by vehicles.

We had planned to spend New Years Eve in one of the many famous restaurants around the city but, because of the Sugarbowl crowds, they were booked pretty tight. But our Christmas experience had taught us well; we went to the movies.

The Wolf of Wall Street was showing in a cinema which offered in-seat service. We enjoyed drinks and food and emerged into the streets to celebrate with the city of New Orleans as the Fleur de Lis dropped.

Bourbon street on New Years Eve

New year's day was quiet; the streets empty but for the strange trucks applying detergent to Bourbon Street.

Actually they do this every day

The weather did not clear for our whole stay but we were determined to get some photos by the water. We braved the winds and the growing crowds of Sooners and Tide and snapped some pics by the water.

Spirit of the Immigrant (really)

With New Year's Eve behind us we finally went around to Frenchmen Street to have a drink and listen to some music. It was a revelation. Outside of the bustle of the French Quarter crowds Ali found a bar with live jazz and a massive beer menu. The first band we saw played for tips, coming around with a sousaphone and a bucket to collect change from the patrons between sets. We stayed longer than we meant to.

It was a great time.

Ali being cold in New Orleans

Of course the highlight was the seafood. Shrimp po boys, catfish, shellfish gumbo, all things I wouldn't eat at home, all smelled too good to pass up.

Oyster tacos were a highlight

In truth we probably stayed in New Orleans one night too long. With everything we meant to do finished after a few days we struggled on our last and didn't want to stay cooped up in the room of our inn.

Creepy Jesus was a landmark we navigated by.

In fact we stayed two days too long. Our flight to New York was cancelled (of the five direct flights that day ours was the only one cancelled).

We were given a hotel in a dead spot in the city. The next day we flew to Atlanta before sunrise and spent eight hours learning our way around Atlanta International Airport, which was not as bad as it sounds. The airport is huge. We learned some Georgian history, walked through a display of Zimbabwean sculpture, had some good food, and made our connection to La Guardia.

It was two degrees below zero when we landed. It only got colder from there.

Most of this post will be about the Superdome.

It had stopped raining in Baton Rouge. The GPS unit in the Versa had a 'home' setting. It lit up with directions to Louis Armstrong international airport.

The drive was as good as the previous day was difficult. From Baton Rouge to New Orleans is mostly swamp, with the highway raised up out of the water. The artificial land which periodically flanks the road does nothing to detract from how wild the environment still is. It went on like this until we crossed the edge of Lake Pontchartrain and the highway lifted us up over the water.

Above Lake Pontchartrain

A taxi took us the rest of the way through Jefferson and Metairie to the French Quarter. Our room was not ready (nor had we expected it would be) so we left our bags with the desk at the inn and went to see what we could see. A few turns and we stumbled on a patisserie which became one of our favourite stops. Soon after we arrived there was a line out the door.

Some of the locals recommended we invest in some Saints colours before we made for the Superdome. Se would not want to be confused for 'poison,' the name for supporters of visiting teams. It seemed like good advice; already the dominant colours on the streets of the French Quarter were black and gold.

Suitably attired we made for the Superdome and Champions Square; in Lafayette we had been told to makce certain we checked out the square before the game.

Pregame entertainment at Champions Square

In a way were lucky; the Carolina Panthers had sealed up the NFC east division with a win the day before. The Saints were playing for a wild-card spot. Win and they go to the playoffs, lose and their season was done. Had it been any other way, the atmosphere around the game would have been quite different.

In our Saints gear. Who dat?

The Superdome was a surprise. We had not done our research and did not know that the stadium was fully enclosed and air-conditioned. While there were huge crowds outside not many people entered the stadium to watch the pre-game warm ups and it felt a little like we had the place to ourselves. The roof was well above us despite having nose-bleed seats, because we were sitting under one of the enormous screens.

The stadium food was a little different to what we get at home. In place of meat pies they had crawfish pies (Ali had one) and instead of hotdogs, alligator sausage po boys (of course I had one).

The New Orleans Saints, seen here kind of lying around.

The game started and there were still empty seats all around us. It wasn't until five or ten minutes into the first half that the stadium really filled up.

And then it got loud.

98% of these people are Saints fans and 100% of them are screaming

A display before the game began listed the top five loudest stadiums in the world - with the Superdome having recently displaced CenturyLink Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. During Tampa Bay plays, the crowd were encouraged to 'Get Loud' by the displays around the park. And they responded, screaming and banging on anything they could reach. When the subsequent play failed, the crowd were congratulated for having created a 'fan impact play.'

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

It was all a bit strange after coming from a country where the sportsmanship of crowds is being questioned and reviewed at the moment. In the defence of the NOLA group, nobody was shouting obscenities. They were just shouting.

There was no organised group of away supporters. Unless you looked hard, you would not think there were away supporters at all. The whole crowd seemed to be decked in black and gold. When Tampa Bay made a big play the stadium was silent.

This photograph mostly for the benefit of my brother

The first half was a tight contest but the Saints ran away with it in the third quarter. The stadium emptied out fast in the fourth quarter; also interesting from an Australian point of view. We usually only leave stadiums when our team is getting flogged.

The New Orleans crowd might have had the right of it, though. With the result clear the heart went out of Tampa Bay, while the Saints pulled all their star players from the game to protect them for the playoffs. The game ground to a halt and the last seven minutes dragged on for close to forty (and nothing happened).

I made Ali stay for the whole thing because I am terrible.

We walked back to the French Quarter to see what madness was unfolding.

Bourbon St madness

The crowds from the stadium had found their way down and joined the crowds from the bars. We pushed through until we found a nice spot on Royal and had very nice beers and po boys for dinner. In fact the beers were so good, we stayed for another.

We reached our beds a little later than anticipated. As is the way in New Orleans.

The rains of the Gulf Coast

We had some pretty good plans for our time in Louisiana. Our next stop was in Baton Rouge, a short drive from Lafayette, and there was an opportunity to see some of the surrounding sights. We started with a famed local cafe which was closed when we arrived.

With the rain coming down we chose a nearby burger shop and had some chili fries and got back on the road.

Pictured; wet things

We figured that if the rain didn't get any worse we would make a detour along the River Road and see some of the old plantation houses before looping back up to Baton Rouge for the night.

Pictured; very wet things

The driving was pretty intense. At no stage did the rain let up and we learned that Louisiana drivers will maintain their speed regardless of the conditions. The River Road was, we figured, a better bet. It would be off the highway and less hectic.

This was not correct. Across the Mississippi and away to the south, the roads were covered with water. Every corner had us planing through puddles. After just moments we turned around and made for Baton Rouge.

The bridge we used to cross the Mississippi

The town itself was charming. Our hotel had fresh cookies in the lobby and a restaurant around the corner had Creole-style tapas dinner. The Jambalaya balls were a bit of a highlight.

It rained all night.

Trucks and barbecue.

"I like y'all accent," the woman at the window said to Ali. She gave us the ticket for our order and waved us toward the pickup spot.
"I like your earrings," I wanted to say. They were shaped like Longhorns, the mascot of the University of Texas. But there was a long line of people behind us, waiting for their lunch.

You would have lined up too if you could smell it

Lunch in Beaumont was our second stop that day. Austin was behind us before the sun had crested the horizon. Our Nissan Versa struggled and strained to reach the speed limit of the Texan highways (between 60 and 75 mph) but once it got there it ticked over pretty nicely.

Highway photo

Not that you would know it as the constant flow of trucks and SUVs overtook us, hurrying on their way to wherever Texans are always speeding to get to. Pretty soon the houses melted away into fields and we were out in Texas proper.

That big sky they're always talking about is a real thing; with no hills or features to break the view, the horizon runs in a clear line the whole way around. Every way you look there's clear sky.

An extra lane joined the highway, and another. Support roads and on ramps were tributaries which fed more traffic into our flow. Explorers on a great river, we knew all that water had to be going to an ocean somewhere. The ocean was Houston.

Not enough highways in your life? Come to Houston!

Just yesterday we met a couple from Oklahoma who told us they have to drive through Houston once a year to get to Galveston. They said that it doesn't matter when you go through, what day or night, the traffic is always bad in Houston.

We were in town long enough to stop and buy some comfy clothes from a Sports Authority. Then we threw ourselves back into the current of the traffic, looking for away across and toward our next stop in Beaumont.

And lunch. (Watch out for the autoplay on that link)

Our Versa crunched along the gravel and every person in line turned to watch us approach. This was not, we realised, a regular tourist spot.

The looks were not hostile, just curious, and might have been as much about the car as its occupants. It certainly looked out of place between the Rams and F150s, a pony among the destriers.

We ordered ribs and beef combo and a "big ol' baked potato."

That's the potato on the left.

I'm not going to mess around. It might be, to this day, the best thing I have ever eaten.

We sat on the porch and ate with the glee of hungry people who have been given good food and no rules. We ate with our hands and with our fork. We traded dishes and traded again. Little was said.

Once we were done (not finished; no way would could have eaten that potato) we found the source of the smell. The smoke-house was out back, its aroma democratically spread throughout Beaumont, calling the people for links plus ribs cooked in delicious carcinogens.

God bless America.

In retrospect anywhere we went after that was going to be a disappointment. We crossed the border into Louisiana and were struck by the change in scenery. Louisiana is made of swamps and steel. The highway ran through miles of green punctuated by oil refineries.

At Lake Charles

It was cold in Lake Charles when we stopped for photos. We were cold in the photos.

Me being cold in a photo

With little to keep us there we hurried on to Lafayette. Part of the Acadian region and the center of Cajun Louisiana, Lafayette seemed like a good place to stop over on our elongated trip to New Orleans.

Across the intersection from our hotel was a little bar that we figured was worth a shot. We had our first gumbo, drank delicious beers and met some of the nicest people. The hospitality was what really took us by surprise. The staff were nice, people at the bar struck up conversation. A couple sitting next to us had just returned from New Orleans and gave us a list of things to do while we were in the city.

The gumbo and the bar were fantastic but for me the real take away was discovering that Louisiana has a thriving craft-beer industry. I had expected to switch out of beer-tasting mode when we crossed the state border.

Happy to be wrong.

Oh boy. Where were we?

Austin? That's a long time ago. I'm sitting in a resort in Maui watching the Panthers/49ers game and trying to catch up. I'd love to blame the hiatus on the crappy internet connections in New Orleans & New York but that wouldn't do the places themselves justice. Fact is we've been out all day and all night and just too busy to post.

And isn't that the point?

I'll do my best to catch up but there's a pretty good chance the people who read this thing will see my face before they see photos from Maui.

Keep Austin weird.

On the off-chance that the weather cleared up we went to get some photos of Austin. Our car would be ready for pick-up at midday, so we used the morning to head north and catch some of the tourist must-sees.

Just a few blocks from where we were staying was the Texas capitol building. And, as it happened, a bit of blue sky.

Pretty.

Over the hill - actually a quick deviation, despite everything being bigger in Texas, the hills are not. They are wide, but not tall or steep. Anyway.

Over the hill was the University of Texas. We had a stroll to/through the campus. It is dominated by the stadium, home of the Texas Longhorns.

Team colour - baby-pooh brown.

Another $1 each and we were heading out to the airport to get our car. It came with a GPS unit and we plugged in a street in South Congress and she decided to take us into the back streets of Austin down a series of dirt roads in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be.

A few more false starts and we were on our way to SoCo where we wanted to find lunch. The first thing which took our fancy was Guero's Taco Bar and, five minutes later, they had a table for us and, ten minutes after that, some tamales and some tacos.

We had a pretty good time.

We did not feel like we had eaten a lot of food but it hit the stomach like a rock. With this weight of Mexican food lying inside we had to go for a walk along South Congress. A day before, the gentleman at the tourist center had told us that SoCo was the what people referred to when they said 'keep Austin weird.' It was an entertaining walk.

I have a lot more photos of signs.

Before we set out we made an agreement; if we walked the whole of South Congress, we got a cupcake from the trailer we passed on our way down.

You would stop too.

We got six. They sold a sampler pack with a miniature version of every type of cupcake. 'Great for indecisive people,' the cupcake guy told us.

With our tiny cupcakes in hand we dropped our car back at the hotel for the night.

We would soon learn that in Texas, this was a very small car.

There was still plenty of time left in the afternoon. We went running along the Colorado (in the opposite direction to the previous day) in the hope there would be some nice photo opportunities. It stayed overcast but otherwise it was perfect weather for running. And there were a lot of bridges to cross (and take photos from).

Even in the middle of the day the water was so still.

The path along the river was great for running - flat and straight, wide enough to let people pass so everyone could go at their own pace. We crossed to run on both sides.

Back toward downtown.

The run served another purpose; we wanted to have dinner on sixth before we left. Running had added an edge to our appetite and we set off for the hotel to get ready.

'Twinkle twinkle lonestar.' Ah, corporate art.

The "Gotham Building," as Ali called it, had been a feature of our trip and we needed a photo before we went.

Every city has one.

Dinner was at the Chupacabra Cantina where we had great jalapeño poppers (stuffed with pulled pork!) and the best beer I have had this trip.

Yeah they were fried.

Outside we took our last walk through down-town in Austin. A cool town, easy to chill out, a great way to relax for a few days. We packed before we went to bed so we could get away early and take our time driving to Louisiana.

Lights along the street

Everything's bigger.

The flight from San Francisco to Austin was scenic; we saw California drop away and raise up to Nevada, flow into the salt flats and standing stones of Utah. We were sitting on the wrong side of the plane to see the Grand Canyon, but did watch the Arizona mountains roll away to the north. The terrain flattened and smoothed until we could see clear to the horizon with nothing but the patchwork of fields on the landscape.

The landing in Texas was another difference. In San Francisco, the plane passed the bay bridge and the airport, turned a hard 180 and dropped like a stone to touch down.

The way into Austin was long and slow as the terrain, and it seemed we were inches from the ground a long time before rubber touched tarmac.

With a few airport transfers under our belt, we can rate Austin as one of the best. The bus from the airport to downtown cost us $1 each and dropped us a block from the hotel. It also exposed us to the people of Austin who were loud, energetic, and friendly.

Around the corner from the hotel was a well recommended spot for dinner called Moonshine. It was cold out so we declined the offer to sit on the patio.

Our server, Jess, let us know we had arrived just at the end of happy hour, which meant cheap drinks but best of all, half-price appetisers. Ali picked the warmed brie, which was the only item which wasn't deep-fried.

We thought.

What did we do to deserve this?

That was, we decided, a sign. The mains were offered as 'platters,' and we thought that seemed like enough for two people.

Jess concurred.

So our first night in Texas we got a steak. With red wine sauce and blue-cheese butter. And sides. Everything was good.

Ali realises every meal can come with mac and cheese.

Christmas eve brought a new issue; we had almost run out of socks. The hotel's laundry was out of order and there were no laundromats within walking distance. We spent the morning looking for a shopping complex in downtown Austin and there simply was not one.

Defeated, we took to sixth street to find some lunch and heard some cool music coming from the Jackalope. They had good beers and a deal on pizzas. We got a pizza to share.

Thank goodness we only got one.

Yup. That happened.

So formed our plan for a quiet Christmas Eve in Austin. We built a dinner of leftover pizza, salad, and bottled beer and hung out in our hotel room.

We also formed our plan for Christmas dinner when we discovered the Alamo. Dinner and a movie (at the same time) seemed to be a great option for our holiday away from home. There was only one movie showing, so we got tickets to The Hobbit sequel.

On Christmas we took the opportunity to go walking along the Colorado river.

It's winter so the trees are bare.

The overcast weather made for a comfortable wander. Whole families passed us, walking off their lunch to make room for their dinner.

Some dude and the Colorado River

The experience of dinner at the Alamo was fantastic. The movie didn't do much for us, but we loved being able to go in for a couple of drinks (all their drafts were local beers - there's a lot of great beer in Texas) and food while a movie was on. The more laid-back environment and the zero-tolerance attitude toward talking/texting suited as well.  Five stars. Would do again.