American Queen New Orleans - February 2017 - Final Day and Final Thoughts

All of a sudden time has come to disembark.  The American Queen was docked when we awoke around 6 am.  Yes, had to set the alarm as we had to get off the boat by 8.  This disembarkation is planned very smoothly.  It starts by leaving luggage minus carry-ons outside our cabin the night before.  What we needed for the next morning took planning.

One last delicious breakfast in the J.M. White Dining Room.  Much busier than usual.  We then had to be in the Grand Saloon by 8 am.  From there we departed the ship one last time and headed to our tour bus.  We were so lucky that this post excursion through New Orleans was available.  It was timed perfectly for us.  The excursion ended at 12:30 and our plane was to depart at 2:25.

We traveled through the city with a great tour guide.  No Mardi Gras parade this morning.  We were able to drive down St. Charles Street where many of the parades travel.  I believe there are 70 parades with the first one occurring on Friday, January 6.  Of course, there are more per day the closer you get to Fat Tuesday.  I wish I had snapped some photos of the ladders along the parade route.  One is allowed to put out a ladder to claim their spot along the parade route.  It stays there until Mardi Gras is over.  

We then stopped at City Park for beignet and café au lait at the Morning Call.

One of the many live oak trees we could see from our table.

Next stop, City Cemetery #3.  As you probably know, New Orleans is at sea level or below.  Actually, mostly below.  Consequently, people must be buried above ground.

A row of the many tombs in the cemetery.  Some are family tombs.  Some are for a single individual.  They cost more to build than our house.  We saw one that was rumored to have cost a million dollars.

Paupers are buried in the wall around the cemetery.  Also, if you have a contagious disease you will be buried in one of these.  After 1 year and 1 month, your body has decayed enough to move the bones to a permanent tomb.  

Back on the bus and off to the airport.  Our flight home was uneventful except our plane was delayed in Denver for a couple of hours.  I guess a small mechanical issue then it had to be de-iced before takeoff.  I'm glad I wasn't in Denver.

This was a wonderful experience.  We didn't adjust to the boat as quickly as we should have.  I think we probably missed some activities we would have really enjoyed if we had gotten our act together sooner.  Next time we will be wiser.  We do like shorter trips and most of the steamboat cruises are 8 or 9 days long.  If you go the length of the Mississippi the cruise is 23 days long.  I would like to go on one that goes further upstream from Baton Rouge.  The river is kept 35 feet deep until Baton Rouge to accommodate the bigger ships.  From that point on it is only guaranteed to be 9 feet.  The American Queen needs an 8 1/2 foot depth.  I think the upper river is less busy and one would see more wildlife.  The lower river up to Baton Rouge has lots of industry.  Much of it oil related.

Stay tuned.  We should be off on another jaunt before you know it.  By the way, my husband also keeps a blog.  His account will be similar to mine but there will be some things that are different. Here's the link.  You'll need to scroll down to find this trip.  He blogs about many different things.

Click here for James's blog

American Queen New Orleans - February 2017 - Baton Rouge

We started our day by eating in the J.M. White Dining Room.  Once again the buffet was delicious.  They have excellent selections.  After eating we headed up to the Pilot House for a tour.  This was extremely interesting.  The equipment they have is unbelievable.  At the same they steer the boat with two sticks that control rudders.  This is all manual.  No auto-pilot on a steamboat.  There are two pilots in the pilot house when the ship is moving.  It was interesting to find out that the smokestacks can be laid down if there is not enough room to pass under a bridge.  The pilot house can also be brought down 9 feet.  When that happens the pilots move to an outside location to steer the boat.

You can see the black smokestacks.  Right behind them is the pilot house.

 

A boat like a train, whistles when it sees another boat, needs to alert others that there is an issue, or just want to have a friendly hello. 

Whistle not being blown.

Blowing

Blowing louder

When two boats meet on a river, the boat going downstream has the right of way.  Most of the boats stay to the right like cars on a highway but if the downstream boat wants to stay on the left the upstream boat must follow those wishes.

We then walked over to the USS Kidd destroyer which was named after the admiral that lost his life on the bridge of the USS Arizona when it was bombed by the Japanese.  The USS Kidd first saw combat in WWII.  329 sailors manned this destroyer.  I could not believe the small locker that each enlisted sailor was allowed.  Then they each had a cot.  They cots were stacked 4 or 5 high.  Not very much space between them. 

Then we boarded a bus for a tour of Baton Rouge.  It was interesting to hear some of the history of the capital and the home of Louisiana State University.  There is an old capital building and a new one.  It was designed by Huey Long.  He wanted his capital to have the tallest capitol building in the United States. 

The old capital building.  Looks like a castle, doesn't it?

This photo shows the top of the "new" capitol building which is behind a shorter building.

Next stop was the J.M. White Dining Room.  Once again we chose the lunch buffet.  I should have taken a photo.  I had shrimp and grits, prime rib, salad, cheese, and a delicious bread stick.  This was followed with banana pudding and a piece of Key Lime pie.  It will be so sad when we return to Lawrence and can’t have all this delicious food.

After lunch we listened to the history of one of the musicians on board.  Very interesting.  Then a few more precious moments sitting on the bow of the boat just enjoying the mighty Mississippi.

We felt like today we finally learned the ins and outs of being on this boat.  If we ever take another steamboat cruise, we will take more advantage of the onboard activities.

Supper this evening at the Front Porch Cafe.  Much more relaxing atmosphere.  Even though it's a buffet and not a 5-course meal, I believe I eat more there.  Some last photos of food.  I had my second piece of Key Lime Pie today.  I cannot get on the scales for at least a week.  I need to have some time to drop these excess calories.

James's plate.  Salad, prime rib, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes, roll, a tomato soup with crayfish.

My plate. Panfried trout, prime rib, steamed broccoli, and salad

Key lime pie

We return to New Orleans by morning.  We will disembark shortly after 8 am.  We are then going to take a driving tour through New Orleans.  This concludes at the airport where we will catch a flight back to Kansas.

American Queen New Orleans - February 2017 - Oak Alley Plantation

The trip agenda has allowed us to take a break in the middle of the afternoon.  We do enjoy this quiet time.  Once again we are sitting in our cabin watching the shore pass by.  It is raining.  We have been so fortunate with the rain.  Today's schedule included visiting Oak Alley Plantation.  It was a great morning.  Sunshine and clouds were intermittent.  No rain until after one when the boat once again headed down the Mighty Mississippi.  Yesterday I mentioned that a private balcony might have been nice.  Certainly not on this trip.  We would have still been sitting inside our cabin looking at a closed windowless door.

We started our day by eating breakfast in the J.M. White Dining Room.  A wonderful buffet breakfast or one could order off of the menu.  Much, much better than the complimentary breakfast we had yesterday at the Hilton Riverside Hotel.

One can only see a small portion of this dining room.

After eating, we disembarked and walked over to the Oak Alley Plantation.  We had a wonderful tour guide.  Before the Civil War, there were a large number plantations.  Today there are only 19.  One of the reasons is that the French Creole owners signed a letter supporting the Union.  They did this to save their plantations.  Of course, they lost them anyway as they were unable to pay their debts. After all, they no longer had cheap labor after the war.  The Union used this planation as one of their headquarters from early in the Civil War until its completion.

Our tour guide in the parlor.

In the main dining room.  The interesting piece is the one hanging from the ceiling.  It is a shoefly fan which was operated by one of slave children.  It keeps the insects away.

Multi-purpose room.  It used for guests, any one that may be sick, and as a funeral parlor.

The children's bedroom.  Take note of the netting that can be draped over the bed while a child is sleeping.

The master bedroom.  When a visitor came to stay, they were welcomed with a sliced pineapple.  When the hostess was ready for them to leave, she would give them a whole pineapple to eat on their way home.

This house has 16-inch brick walls both inside and outside. The bricks were made by slaves.  A small section of the wall with the plaster removed is shown in this photo.  It took more than a million bricks to build this house.  The slaves also provided the labor for building. The house was completed in two years or so.

A replica of the slave quarters.  Each building had two rooms.  Each room housed 2 to 5 house slaves but could house up to 10 field slaves.  Rooms were the same size regardless of who lived there.

View from the balcony towards the river.  If you look closely, you might be able to see the American Queen.

Moored at Oak Alley Plantation.

Our room is above the Q.  The blinds are open.

When the boat embarks a calliope organ concert is provided by a staff member.

An upclose view of the organ pipes.

Here you can see the steam coming from the pipes.  Don't get the steam confused with the clouds.

This evening we ate our evening meal in the J.M. White Dining Room.  It was a 5-course meal and took 2 hours to complete.  We shared our table with two other couples.  It was a pleasant evening although I think we are probably more the Front Porch Cafe type of people.  We'll probably eat there again tomorrow evening.  I do prefer the J.M. White Dining Room for breakfast and lunch.

American Queen New Orleans - February, 2017 - Sightseeing

Today has been busy and it isn't even half over.  We had a terrific morning.  A so-so breakfast at the hotel, included in the cost of the river cruise.  Of course, we had to take advantage of a freebie.  Then we had a few hours to explore.  No parade so we walked to the French Quarter.  It looks just like the movies.  We visited with a gal who was walking her dog.  She said the best part about the area was the ambiance.  I believe she was correct.  After visiting parts of the French Quarter, I wouldn't chose to live there.  The following photos are from Bourbon Street,  Jackson Square,  Louis Armstrong Park, the Riverwalk, and Poppy's Timeout Sports Bar and Grill—lunch!

Bourbon Street

Bourbon Street

Outside a voodoo shop.

Look closely.  The tree is decorated in Mardi Gras beads.

A tuba and trumpet duet on Jackson Square

A juggler relaxing on Jackson Square.

James at the entrance to Armstrong Park

We are relaxing on a bench on the Riverwalk.

When our lunch was delivered, we knew in advance we couldn't eat it all.  I basically had the shrimp out of the Po-Boy and some of the Cajun french fries we shared.  James had a turkey melt and finished 3/4 of it.  Sat outside and watched boats traveling on the Mississippi.  It was such a pleasant day.

We checked on to the American Queen in mid-afternoon.  What a grand boat.  I am so impressed.  We couldn't enjoy as much as we would have liked today.  We pretty much walked ourselves out of energy.  It is currently 7:09 pm.  We are both sitting on the bed and working on blog posts.  From our bay window we can watch all the lights that we are passing on shore or boats that are on the water.  We do have a delightful cabin.  We wanted a private veranda but those were all reserved before we booked our trip.  Maybe next time.  We ate at the Front Porch Cafe tonight.  Didn't think we were ready for the main dining room.  We'll give that a try tomorrow evening.  We were lucky enough to get our dining time changed from the 8 pm time to 5:15.  Actually, 8 is too late.  5:15 is too early.  We decided too early would be the best choice for us.  Lucky to get the change made.

The weather forecast before we came was terrible.  Lots of rain everyday we were on the boat.  We have had no rain until now.  It looks like we are going to get a break with the weather.  Supposed to rain during the night and then be done.  Hope the forecast doesn't change again.

American Queen New Orleans - February, 2017 - Travel Day

Well, today was exciting and partly a bust.  The drive to the airport went just fine.  Checking in went just fine.  Then security.  Not exactly a nightmare but not good either.  I had to remove my shoes.  I was patted down and my carry on was searched.  Found out why.  We had packed a cork screw which included a small knife.  Our bad.  We should have known better.  Nifty gismo which, of course, was confiscated.

Finally boarded the plane.  Flight was uneventful.  We went to locate our hotel shuttle.  Waited 40 minutes.  Basically it took two hours to reach the hotel from the time we left the plane.  Mardi Gras is in progress.  Traffic was a nightmare.  I was so impressed with our shuttle driver and the way he squeezed thru the traffic.  We were lucky that he parked in front of our hotel.  Many had to walk a few blocks to their hotels.  This place is a busy, busy place.  We did see some floats on our way to the hotel.  At least the drive was interesting.  I didn't get any snapshots as we were on the wrong side of the bus.

The day ended well, though.  We asked the bell hops for a good place to eat.  They recommended Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant.  We passed a float that threw us some beads.  Such fun.  Supper was good.  I had shrimp and mango tacos.  The best shrimp tacos I have ever eaten.  We ordered dessert to bring back to the hotel with us.  I chose Chocolate Budino Cake.  So I had a low cal entree and a dessert with probably 10,000 calories.  May I say the dessert was also very good.

On the 30 second walk back to the hotel, there were more floats.  This is just one crazy town during Mardi Gras.

Shrimp and Mango Tacos

James had Spicy Chicken Lettuce Tacos

Chocolate Budino Cake

Floats lined up for the parade.  I honestly don't know if the parade is over or if they are waiting to get started.

American Queen New Orleans - February, 2017 - Pre trip

James and I are turning 70 this year.  Well, he already has.  He's just so much older than I am.  Hee-hee.  I have wanted to travel on a steamboat on a major river, so I found a short round trip out of New Orleans.  I thought this would be a great way to experience a steamboat.  If all goes well, eventually we could do a longer cruise.

Now, let me backtrack.  In the late 1990's we drove up the east side of the Mississippi from Dubuque, Iowa, to Red Wing, Minnesota.  Most of the trip was in Illinois.  It was a delightful summertime experience.  We were close to the river as we traveled north.  For those of you who enjoy roadtrips, this was an awesome drive.  We traveled in my husband's pride and joy at the time, a 1985 Camaro Iroc-Z.  I do wish that I had kept a diary or written a journal during our early roadtrips.  Little details would be so nice to have now.

Hubby with his IROC-Z

We will be leaving in a few days and I will try to post daily.  We may have some issues with internet reception while we are on the boat.  The forecast is not good.  The couple of days we are traveling on the Mississippi have large rain percentages.  Oh well, I'm going to enjoy the boat and all that goes with it.  Food, shows, watching the river pass by.  Should be for a relaxing vacation. Seems that many of our trips involve rain or rain forecasts.  As usual we'll just go prepared.