NOLA in August- It's all about the cuisine!

We rolled into New Orleans after a coastline ride thru Biloxi and Gulfport. It was painfully obvious how the weather had impacted these areas, we passed by so many empty lots along the shoreline. We did see evidence of new construction, but there is still a long way to go coming up on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, think about that, 10 years... August 29th 2005. The park we are staying in was under 8 feet of water 10 years ago.

Our RV park was east of New Orleans in a bit of a downtrodden industrial area with a train switching station nearby.  The RV park was very nice, pool and jacuzzi, behind an ornate iron gate that closes at 7pm, better remember to take the entrance code with you...we were almost locked out the first night! I like smaller parks, this one was occupied by the owners Marla and Kevin and they were formidable hosts to the campers literally in their backyard!

So of course, I had to find the closest grocery store and we didn't have far to go. The Winn Dixie was right down the road along with at least three Dollar General stores!
I was anxious to try some local cuisine and so we went to a small market/restaurant and picked up a fried shrimp dinner for Jay and a shrimp po-boy for me, it took me two meals to eat that sandwich.
Day one, I was anxious to go to the French quarter, first stop, Cafe du Monde, I had to have some beignets and chicory coffee and I knew Jay would love the beignets, which in my opinion, are a slice of heaven on earth, Jay agreed! In case you've never tried a beignet, they are basically a deep fried glob of dough covered with tons of powdered sugar.  Worth every calorie...
We toured the "quarter," had lunch at Franks which according to my brother John is legendary, I have to admit, he was correct!

The heat became unbearable so we gave it up for the day and went back to park and hopped in the pool. We spent the next day in the Garden district along Magazine street where we had some amazing coconut basil gelato with a side offering of French macaroons. We also can't seem to consume enough shrimp, I picked up another pound and we steamed it up with some Old Bay and it was delicious! We typically have frozen shrimp from the supermarket at home so this was a real treat.

A first for me, this cute young couple showed up in the park yesterday with a pop up tent, two dogs and a goat, yes, a goat. They are on their way to Alaska. They tied Rosie to a tree and she wandered around today trimming the lawn.
 The pros of this visit was all the amazing food.... the con was the park location, we couldn't walk or ride the bikes anywhere as we were confined behind a gate.
The beauty of RV living is you can always pick up and leave when you decide the time is right.
I think the time is right.
Next stop....Lake Tawakoni in Point Texas.