Day 19: Phoenix to New Orleans LA

None of us had a very good nights sleep mainly because Julian was complaining that he was hungry (!!) and then he had run out of water and then he needed to go to the toilet.  Then he was asleep and Rohan started whimpering everytime he turned over.  Needless to say, they both had to be woken at 6:15am.  We had a reasonable breakfast of toast, cereal and scrambled eggs at the hotel - we left the donuts, sausages and meat patties alone.

The hotel had a courtesy shuttle to the airport and we hopped onto that at 7:25am and 10 minutes later we were checking in.  We now understand how it all works, especially with the car seat and stroller bags, so it was stress-free.  Also the United terminal was pretty empty, so there weren't any queues to negotiate.  We went through the TSA screening and had to have the baby food double checked which took a little bit of time but it wasn't stressful either.  We got to the gates just as boarding was commencing, so we didn't have to wait around in the terminal.

Our flight to New Orleans was via Denver.  The Denver flight was 1h20m and about 20mins of that was waiting for a spot in the take off queue (when we flew out we counted 14 planes behind us!).  It was an easy flight, helped by bananas and muesli bars.  We had a 50 minute transfer in Denver but we were 20mins late, so it just gave us enough to get to our gate, go to the toilet and buy Julian a hotdog (he asked and we could deliver) and us BLT sandwiches.  We bought them from a place called Steve's Snappin'Dogs.

Once again our flight was boarding and now Rohan was getting very hyperactive.  On the plane, he had a yoghurt and half a peanut butter roll and was then out like a light - 1.5hour sleep thank you!  The hotdog and BLTs were absolutely delicious.  With Rohan asleep for most of the flight, it was a piece of cake (it was only 2h10m anyway).

We landed without fuss at New Orleans and called the apartment rental company.  We had to make special arrangements as we didn't have a working smartphone which would give us access to the apartment (In the end it was all done remotely and we had no problems.).   At the baggage carousel, a guy approached us with a massive trolley which we loaded with our 2 suitcases, 1 large duffel, a stroller bag, a carseat and a trunki!  He then took us out to the taxi rank and bypassed the VERY long queue to get us a big taxi.  Steve only had a $20, but for me this was a win.  It was very humid and I really just wanted to get going and to see the place.

It was an exceptionally sedate ride to the apartment - this guy drove normally! - and we discovered that our apartment was in a good location.  We can see the Mississippi out of our lounge windows!  Steve had a lot of fun hauling the bags from the lobby into the lift, then into another lobby and down a short hallway into our MASSIVE apartment.

The apartment has 2 large bedrooms, the master with an ensuite bath, a large open plan lounge/dining/kitchen and a hallway laundry (we have already done a load of washing!).  Even Julian was impressed with the place.  He and Rohan raced up and down the hallway screaming and giggling.  It was now 5:30pm local time (2 hours ahead of Phoenix) but we were all starting to feel hungry, so we headed out.

We are on North Peters Street which is a block back from the river and runs parallel to it.  We walked up to where all the action is and passed some very colourful characters on the street including a woman with cat whiskers drawn on her face!  We stopped at a hat shop to try on a selection of Trilby's which looked dreadful on Steve but fantastic on Julian.  We then saw the sign for Johnny's Po'boys (which are famous and we wanted to try) BUT it is closed for renovations :(

Julian's stomach was bothering him, so we found a place called Landry's Seafood which looked good.  It also had a kids menu with grilled chicken and steamed vegetables -  a winner!  We had to wait for a table but we passed the time talking to woman (who thought we might be locals and was going to ask us for advice!) about Australia as her son lives near Adelaide (she was from Illinois).  We didn't know until then that it was a chain restaurant but we didn't mind too much as the food sounded good.

We ordered a seafood Gumbo bowl and Crawfish bread to share.   The Gumbo was a green/brown soup which tasted peppery, salty and a bit muddy.  It wasn't memorable.  The Crawfish bread was like a crayfish bruschetta and was fantastic.  Rohan loved it and Julian refused to eat it :)  For mains, we shared the Blackened Redfish Etouffee and the Crawfish Etouffee.  The Redfish came with "dirty rice" and Cajun beans and was quite nice.  I found the Crawfish too spicy hot but Steve preferred it.  Julian happily ate his Fried Scrimp and a couple of fries.  Rohan happily ate his grilled fish, a few beans and a lot of my plain rice.

New Orleans Crawfish Bread

Seafood Gumbo

Julian - Fried Shrimp and chips; Crawfish Etouffee; Rohan - Chicken and vege; Blackened Redfish Etouffee (Yes Rohan is trying to eat the plate!)

Now desert was the best bit.  Another classic in New Orleans is Bananas Foster - crepes rolled around vanilla ice cream topped with sliced banana, whipped cream and Foster sauce which is a light caramel cinnamon banana sauce.  It was huge but Julian and Rohan ate most of it.  It was delicious and we all wanted more! We also ordered a Key Lime Pie but it was just too sweet for us.

Bananas Foster (Internet photo - you can see why ours was inhaled as soon as it reached the table!)

Key Lime Pie

We walked back to the apartment and the boys had an awesome time in the HUGE bath.  We have a large bath but Rohan was able to swim laps in this one!  They both happily climbed into bed and were asleep at about 9pm (7pm old time).

We didn't take many photos today because it was just plane travel.  The internet here works and is fast so hopefully there will be some Alligator photos up tomorrow!