Anniversary Getaway Day Two

We woke up late with a plan. We were going to take the RTA (Regional Transit Authority =  trolley/bus) to the French Market. Then we would walk from there back to Canal Street and catch the trolley to the World War II Museum. The best laid plans of mice, men, and senior citizens...

We decided to walk to the French Market. Then we went to the Jazz Museum to find a nonexistent recording of my boyhood jazz hero trumpeter Al Hirt playing Sleigh Ride. His New Orleans roots inspired my learning to play trumpet at a young age. I was a second grader when I started with horn and music theory lessons. The museum didn't have what I wanted but informed us that perhaps the National Park Service office might. It was on the way to Aunt Sally's and Cafe Dumonde. We didn't find Al Hirt's album, but we sampled pralines and ate beignets. Powdered sugar was everywhere.

We also found the perfect souvenir of this trip. We purchased a tray at Aunt Sally's Praline Shop. We made a further deviation from our opening plan by walking back to our resort to rest, eat lunch, and rethink the afternoon. On the way I made an error of several blocks when my memory of street layouts in the French Quarter took a wrong turn. This increased our state of tiredness and shortened our time left in the day. The WW2 Museum was no longer an option. That would have to wait until tomorrow.

We decided to take the RTA to my favorite place in New Orleans during my time growing up there. We went to City Park. We started on the trolley, transferred to a bus, then back to another trolley. There was an impenetrable barrier across the entirety of Canal Street because of last October's collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel. We made it to the park for an hour walk-about. We saw the bayous, water fowl, giant live oak trees, Sculpture Garden, Storyland, and other spots I frequented as a boy.

When we were finally settled in to the trolley for the return trip to our resort, we thought the day's surprises were over. That was until we transferred to the bus which almost immediately broke down. We waited about 20 minutes before we got off to walk "home." That uneventful last mile was only interrupted by a brief sojourn into a corner Starbucks for a couple of scones.

Fifteen minutes later we were in our room relaxing and getting ready for supper. It had been another long day. It was worth it. Tomorrow will either go as planned...or not!