Day 1: New Orleans to Biloxi
Dec. 27th, 2010 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreLanded in New Orleans yesterday only a few minutes late.
The airport blows -- the control of information is abysmal, especially for someone having a bad leg day, as I was. It took over an hour to get my bags, and there was nowhere sufficiently close to sit. Often, that will be enough standing to cause a 3- to 7-day flare. I seem to have escaped that fate.
Example of the information issue: every baggage carousel had a pair of lovely flat screen TVs. Were they offering information about what flights' bags were on that carousel? No, they said Welcome to New Orleans and had a pretty picture of Xmas ornaments. I'd have felt more fucking welcome if I knew I was standing in the right place, especially when the carousel stops suddenly.
Another example: Signs said the car rentals were at the end of the terminal, somewhere near the Texas state line. Mine, naturally, was at the very end, and it said: go back and head to the parking garage. I was very sore and very pissed off right thn, but when I got to the garage, I couldn't find where to stand (right, no seats) for my rental car's shuttle. Naturally, it was as far as possible from the vacant counter. Grrr. Yes, I had a well-deserved meltdown.
Car was fine, process was fine after that point, hotel (Hilton Garden Inn French Quarter/CBD) was wonderful. I didn't take advantage of the rooftop pool only because it was 27 degrees outside, windy, and an open air pool.
I fired up Yelp, searched on Gluten Free. My first choice was a place not known for their service, but it was the closest. I found a better choice, Red Fish Grill, on the way. The waiter didn't know what celiac was, but he did know what soups were roux based. He knew the daily special, butternut squash soup, wan't, but didn't know if it was gluten free -- he asked, it was, and I had it. It was awesome! The smoked yellowfin tuna was also awesome. I chose an unsweetened pomegranate tea, which turned out to be from Republic of Tea.
This morning, I was feeling like not being a city person, so I decided to drive way down in Louisiana -- down to Grand Isle. I got buzzed by a pelican (never seen so many of them), had a great time.
Had one of those "I'm not from around here" moments: I saw a nice vantage point to take a photo of the Mississippi (or perhaps some fork of it) from a rather nice-looking bridge. After I crossed the bridge, I took the first exit, got to where the river was and stared dumbfounded at the berm in front of me for a moment. Oh, right. Levees.
I only had one night in New Orleans, so I headed to Mississippi. There's a NASA center with tours (Stennis) on the Louisiana/Mississippi border. I did not know that. Turns out it's the largest rocket test facility in the US. I need to figure out how to make the time to go.
Dinner: I discovered Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Closest thing this area has to In-n-Out, but with more burger options.
Note: I'll be unlocking this entry after I get home.
The airport blows -- the control of information is abysmal, especially for someone having a bad leg day, as I was. It took over an hour to get my bags, and there was nowhere sufficiently close to sit. Often, that will be enough standing to cause a 3- to 7-day flare. I seem to have escaped that fate.
Example of the information issue: every baggage carousel had a pair of lovely flat screen TVs. Were they offering information about what flights' bags were on that carousel? No, they said Welcome to New Orleans and had a pretty picture of Xmas ornaments. I'd have felt more fucking welcome if I knew I was standing in the right place, especially when the carousel stops suddenly.
Another example: Signs said the car rentals were at the end of the terminal, somewhere near the Texas state line. Mine, naturally, was at the very end, and it said: go back and head to the parking garage. I was very sore and very pissed off right thn, but when I got to the garage, I couldn't find where to stand (right, no seats) for my rental car's shuttle. Naturally, it was as far as possible from the vacant counter. Grrr. Yes, I had a well-deserved meltdown.
Car was fine, process was fine after that point, hotel (Hilton Garden Inn French Quarter/CBD) was wonderful. I didn't take advantage of the rooftop pool only because it was 27 degrees outside, windy, and an open air pool.
I fired up Yelp, searched on Gluten Free. My first choice was a place not known for their service, but it was the closest. I found a better choice, Red Fish Grill, on the way. The waiter didn't know what celiac was, but he did know what soups were roux based. He knew the daily special, butternut squash soup, wan't, but didn't know if it was gluten free -- he asked, it was, and I had it. It was awesome! The smoked yellowfin tuna was also awesome. I chose an unsweetened pomegranate tea, which turned out to be from Republic of Tea.
This morning, I was feeling like not being a city person, so I decided to drive way down in Louisiana -- down to Grand Isle. I got buzzed by a pelican (never seen so many of them), had a great time.
Had one of those "I'm not from around here" moments: I saw a nice vantage point to take a photo of the Mississippi (or perhaps some fork of it) from a rather nice-looking bridge. After I crossed the bridge, I took the first exit, got to where the river was and stared dumbfounded at the berm in front of me for a moment. Oh, right. Levees.
I only had one night in New Orleans, so I headed to Mississippi. There's a NASA center with tours (Stennis) on the Louisiana/Mississippi border. I did not know that. Turns out it's the largest rocket test facility in the US. I need to figure out how to make the time to go.
Dinner: I discovered Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Closest thing this area has to In-n-Out, but with more burger options.
Note: I'll be unlocking this entry after I get home.