Oct 27 - The North Shore

No visit to New Orleans is complete without a trip across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the world's longest continuous bridge over water at 23.83 miles. Our trip began with the first of many crossings of the Crescent City Connection toll bridge. 

The view on the Causeway was pretty much the same
all the way across. Bernard snapped this along the way.

On the North Shore, we first visited the Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum in Madisonville. There were interesting exhibits and a solid history of shipping on Lake Pontchartrain. 

[A side note: There are some amazing miniatures on display that depict life in the 18th century as well as a series of lighthouse vignettes. I snapped a lot of photos before I saw the sign that told me not to but I couldn't bear to delete them. They're on my computer for me to enjoy, but unfortunately I can't share them here. If you're near Madisonville, do stop in to take a look. You won't be disappointed.]

In front of the museum

Inside the museum is a mock-up of part of a river boat.
A Fresnel lens from a lighthouse fascinated me.

We planned to have lunch at a restaurant we like on the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville, but it was closed that day, so we pushed on to Ponchatoula. There is a resident alligator in a cage outside of the Ponchatoula Country Market in the old train depot, but he was napping, so our quest to find a live alligator was temporarily stymied.

The only alligator in sight was this one.

We planned lunch at a restaurant we like in Ponchatoula, only to discover that it had morphed into Rox, along the railroad tracks, which turned out to have an amazing menu with great food. The servings were on the large side. Most of us ordered cheeseburgers, which were delicious. At my request, the waiter checked with the kitchen to see how big the burgers were: 11 ounces! I think Romain was the only one to eat all of it.

When the sugar turned out to be hard and crusty and not from Louisiana, we started looking at sugar packets in all restaurants. Most, if not all, turned out to be from distributors out of state. How strange.

After lunch we strolled around Ponchatoula and took in some of the sights.

Outside the craft market in the old train depot.

The town was preparing for a festival weekend.

An 18th century engine on display in the historic downtown area.

Strawberry vendors. Ponchatoula is known for its strawberries.

The downtown area is divided by railroad tracks. Amtrak passed while we were at lunch.

Later Bernard counted the cars of a freight train (144), estimated their length, and announced the length of the train: about one mile. It was an awesomely long train.

On the way out of town we stopped at the Louisiana Furniture Store, which, we found was closed. The owner was there, and she graciously let us inside to see the paintings by William Hemmerling. When Hemmerling passed away a few years ago, she told us, folks who had been drawn to the shop to visit with him (and ultimately bought the handmade furniture that kept the shop going), no longer came by. All of the Hemmerlings are being moved to a gallery at 733 Royal Street in the French Quarter.

We returned to New Orleans via I-55 and I-10. Bernard snapped this shot of one of the houses with their "boat garages" in the bayous near Lake Maurepas as we flew past on the elevated highway. There are no roads here. The only access is by boat. 

Body language, pantomime, and a good dose of laughter helps communication. Lloyd interjection of Spanish, Portuguese, and made-up words keeps the laughter going, especially since the words are frequently not related to the subject of the moment. His habitual running commentary about whatever pops into his head has prompted us to use a shorthand "TMI" for "too much information". At lunch today it morphed into "TMO" for "too much opinion". Much more laughter all around.

Tomorrow: Alligators!