The Flowers Explore - New Orleans Louisiana - Faubourg Brewery - 2022/04/16-17

It's been a couple days of delays in postings because we haven't had internet access. I'm crawling along with a couple bars of 3G service now, so that's enough to get something posted today. Let's go!

Today we're leaving Gulf Shores Alabama and headed out to New Orleans Louisiana! 

Our site here at the Gulf Shores State Park was pretty nice. A large pull-through, close the amenities, and near enough to the beaches. This was a good stop!

Our travels today will be taking us across the lower part of Mississippi, then over to Louisiana. 

Alli - Mommy! Cows! Can you take a picture?

And tunnels are still exciting to drive through too. I'm always happy to see big 18-wheeler trucks in front of me because I know that means that I won't have any problems following with the RV. 

Welcome to Mississippi! The Birthplace of America's Music apparently. Blues is the only music that is recognized as being truly original to America, and it is from the Mississippi Delta. The King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley, is from Tupelo Mississippi. 

We've tried to plan our budget out ahead of time, but this is something we weren't exactly expecting. Diesel is getting expensive and we go through a bit of it as we move across the country. 

Welcome to Louisiana! And paying tribute to the French influence, the sign is also written in French saying Bienvenue en Lousiane. Of course people have to deface the "Keep Louisiana Beautiful" sign by putting stickers all over it. 

We're only staying one night in Louisiana this time and tonight we'll be boondocking. A local brewery, Faubourg Brewing Co, has a great big parking lot and allows RVs to park there overnight. 

I was reminded of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory as we were pulling up. 

Luckily there's a lot of big trucks that head in and out so the turns are nice and wide. 

What I was NOT counting on though were these inconsiderate RVers who parked in the driving lanes. I couldn't make a turn around them, had to get out of the truck to go see them. Luckily they were still in their RVs and could move them to give me the room I needed. 

Here's our spot for the night, along with another dozen other RVers. 

And since we're spending the night, we get to add another sticker to our map!

Louisiana, you have been added. 

While we're here, we've got to see more of New Orleans than just the parking lot of this brewery. Going down to Bourbon Street and all the other parts of Downtown New Orleans was tempting, but I read that the streets are narrow and the turns are tight. It's not a place you want to take long vehicles, and the Beast is 22' long and doesn't do "narrow" or "tight". 

Instead we're going to head to New Orleans City Park (the green section at the top) and picking up a special treat. 

Café du Monde is a New Orleans staple, both for their coffee and their beignets. They were established back in 1862 and have been going strong since. 

Beignets are served in sacks of 3 for $3.40. 

Here's something Aunt Megan might enjoy. A 160oz coffee carrier! 

I'm used to getting the paper hats for free at Krispy Kreme. Ian even got a free one back in 2016 when we visited Louisiana before. So I was a little surprised when I asked for a couple for the kids and was told they were 15 cents each. Not much, but still. Gotta do it for the pictures though. 

We took our newly procured beignets along with a blanket from the truck, and found a nice shady spot in the park to enjoy them. 

They are delicious bits of fried dough. 

And if you don't have powdered sugar getting all over you, you're not doing it right. 

Kids - Can we play at the park? 

Absolutely! Get some of that energy out! 

There was a whole lot of things to play on, and the kids spent 30 minutes or so running around. In the end though, they said they didn't really like this park. When I pressed them on why, they said that a lot of the kids were bullies. They were told to "get off" certain things because bigger kids wanted to play on it, and other kids were cutting in line for things people wanted to go on. I can see why that wouldn't be so fun. 

After the beignets and the park, we headed back to the Faubourg Brewing Company to finish out our night. At these Harvest Host sites, it's suggested to spend ~$20 with the company as a thank you for them letting you park on their land for free. Let's go see what they have to offer!

Apart from a wide selection of beers, they also have a menu with food. There's a great atmosphere here. Outside on one of the large lawns, there's a stage and live band playing. People have set up chairs to listen. There's games and lots of things to do. 

To get to our $20, we bought a couple grilled cheese sandwiches with fries, but we've got other dinner plans while we're here. That'll come in a future post. 

I was surprised though about how delicious the grilled cheeses were here. I was thinking they'd be little kid sandwiches, but no. It's got a great bread with cheese grilled on the outside of it. And then the cheese inside is a strong cheese with lots of flavor. The kids actually didn't like these grilled cheese sandwiches, but T and I thought they were delicious!

Coming back over to our RV it looks like we have a new guest!

After dinner, we headed right back over to where the action was. The kids had a great time playing the free games. 

Basketball, Connect4, and Corn Hole.  

The skies were beautiful too. 

To finish the night, we played a little bit of Bocce ball. The weather is pleasant here after the sun went down, and it's been a very nice day. 

We tucked in for a good night's sleep so we'll be all good the next morning. 

Little did we know that the next morning would bring a little bit of drama of its own... We'll start there next time!