U.S. Tour – A Flying Road Trip #1 – New Orleans, LA

When the road is too long to drive ‘there’, we fly to a central location, rent a car and start our road trip. Where to this time? We flew into New Orleans and stayed at the Four Seasons.

We got up at o’dark thirty and took an Uber to DCA (Reagan National Airport). We boarded our plane, sitting in the comfy seat section. Soon we had a flight attendant, Gilbert, paying us particular attention. It was my birthday! He was so nice…While I was away from my seat, he taped a napkin birthday greeting to the bulkhead and left me a small snack package of donuts and an American Airline wing pin. Not only that but he announced to the entire plane that it was my birthday! The co-pilot also made a similar announcement. I was now ‘famous’! Both the co-pilot and pilot came out of the cockpit when we landed and wanted to know who the birthday girl was…ME!.. It’s ME! LOL Funny thing is that another passenger on the plane was also on our return flight and wanted know if I had a good birthday in New Orleans.

Since I didn’t care for either lunch offering on the plane, I was hungry. Gilbert put together. a fruit bowl and bagel for me while Karen ate the fritata. To have a choice between an asparagus and mushroom fritata or a salmon something just wasn’t anything I wanted! We grabbed a delicious chicken sandwich and fries in the hotel lounge and met another nice Four Seasons employee. She also knew it was my birthday and brought a sparkler sampler for us to enjoy. Back to our room for a short nap! Early flights mean a nap is in our future.

My birthday dinner was at the hotel. A co-worker of Karen’s recommended the pork chops, so that was what I ordered. She was right – they were delicious! The wait staff was extra attentive and lit up the room with a sparkler assortment of treats. Our room amenity was a little can-shaped tube cake and a couple of beverages. Karen however, outdid that little cake with a wonderfully delicious birthday cake that she special ordered for me. We each had a piece and ended up giving the front desk the rest of the cake. We were thanked by several employees for the cake later.

Day 2
We loaded my scooter – which survived its airplane ride unscathed – in the rental car and took off to a town I’ve wanted to see since starting to watch the show, Home Town namely Laurel, Mississippi. I applaud the efforts of Ben and Erin Napier to revive their hometown. We parked our rental car near the Scent Library, but did not go in. I was afraid the smells I might encounter would set off allergies. So off we went for lunch. We had decided to eat at Pearl’s. After lunch we went on a search for the Laurel billboards and welcome signs on the buildings. We then strolled around and visited Laurel Mercantile and Ben’s woodshop, the Scotsman. Lots of nice items in the store attached, but rather pricey. We did purchase, of course, an ornament to document the visit. The ornament is in the shape of Mississippi, made from a piece of an old quilt. Love handmade ornaments! Ben was not at the shop but you can see into it. We wandered around some more and decided we’d ‘been there, seen that’ and headed toward home base back in New Orleans. Karen did all the driving of course and we were both tired when we got back to Four Seasons, so after reviewing our late dinner options we decided to stay in and order room service.

Day 3
Our plan was to take a walk to Jackson Square and Cafe Beignet. We are not Cafe duMonde’s favorite fan. So we found the closest location for the Cafe, and did not enter as there were several steps that really don’t work well for a scooter or mobility impaired patrons. So, we decided to go to the original Cafe duMonde a couple blocks away. The lines were long and there was a local group playing the iconic New Orleans music and then a single singer belting out Bob Marley songs – you know 3 Birds, everything is gonna be all right.’ We then found the ramp to overlook Jackson Square and eventually went down to the area in front of the church. I’ve been to New Orleans several times and always love the Jackson Square area. Soon it was time to head back to the hotel along the RiverWalk, check out and head to the airport for the flight home. Surprise of surprises, I ordered the in-flight meal and enjoyed it again as I had the first time on a previous flight.

Like this fly/drive post? Watch for another one coming in a few weeks…Where to? You’ll have to check back to see!

Our thoughts on Laurel, MS and our time spent there:

• It is much larger than the Home Town depicted in the show. I grew up in a rural area for my Home Town – more of what I thought it would be.
• Still a charming area; lots of business opportunities. Revivals still being worked on around town.
• Good mural hike to find them all.
• See the buildings in historic downtown for some of Ben and Erin’s remodels. Drove around quite a few residential streets but couldn’t put a finger on any one remodel in particular that we had seen on the show.
• Pearls – came on Ben’s recommendation I believe. Well we wished we had skipped it. Both our meals were served to us cold and it was all supposed to be hot food. We were so excited to taste Pearl’s fried chicken. We had chicken, fries (over cooked and wimpy), Mac and cheese (upcharge if you want this) and a corn muffin (I’ve had better!). Lunch was over $50 and we threw most of it away.
• Sidewalks, crosswalks and curb ramps are in pretty good shape but may be difficult for some to navigate due to the edges on the ramp..
• Stores and shops are clean and well stocked. Bring your wallet…it’s not cheap to buy a souvenir! Ben’s wood items were very nice. The Laurel Mercantile had a wide range of items.
• My personal scooter got me around New Orleans and Laurel. Only got off the sidewalk proper one time and Karen gave me a boost back on. I will say that besides cobblestones and bricks, multiple railroad and cable car/trolley tracks as well as large separators in the sidewalks are not my favorite! My scooter does not have shock absorbers!
  
  We enjoyed our visit to Laurel, MS, city for HGTV’s Home Town show. I hope you like the pictures Karen took with her iPhone of our visit.

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
and each road leads you where you want to go

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