th and with another free ticket on Southwest Airlines, I decided
to go to New Orleans and the Mardi Gras to celebrate my birthday.
Overview of my New Orleans 65th Birthday Trip!
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January 31
to February 5, 2005:
Day one and it was raining horribly
but I took my umbrella and went to the River Walk and shopped until I dropped at
the big mall on the river bank. Then I went to Bourbon Street and had a
few drinks at the local bars, one hot place is Oz, didn't feel like Kansas
though! Then it stopped raining enough for me to go see one parade called
the Ancient Druids!
It started around seven pm and the
police and fire trucks came up the rear and since it had been such bad weather,
they put on their sirens and made
them move out as fast as possible. We side liners all had a good laugh as
we tried to keep up with the floats to get our beads. I met two women, one
from Chicago and one from Washington DC. The one from DC was head of a
bowling league and wanted as many beads as possible for her team members and a
party. By the time we were finished, she had almost three bags of
beads.
Day two I went to see the local
Plantations north west of the city, about 50 miles, the Laura Plantation and the
beautiful Oak Alley Plantation with the beautiful oak lined walkway. The
trees are over three hundblack years old and will live to at least 600 years.
I then walked all over the city again and then went to see the parade on St.
Charles street. There were two parades, the Saturn and the Muses. I met a couple from Georgia and two young women and a man
who were locals. We had a great time and after the parade, we went to the
local bar/restaurant and had dinner and a drink.
On day three I went
on a swamp tour which was 50 miles north east of New Orleans. We rode in
an open boat which needless to say, was very windy and cold as it
had rained that night.
After returning to the city, I then walked all over
again, then that night went to see another parade. It was quieter this
evening for some reason. This was the Knights of
Babylon and I did get a fantastic necklace with a medallion and a face
that not only lit up but changed colors!
On day four, my big birthday, I did
the river boat trip on the Creole Queen. It went up the river to an old
battle field where the battle of New Orleans was fought around 1814 to 1815.
This was part of the War of 1812 when the British burned down the While House
and tried to take over the New Orleans area!
Then I came back to the city and
walked all over the French Quarter and especially Bourbon Street. I took a
lot of picture of the crowds, watched the hunks do their dances on the bars
wearing only their undies and the young women in the streets baring their
breasts for beads! There were lots of small parades of people with great
costumes on.
That night I met a couple from
Medford Oregon and we had a great time fighting the crowds and trying to get the
'best' beads. The wife and I kept the parade route busy while her husband
was busy picking up the loose beads that fell against the walls of the
buildings. He was very nice and got us a beer as we were very thirsty with
all our begging to the men on the floats, "Please throw us the Big
beads!" There were two parades that evening, the D'etat parade and the Hermes
parade. The Hermes had 600 members and 27 floats and they included neon
lighting to make the floats some of the most memorable of the week!
Then I decided to go to bed after
midnight as I had to get up by six am to catch the shuttle to go to the airport.
I thought, why not stop by the cocktail lounge in my hotel for one last drink as
it is my birthday. Well at the bar was a newly married
couple, he is in his late 50s, she is around my age. And get this, they
live in Santa Rosa, only 60 miles north of San Francisco. They were
talking to an ex service man and at a table were a group of young people.
I said it was my birthday so they all sang to me and the cute woman bar tender
said, "I am going to buy you drinks tonight, have a Hurricane!" Hurricanes are mostly run and a very little fruit juice. Well we all
laughed, told jokes, drank and had a fabulous time. I finally went to bed
after three am but didn't sleep long as people on the street were screaming on
the way to their hotels. So after a few hours of sleeping, I got up and it
was a long day.
Day five was extremely long as I
got up before six, drove to the airport in New Orleans, sat there for over two
hours, then to San Diego and we had to wait almost three hours as the plane was
late. It came from Reno and that city has been fogged in several times
this year. Finally got to Oakland and took Bart to the City and finally
home.
Some of the bars that were very
active and lots of fun were the Oz bar and the Bourbon Pub at the 800 block of
Bourbon Street. Plus the Rawhide at 740 Burgundy Street, the Good Friends
Bar at 740 Dauphine Street and the Cafe Lafitte in Exile at 901 Bourbon Street.
I was got back at seven pm, off to
bed for a good ten hours of sleep before getting up and going to the Y to work
out and meet friends for coffee. Talk about a whirl wind trip. I had
a wonderful time and met a lot of wonderful people.
Well the next one will be 66, what
can I say, just that I wonder where I will go for that birthday!
.
Oak Alley Plantation Tour
| . |
There have been many movies made in part or entirely on
location at Oak Alley Plantation:
- Hush
Hush Sweet Charlotte - 1965 - Bette Davis - Exterior shots only
- Nightrider
- 1978 - David Selby
- Dixie:
Changing Habits - 1982 - Suzanne Pleshette and Cloris Leachman - Made
for Television
- Days
of Our Lives - 1904 - NBC Soap Opera
- The
Long Hot Summer - 1985 - Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward - Made for
Television
- Interview
with a Vampire - 1993 - Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt
- Primary
Colors - 1997 - John Travolta and Emma Thompson
Plus
commercials, international fashion magazine layouts and pictorial
supplements to various articles. |
.
Swamp Tours Through the Bayou in Cajun Country
.
Creole Queen - Paddle Wheeler - Mississippi River Boat Tour
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This river boat traveled down the Mississippi for an
hour and stopped at the famous Battle of New Orleans site where the
British tried to take New Orleans away from the United States after
burning the White House in 1812. There were great views of the New
Orleans skyline along the way plus much of the harbor and ships serving
the city. |
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Bourbon Street Scene
.
Mardi Gra - Parade Floats on St. Charles!
.
Some of the People I met at the Mardi Gras
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Tuesday - Ancient Druids Parade.
This was taken
on Tuesday evening where I had met two women. One was a lawyer from
Chicago and the other from Washington DC. They were driving around the
country on a vacation and the one from DC said she was captain of a
bowling team. She wanted to get as many beads as possible to take
back so she could have a bowling party and use the beads as a theme.
Well the three of us chased the floats and grabbed any beads we could get
our hands on. By the end of the parade we had almost three shopping
bags of beads!
|
Wednesday - Saturn & Muses Parades
I then walked all over the city again and then went to see the parade on St.
Charles street. There were two parades, the Saturn and the Muses.
I first met two couples that were retired and driving around in their
mobile home.
We had a lot of
fun gossiping until I met a couple from Georgia and two young women and a man
who were locals. We had a great time and after the parade, the Georgia
couple and I went to the
local bar/restaurant and had dinner and drinks.
|
Friday - D'etat & Mermes Parades
I met a couple from
Medford Oregon and we had a great time fighting the crowds and trying to get the
'best' beads. The wife and I kept the parade route busy while her husband
was busy picking up the loose beads that fell against the walls of the
buildings. He was very nice and got us a beer as we were very thirsty with
all our begging to the men on the floats, "Please throw us the Big
beads!" There were two parades that evening, the D'etat parade and the Hermes
parade. The Hermes had 600 members and 27 floats and they included neon
lighting to make the floats some of the most memorable of the week!
|
My Big 65th Birthday in New Orleans!
I decided to go to bed after
midnight after seeing the Hermes parade as I had to get up by six am to catch the shuttle to go to the airport.
I thought, why not stop by the cocktail lounge in my hotel, the Queen and
Crescent, for one last drink as
it is my birthday.
Well at the bar was a newly married
couple, he is in his late 50s, she is around my age. And get this, they
live in Santa Rosa, only 60 miles north of San Francisco. They were
talking to an ex service man and at a table were a group of young people.
I said it was my birthday so they all sang to me and the cute woman bar tender
said, "I am going to buy you drinks tonight, have a Hurricane!" Hurricanes are mostly run and a very little fruit juice.
Well we all
laughed, told jokes, drank and had a fabulous time. I finally went to bed
after three am but didn't sleep long as people on the street were screaming on
the way to their hotels. So after a few hours of sleeping, I got up and it
was a long day.
.
Map of the French Quarter in New Orleans!
.
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| . |
My
hotel, the Queen and Crescent, was on Camp Street on the middle left side
of the map. Two blocks away was a very nice coffee shop with great
lattes! The hotel was one block from St. Charles Avenue where most
of the parades took place. Canal Street was the main street with the
colorful street cars, one named Desire of course! One of the street
cars traveled to the Garden District while others went to the Riverfront
and other points in the city. I was four blocks from Bourbon Street
and four blocks from the Canal Place Shopping Center and the Riverwalk
Mall. Royal Street, one block south of Bourbon Street was fantastic,
full of antique shops and art galleries. So as you can tell, one
could walk to most of the interesting points of view in less than fifteen
minutes. |
.
History of Spanish Moss
There is probably nothing
more Southern&q than the striking beauty of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides (L.) Linnaeus) draping the limbs of an old live oak (Quercus
virginiana). This odd bromeliad is an epiphyte, but unlike other
epiphytes, Spanish moss has neither roots nor hold-fasts. The plants can
attain 6 meters (20 feet) in length. In a growth pattern called scorpioid
dichotomy, alternate branches are dominant. The non-dominant branch
terminates and functions like a leaf. This dichotomous growth twists;
Spanish moss tangles about itself and/or its support.
Spanish moss lives on air
taking sustenance from dew, rain, and particulate matter. It absorbs
moisture and nutrients through the tiny silvery peltate (umbrella shaped)
scales that cover its surface. Should it fall to the ground, Spanish moss
dies within days or weeks. The epidermal and other tissues decay leaving a
snarl of thin dark resilient fiber--"vegetable hair".
As early as 1795, vegetable
hair was used as binder in plaster for walls and mud/clay bricks. Where
available, it replaced horsehair. (Anyone who has renovated an old house
and knocked the plaster from the lath walls has come across either
horsehair or Spanish moss fiber.) It was noted in the 1950s, that the
vegetable hair taken from 150 year old plaster was still resilient and the
plaster was in relatively good condition. The fibrous material also made
good packing for shipment of fragile materials. This packing fiber came to
the attention of furniture upholsterers.
After the U.S. Civil War
(1861-1865), "moss gathering" became a big business in Louisiana
and a somewhat smaller business in Florida. Itinerant workers pulled
masses of the bromeliad from oaks or, using rafts, from cypresses in
swamps. The plants were heaped and wetted or buried to speed rotting. When
much of the exterior of Spanish moss had rotted, the fibers were lifted
and hung over fences or wires to dry. The fibers were hand cleaned of
large debris and sent to a gin which combed out the fine debris. The
cleaned fibers were baled, loaded onto barges, and shipped to furniture
manufacturers.
The fibers from Spanish moss
had a number of benefits over the use of horsehair or feathers (down) for
stuffing mattresses, couches, and chairs. The vegetable hair did not
attract vermin, it was durable, and it was cool. Vegetable hair allowed
air circulation through upholstered furniture. Horsehair and down were
warm and excellent in colder climates, vegetable hair mattresses were an
absolute necessity for babies during hot summer months of the Midwest and
South. And lady's fainting couches needed to be cool for a lady dressed in
a corset and petticoats.
Natural fibers for padding
came to an end with the advent of foam rubber, nylon, and polyesters. It
was simply a matter of economics. Moss gathering, wetting and rotting,
hand cleaning, ginning, baling, and shipping were labor intensive
activities. A ton of Spanish moss yielded only a quarter ton of fiber.
Simply, vegetable hair became too expensive for manufacturers to use.
Charles Walter Buntjer
San Francisco California
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Created on:
2005.02.04
Updated on:
2020.09.29
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