Day 216
What’s a visit to NOLA without a cruise down the Mississippi on a steamboat with a live jazz band. Our departure time for this event was eleven thirty, but we were requested to be there at eleven for boarding. During our visit to the French Quarter yesterday, I scouted out the location where the steamboat would depart for any possible places to park. Surprisingly there was parking right beside the entrance of the pier, and for a modest sum of money, and you first born, you could park there.
Falling back to our plan B, we would see if we could extend our HOHO pass for one more day. The ticket office to the HOHO was where the walking tour for the French Quarter started, so we slipped into the office to see if we could get an extension. The lady was reluctant to provide an extension at first, stating that we would have to buy two new one day passes again, but then relented when Lori explained why we need the additional day and gave us the third day for no charge… yay Lori 😊
Our routine was the same as the last two days, we headed to the Garden District and caught the Bus down to the French Quarter. Unfortunately, Matthew was not home to watch the truck, so we slipped over to John Goodmans home a few blocks down.
We arrived at the steamboat on time and picked our tickets up from the ticket office. With tickets in hand, we headed over to the boat and joined the long line of guests already waiting to board. I will admit, I was surprised to see that many people going on the tour, considering the weather was very chilly and rain was expected this afternoon, I thought it would be fairly quiet.
When we boarded the boat we were directed too the top three floors. If you had chosen the lunch option you were directed to the dining hall on the first floor, we passed on this in fear of the killer Crawfish sandwich and it’s side kick oysters!
The steamboat was a stern wheel based boat built in 1975 named the Natchez IX. It was modelled after the two famous steamboats, the Hudson and Virginia. The steam engines onboard were built in 1925 for the steamboat Clairton, from which the steering system also came. From the steamboat J.D Ayres, the copper bell made of melted silver dollars was taken.
On September 25, 1976, the Natchez was used by U.S President Gerald Ford for a presidential trip to the Southern United States while on his Campaign trail. In 1982 the Natchez won the Great Steamboat Race, which is held every year as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. Including other races through the years, the Natchez has never lost a race. Those beaten by the Natchez include the Belle of Louisville, the Delta Queen and the Mississippi Queen. During the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the Natchez was temporarily moved upriver to Baton Rouge to escape any damage.
When we left the pier and began working our way down the first half of the journey, you couldn’t help but feel the experience from another time. Standing on the deck of the boat watching this massive paddle propel us down the Mississippi as we listened to live jazz music, almost takes you back to what it was like back then, or how the movies portray it anyways. After the first thirty minutes of watching the banks of the Mississippi slowly go by, the wind picked up and it began to rain lightly. We continued to look around for the next hour before we concluded that; even though it was an experience we had to do…it did not take long before we were ready to head back. Possibly with better weather we may have felt differently about it. Once the Natchez made port and we were back in the French District, we poked around a few shops before heading back home.
