What a beautiful sunrise this morning out of my 4th floor window looking down Chartres Street at LeRichelieu. This is a corner room, so the bathroom window overlooks Barracks Street. Doc's domicile is just half a block up and quite visible.
I arrived Monday in time to ride the 2:30 NATCHEZ trip, retrieve my bike and golf clubs from the Beauregard House - the apartment is sadly nothing more than a dusty storage room for old books and pamphlets -, have shrimp creole at Coops and return to the NATCHEZ for the dinner cruise for a dose of the Dukes of Dixieland, a bit of narration and time between the sticks. Good crowds on both trips, as has been the case this summer. Usually by now the summer doldrums have hit and numbers diminish, but not so this year. At least there is good news in one steamboating camp...
I expected to walk out on that sandbar again and video the boat landing right at me since the low water reports were so frequent, but surprisingly, it hasn't really surfaced yet. At low tide - the river stage is 2.5 and there are some tidal effects now, a tip of the beach at the Moonwalk appears, but that is it. With this low stage, the NATCHEZ appears to have shrunk when you approach her - the wharf is even covering the bottom of the boiler deck now, although the big nameboards are completely visible yet.
They are building protective dams downriver at Belle Chasse to prevent the salt water from getting into their water supply intakes, and if the stage goes any lower, the city of NOLA may have to do the same with theirs too.
As I flew over and drove into the city, it was a strange sight to see water standing everywhere. Unlike us up north, they have been getting daily deluges, but that doesn't help the river stage since it all gets pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, not the river. Apparently I brought the drought with me, as yesterday was the first dry day they had had in weeks...
While I was waiting and waiting at the baggage claim at MSY, I counted the CREOLE QUEEN electronic ad appear 4 times on the overhead ad board. Driving in on I-10 I noticed a huge new electronic billboard for the CQ, in addition to the old big one further in. The NATCHEZ advertising? Zilch. It amazes and befuddles me at how little promotion there is for her around town. Of course she benefits from being in many TV and print stories, but those aren't accessible to the arriving tourists. Oh well, I counted 18 pax on the CQ's afternoon trip yesterday, so I guess being the real thing is more important than billboards.
No pictures to post yet, forgot to take my camera with me yesterday, too excited to just get 'home' I guess.
On the personnel front: anybody out there a Chief Engineer with some time on your hands? Chief Juan retired and returned home to Peru and Scotty Viaegas is doing double duty. A name from the past, Bobby Gates, is going to return to help out in a few weeks. Another veteran is going to make two appearances at the calliope keyboard today as Debbie is taking the day off. I just might get a picture or two of that occasion...and news from the Lake George homefront: CAPTAIN Matt Dow passed his NY State Masters exam last week, now making it three generations of Dows with Captains papers.
Time to forage for breakfast, as the Croissant d'Or is closed on Tuesdays. Don't think that will be hard here in the French Quarter...
I arrived Monday in time to ride the 2:30 NATCHEZ trip, retrieve my bike and golf clubs from the Beauregard House - the apartment is sadly nothing more than a dusty storage room for old books and pamphlets -, have shrimp creole at Coops and return to the NATCHEZ for the dinner cruise for a dose of the Dukes of Dixieland, a bit of narration and time between the sticks. Good crowds on both trips, as has been the case this summer. Usually by now the summer doldrums have hit and numbers diminish, but not so this year. At least there is good news in one steamboating camp...
I expected to walk out on that sandbar again and video the boat landing right at me since the low water reports were so frequent, but surprisingly, it hasn't really surfaced yet. At low tide - the river stage is 2.5 and there are some tidal effects now, a tip of the beach at the Moonwalk appears, but that is it. With this low stage, the NATCHEZ appears to have shrunk when you approach her - the wharf is even covering the bottom of the boiler deck now, although the big nameboards are completely visible yet.
They are building protective dams downriver at Belle Chasse to prevent the salt water from getting into their water supply intakes, and if the stage goes any lower, the city of NOLA may have to do the same with theirs too.
As I flew over and drove into the city, it was a strange sight to see water standing everywhere. Unlike us up north, they have been getting daily deluges, but that doesn't help the river stage since it all gets pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, not the river. Apparently I brought the drought with me, as yesterday was the first dry day they had had in weeks...
While I was waiting and waiting at the baggage claim at MSY, I counted the CREOLE QUEEN electronic ad appear 4 times on the overhead ad board. Driving in on I-10 I noticed a huge new electronic billboard for the CQ, in addition to the old big one further in. The NATCHEZ advertising? Zilch. It amazes and befuddles me at how little promotion there is for her around town. Of course she benefits from being in many TV and print stories, but those aren't accessible to the arriving tourists. Oh well, I counted 18 pax on the CQ's afternoon trip yesterday, so I guess being the real thing is more important than billboards.
No pictures to post yet, forgot to take my camera with me yesterday, too excited to just get 'home' I guess.
On the personnel front: anybody out there a Chief Engineer with some time on your hands? Chief Juan retired and returned home to Peru and Scotty Viaegas is doing double duty. A name from the past, Bobby Gates, is going to return to help out in a few weeks. Another veteran is going to make two appearances at the calliope keyboard today as Debbie is taking the day off. I just might get a picture or two of that occasion...and news from the Lake George homefront: CAPTAIN Matt Dow passed his NY State Masters exam last week, now making it three generations of Dows with Captains papers.
Time to forage for breakfast, as the Croissant d'Or is closed on Tuesdays. Don't think that will be hard here in the French Quarter...
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