Our Hurricane Evacu-cation Story Part 2: Beautiful Distractions

We arrived at our hotel in the French Quarter in New Orleans, and we were immediately relieved and grateful to have made it to our destination safely, and we were even excited about this little adventure. I should mention that at this point (Friday afternoon), it was looking like the storm would still go on the east coast of Florida, and possibly not even be that bad along the coast. Of course, I have family there too, so it wasn't exactly good news, but they still had time and places to go more inland or even towards Tampa. Throughout that day I partly even felt a little silly, like maybe we made a big deal about nothing, but that feeling would change not too long after.

Gabe and I needed showers before anything else, and Evie had a bandage that needed to be changed. I failed to mention that through all of this, she had a 2nd degree burn wound on her back, about the size of her hand, that she got the previous Sunday when she and Eleanora were running around playing through the kitchen while Gabe was carrying a pot of boiling water to the sink, and...you can guess what happened. She was very brave about the whole thing, and of course Gabe felt terrible, but in some ways I'm surprised a kitchen accident like this hasn't happened before. We were treating her at home, but then I decided to take her to the doctor the day before we left in case the upcoming hurricane affected anything (little did we know!). She gave us a prescription burn cream but otherwise said to do what we've been doing, which was changing her bandage twice a day. Really, it wasn't as bad as you might imagine, and she was running around and playing the next day, and sleeping fine. But it was something that I was worried about - whether we left or not. I was worried about her sitting in the car for that long and being uncomfortable if we drove, and I was worried about not being able to adequately take care of it and have the right supplies if we ended up staying and found ourselves in a damaged or unsanitary house situation or without power or running water. At any rate, it didn't bother her much during the ride or the rest of the trip, and it's healing very well now. (And they remember the lesson about not running in the kitchen while we're cooking!).

Muffulettas! You can almost hear her rolling her eyes.

We were hungry and ready to walk, so we went straight to Central Grocery to get a muffuletta (my no processed meat rule was temporarily suspended for parts of this trip). The girls weren't quite as excited as we were and seemed to be a little anxious about the new (loud) place we were in, but that was to be expected. We probably tried to introduce too much at once and may have had unrealistic expectations that they would be excited about the same things we were, but this really only lasted the afternoon. As we walked around more we saw plenty of street artists, mule-drawn carriages, and musicians, and the girls started getting more excited. Everywhere around us there were opportunities to learn about something new - historically, culturally, geographically - this all made me feel better about them being out of school for so many days. Many places had historic flags or street signs that represented either France or Spain, and while they may not be able to explain the entire history of New Orleans, they learned some things in context. My favorite was when Evie said how much she liked the rainbow flags all around on one street. I agreed they were pretty and explained what pride flags were and talked about the variety of families and couples there are and the different ways people can identify. There were ample opportunities to talk about race, and we welcomed that too - both the really difficult stories and the celebratory ones. And of course, we were in the land of Katrina, and many people gave us a knowing, sincere look when they learned we were evacuating from Irma. The girls picked up on this, and so we talked about Katrina a few times, and also about how natural disasters affect people differently and how our government responds to communities differently. I don't know how much of this they absorbed - and most probably went over Eleanora's head, but hopefully it was a tangible way to add to the open dialogue about social justice and cultural understanding we've already tried to establish.

St. Louis Cathedral we stayed near.

We stopped back at the hotel after lunch to take a little rest, although the girls would not nap. We had loosened the rules about screen time, and pretty much every afternoon they were allowed to watch a movie or shows, and it allowed us a chance to check in on things back home and at least try to rest. On the way back out for dinner, after discovering and indulging in some complimentary king's cake in the lobby, we went out to the park near the main square near where we were staying and walked around and took pictures. Did I mention the weather was absolutely gorgeous the whole time we were there? A little cool in the mornings and evenings and warm and sunny (but not too hot) during the day.

Free to play in the park!

Evie and her Papa.

We found a good, if not pricey, place to eat, where Eleanora was assured of having her "lemomade," and we walked around a little afterwards. There were lots of musicians and artists around, and that night we saw two violinists - a man and a woman - playing together. Their music was beautiful, and the girls were really drawn to it. Gabe encouraged Evie to use "her" phone (an old one we use for games and apps) to take pictures, and that she did. I haven't looked through them all, but I know there are a lot of pictures and videos of this duo. We saw other more traditional New Orleans jazz musicians and stopped to listen and tried to identify all the instruments with the girls since they're still into music. Then we went back to the hotel, cleaned up for bed, and slept a deep sleep after not being able to at all the night before.

The next morning we found a place on the corner to have breakfast, and the girls learned what Pain Perdue was, New Orleans style french toast. Still no fruit in sight, except the orange slices that came as a garnish, so we asked for extra and Eleanora ate them all up and made "rainbows" with the rinds afterwards. From there, we set off for the Aquarium, which I remember from my very first visit to New Orleans when I was around 12 or 13 years old. Lee and I were visiting our Dad who lived in Miami at the time. While we were there he was spontaneously asked to go on a business trip to New Orleans, and since we were with him, we got to go along. I remember getting up to go to the airport at 4am to fly there, and then staying at the Marriott Grand Marquee and walking around and taking pictures a lot. We went to the HardRock Cafe, which we thought was pretty cool at the time, and we also drove around the swampy areas to meet with Dad's clients. So whenever I go to New Orleans I think of that trip.

"Wishing a penny" at the aquarium for family back home.

At any rate, we decided to try the street car for the first time. We walked to the pick up location by the Mississippi River, got a day pass, and hopped on. It was only a few stops, but the girls loved it! The aquarium was really nice and had several different exhibits. It was different from ours in Tampa, which we have been to a gazillion times, so that was refreshing. We saw lots of different fish, turtles, sharks, sting rays, a white alligator, and many other salt and freshwater creatures, and there was also an area made to look like a Mayan rain forest that had macaws and all, and I thought that was really beautiful. We had a light lunch and headed back to the street car, and then finally walked back to the hotel.

Macaws.

As close as I've come to a rainforest.

White Alligator. Standing Up...

It must have been some time during this day that the forecast for Irma started getting really bad. It was definitely heading more west, and it was retaining strength as a category 4 or 5 hurricane. At some point it looked like it was going to head directly towards our area of Tampa. I was increasingly worried about Lee and had a few little breakdowns that I tried to hide in the bathroom, as I again found myself imagining worst case scenarios. I knew that most of the people in our neighborhood and many other family and friends had stayed though, so I took some comfort in that. I reminded myself that our house is well made and our roof is new, and Gabe reminded me that there were lots of tall trees on the outskirts of our neighborhood that might help break up the wind. Lee was sending pictures of all the preparations she was making. We talked about where she would go if it got bad, and the options were either our master closet, which only closed via slatted wooden sliding doors, or the little toilet room in our master bathroom, which was tiny, but completely enclosed with no windows and an actually closing door. I reached out to one other neighbor that I was friends with and put her and Lee in touch. That was as much as I could do from a distance, so I tried to let it go again and be brave in front of the girls.

We had another evening walking around and going out to dinner. Afterwards, though, we decided to try a carriage ride, which the girls were begging for ever since they saw them. They sat in the front seat by themselves with us behind, and then another family from Miami behind us. Our carriage driver gave us a tour of the French Quarter and talked a lot about the different buildings, some historical conflicts, Katrina, and some local artists. He tried to be friendly to the girls and get them to smile, as many locals did, but as is their style, they just stared back blankly and didn't smile or respond. *Sigh.* I know I was probably this way, so I try not to either shame them for being shy or force them to respond, which makes everyone uncomfortable. I joked about them being tired, and it was clear Eleanora was, as she was starting to nod off. We finished the tour and made it back to our room for a quick bed time routine, and then lights out. I'm sure Gabe and I were both up fretting on and off and checking weather updates, but we at least slept a little.

The next morning we decided to do a little trip to the Garden District, which would keep us occupied for the whole morning. We had breakfast at a little cafe, and the news was on the tv, which was unavoidable. The employees stood there watching along with us, and we all silently shook our heads at the strong winds and damage that was becoming evident in the Keys and South Florida. I did not see roofs or cars flying around, like I had imagined, and there was a weatherman standing in the middle of the storm in South Florida, so I felt a little more okay about that. We had our breakfast and took a long walk to the street car that would take us on a long ride to the garden district.

Just two sisters walking along (with parents crying behind them because they're holding hands).

Hamilton Park (that's the Hamilton statue in the background).

On the way, we stopped at Hamilton Park, where there was a statue of Alexander Hamilton, which Gabe wanted to see after his newfound fondness of Hamilton (he listens to the soundtrack all the time). The girls pranced around a little and we took some pictures and enjoyed another beautiful day. We crossed the street to hop on to the street car, and then took a 45 minute ride along St. Charles street. We admired the beautiful houses along the way - some with gothic architecture, some Greek revival, and that was all I could remember from the tour the night before, but we took turns pointing out which ones we'd want to live in.

Ready for a hour of street car fun!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the street car, and they stood and held on to handles, and twisted around, and hopped across the aisle in a fit of giggles, and swung around in an innocent kind of pole dancing. We stayed on as the car turned around and we got off near Lafayette Cemetery on our way to lunch. We looked around the above-ground cemetery very briefly, because it got hot after all. Gabe and I had been to one in Buenos Aires that was really beautiful, and I have to say this one was probably not known for it's beauty, but it was interesting and sad, nonetheless (and I'm sure a tour or some information about it would have helped). I noticed several tombstones with very young ages on it, and wondered about how these children died, especially since mostly wealthy families were buried here. I took a few pictures, and that was as much as everyone could tolerate.




                                      

                                      

It really felt like they did.

We made a rather arduous trek with hot, tired, struggling girls to a little crepe cafe that Gabe found online. We indulged in sweet and savory crepes and cooled off with refreshing drinks. A family next to us was from Estero, in South Florida, so we chatted with them a little bit. We thought about taking an Uber back to the hotel, but they wouldn't take children without car seats, so we washed up in the tiniest bathroom I've ever seen (you had to sit sideways on the toilet because it almost touched the opposite wall), and we found enough energy to walk back to the street car stop. We savored the long ride back, knowing we'd need to walk many blocks back to the hotel. We got back and the girls immediately asked for screen time, which we allowed. The hurricane was supposed to hit this (Sunday) night, so I gathered up my courage to step out and make a phone call to Lee, trying to not show how nervous I was. We had an emotional talk, but nothing too dramatic, and I wished her the best, not knowing if she may lose power or cellular service that night, but hoping that we'd still be in communication for a while.



At some point during this afternoon, we learned that, although the hurricane was still coming directly for Tampa, it would probably only enter as a category 2 storm, or possibly even 1. I was SO RELIEVED to see this. Although this is still pretty bad, is much better than coming in at a category 3 or 4. So after our afternoon break, we decided to venture out to the French Market, a type of flea market that is held nearly every day, and was within walking distance. We hadn't really done any shopping yet (it seemed almost disrespectful somehow), but we figured we may as well get a few gifts for other people and have the girls pick out a couple things as well. This is where they got their $2 fans that they ADORED! They reasoned that it was pretty hot out and they needed them to keep cool. They found some fancy hair clips, and we got a few other things for family we were thinking about during the hurricane. Since it was almost dinner time, and walking to another restaurant was pretty unappealing, we found some food at the market that was more or less healthy (one place had vegan cajun food!). Since we weren't going to a restaurant, I realized I wouldn't be able to order a wine, so luckily I found a small bottle of cheap merlot at one of the places we got food - it would definitely suffice in taking the edge off my nerves. We brought our eclectic assortment of food back to the room and ate on make-shift places and a small table. We played a round or two of Sleeping Queens - the girls' favorite new game - and put them to bed.

Unlike the other nights where we crashed along with the girls, I stayed up to try to work in my dissertation. Luckily I had turned in major revisions to all the chapters a couple days before we left, but I had some minor formatting things to work on while I waited on more feedback from my advisor. So I embraced the mindless work while I watched Insecure on my phone and texted back and forth with Lee. I probably turned in around midnight, and checked in again when I woke up around 4:30 am. Everything was okay, and the worst had passed. There was still a lot of wind and maybe some rain, but we were in the clear, and Lee had survived! Throughout the morning, I got regular updates from my family in Deltona (east-central FL) and on the east coast (near New Smyrna Beach). They were reporting scary wind, and they all eventually lost power, but in the end everyone was okay and there was no major damage. We were elated! The worst of the nightmare was over. I finally felt like I could relax a little more. It was Monday morning, and we did not plan to go back for a couple days because the traffic would be so bad, and we weren't even sure when all the roads would be open. So we extended our stay until Wednesday morning. The next couple days would be filled with more exploring and enjoyment of the beautiful (and also heartbreaking) city we were so fortunate to stay in.

To be continued...