Day 114 - Light Ships and Bayou Boogaloo

The morning began cloudy, warm and humid, and we took it slow.  We had until noon to return the car so no need to rush.  Once at Enterprise, we had to wait in line, then wait again as the agent had to “verify” that the damage on the car was not done by us.  The damage was clearly marked and signed off on by the person who rented us the car, but that was not good enough – really???  I do not blame the agent; she was very polite and only doing what she has been told.  But why do the paperwork if it doesn’t mean anything?  Ok, thanks for listening to me vent about Enterprise.  Their customer service leaves much to be desired!

In the afternoon, we visited 2 museums in Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Light Ship and the Naval Shipyard Museum.  The first is actually in a ship, built in 1915, that was used as a light off the coast of Rhode Island.  Light ships date back to Roman times and were used in areas where the land was not suitable to build on but where mariners needed a warning system for shoals and reefs.  The Naval Shipyard Museum chronicles the history of Portsmouth as a shipbuilding town.

 

 

Later, we took a ferry across the Elizabeth River to Norfolk Town Point Park for the Bayou Boogaloo Cajun Food Festival.  Two music stages provided entertainment all afternoon and evening.  New Orleans style Cajun food was sold, with such favorites as Po’boys, oysters, jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp and grits, and crab cakes.  A very popular item was the crawfish boil with corn, sausage and potatoes, like the seafood boils in the Low Country.

We watched a cooking demonstration of a typical Cajun boil, sponsored by the Praline Connection Restaurant in New Orleans.  If you asked a question you were able to pick your choice of a seasoning packet or spice.  Our question was what drink goes best with jambalaya. The answer was beer (not something we drink, but that was the answer).  We walked away with a gumbo seasoning packet and a bottle of rib seasoning.  When the cooking demonstration over, they handed out samples of the jambalaya.  This one had peppers, chicken wings, sausage and rice and was quite tasty.  We bought a few items from the New Orleans grocery tent, including Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane drink mix.

The music was awesome!  We listened to the Bayou Swamp Band playing Zydeco on the smaller stage, featuring an accordion and spoons player.  There were lots of dancers up front, including whole families.  The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was on the big stage – a New Orleans Brass Band with plenty of horns.  This group got the whole crowd up and moving.  The highlight was a parade of people holding decorated parasols, bobbing up and down with the music.  It was beautiful!

The headliner on the main stage was Dr. John, a blues singer whose career dates back to the 1950’s and most famous song went like this “I was in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time”.  His band features a young female trombone player who was excellent.  On the sidelines we saw something we had not seen since Alton, IL – girls twirling lighted hula hoops.

 

We had lots of fun in Norfolk/Portsmouth/Virginia Beach and were ready to resume our journey the next day.