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Thelma & Louise

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We need to decide between Houma (Schriever) and NOL as a destination for 2 nights. Houma just sounds interesting but we need to get a feel for what services are available near the Amtrak station for the time of day it arrives and the general surroundings. Trips into NOL are on the agenda but other than Cafe du Monde (and she wants to go to a cemetary), we'd probably rather be scootypooting around old plantations and "now isn't that interesting" type sites, i.e, not Bourbon St.

Is the area near the Schriever station safe to sit around and wait for a rental car or taxi? If the train is way late, can we safely walk to lodging?

Are there any nearby rental car agencies? Would renting in NOL be cheaper than Schriever?

Do Houma/Schriever have an abundance of name brand hotels near Amtrak?

We're both seasoned travelers.
 
I haven't a clue, but there has to be a chamber of commerce or some such for the town. You should be able to find an address, phone number or even email address for them on the internet. Try it and ask them these quiestions. Maybe try doing a search for car rentals in Houma or Schriever and see what you get.
 
I hope this will help.

I checked my Microsoft Streets and Trips program, a route planner for driving, which keeps a database of places to eat, stay, entertainment, places of interest etc and Schriever comes up with just about zip; a few bars, auto shops and gas station is all I see. However 5 miles north in Thibodaux gets a lot more hits.

An Orbitz search of motels centered around Schriever found a couple in Thibodaux, a half dozen or so in Houma, and none in Schriever.

Hit google heavier and you're bound to find out more.
 
Not that I'm a big fan of New Orleans (right now) I would suggest it over Houma if you want to see something besides sugar cane and water. I'm not sure they even had sidewalks the last time I was there (last month.)
 
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had8ley said:
Not that I'm a big fan of New Orleans (right now) I would suggest it over Houma if you want to see something besides sugar cane and water. I'm not sure they even had sidewalks the last time I was there (last month.)
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Had8ley

Sugar cane,salt mines, swamps, odd birds, old church cemetaries, fish camp food, restaurants with bait shops to the side and things you find on back roads are for us. I would just like to be safe while looking and not too much of the "you ain't frum here, are you?" type conversations or arrive and find every building is vacant.

I was confused in the initial question, thinking Schriever was on the Crescent. The Texas Eagle has a page for the Sunset stop in Schriever with rental cars and other stuff listed. Another option is to get off in Slidell & rent there to keep the rental "in state". The downside to that is the Crescent may arrive too late there to get a rental car. It's usually iffy in Hattiesburg.
 
Guest said:
had8ley said:
Not that I'm a big fan of New Orleans (right now) I would suggest it over Houma if you want to see something besides sugar cane and water. I'm not sure they even had sidewalks the last time I was there (last month.)
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Had8ley

Sugar cane,salt mines, swamps, odd birds, old church cemetaries, fish camp food, restaurants with bait shops to the side and things you find on back roads are for us. I would just like to be safe while looking and not too much of the "you ain't frum here, are you?" type conversations or arrive and find every building is vacant.

I was confused in the initial question, thinking Schriever was on the Crescent. The Texas Eagle has a page for the Sunset stop in Schriever with rental cars and other stuff listed. Another option is to get off in Slidell & rent there to keep the rental "in state". The downside to that is the Crescent may arrive too late there to get a rental car. It's usually iffy in Hattiesburg.
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My OTP confidence in the Sunset is not that great. If you do Houma I would really like to know how you liked it.
 
Thelma and Louise: Which way are you coming from? Are you coming in on the Crescent? If coming from the west, why not consider Lafayette LA? It is further from New Orleans, but it is big enough to have most everything.

Swampland Louisiana is like being in a foreign country.
 
There is nothing in Houma. It's an armpit. Stay in New Orleans. Lafayette is too far away as in Baton Rouge. There are a number of hotels almost in walking distance from the NOUPT and some of them are even reasonably priced. Get on the internet and look them up. Besides eating(I mean what else do you do in NO), I recommend the St Charles streetcar ride end to end as a great trip. You can purchase an all day pass(visitour pass) for $5 for one day or $12 for three days and go anywhere using public transport and get on and off as you please. The Canal streetcar line goes to the cemetary at the far end and runs along the river and the French Quarter on the other. The St Charles line and the Canal line connect downtown. Taxis in NO are attrocious and stink of cigarette smoke among other things and the drivers are rude and obnoxious.

Go here: http://www.norta.com/

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navc...+orleans+hotels
 
"I mean what else do you do in NO), "

Avoid the 8 previously-unknown relatives (St. B parish) and 4 dogs I took in from Katrina? :p

Seriously, I've got distant Cajun kin (St. B parish) and I want to see the world they came from. I understood about every 3rd thing they said, so I know it's a different place. Please, don't anyone take that as an insult. Some, they left behind holed up in Houma to keep the NO paper presses going. So, it just seems like an interesting sounding place but that whole area of Louisiana does, too. Give me a field of water over a skyscraper any day of the week.

..coming south on Crescent. It would be Louise's (child of a Greek immigrant) 1st Amtrak trip. She would like the St. Charles line. I took it pre-Kat.

Just for background, I spent 3 nights on open platforms in the Okefenokee slogging a paddle through lillypads for 26 miles, so I like swamps, or to be pc, wetlands.

So, if Amtrak arrives too late for Enterprise to pick us up then it sounds like a walk to a nearby hotel in NOL? And, that walk is safe at the arrival time for even a late Crescent into NOL? The trip is tentatively in mid to late October.

Had8ley, you write: "I would really like to know how you liked it. " If we need to be afraid of anything, please spell it out.
 
Guest said:
"I mean what else do you do in NO), "

Had8ley, you write: "I would really like to know how you liked it. " If we need to be afraid of anything, please spell it out.
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I did not mean to put fear in your trip to Houma. Quite to the contrary. National Guard, DEA,ICE, FBI, Louisiana state troopers as well as New Orleans police are STILL patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Rarely a day goes by that at least two or three people are found dead in the streets of New Orleans. (I know "Just stay where it's safe"; How do you tell a murderer from an ordinary citizen? I have tried to advise many not to go to New Orleans just to sight see with no one paying any mind. Just remember it is, and probably will be for some time, "THE murder capital of the nation." I just wanted to know what you could find to do in Houma as it is so isolated and has so very little in the way of tourists meccas.
 
had8ley said:
I have tried to advise many not to go to New Orleans just to sight see with no one paying any mind. Just remember it is, and probably will be for some time, "THE murder capital of the nation."
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Philadelphia tries awfully hard to dethrone New Orleans, though.... :unsure:
 
had8ley

When in NO before (years ago) I drove down Claiborne avenue by accident. It was BAD, lock the doors, drive faster honey, duck, bad. Is it safe to say that the areas like it are still in the same place or are they now spread out? Some of the aforementioned distant kin are in T'town and some have rebuilt in St. B.

What do the people who are attending conventions do?

The opinions on NO have varied on this forum and some sleeper attendants have promoted going there. Seeing empty houses by tourbus isn't on the agenda... makes me wonder if jumping off in Slidell would be better.

Thank you for your insight.
 
Guest said:
had8leyWhen in NO before (years ago) I drove down Claiborne avenue by accident. It was BAD, lock the doors, drive faster honey, duck, bad. Is it safe to say that the areas like it are still in the same place or are they now spread out? Some of the aforementioned distant kin are in T'town and some have rebuilt in St. B.

What do the people who are attending conventions do?

The opinions on NO have varied on this forum and some sleeper attendants have promoted going there. Seeing empty houses by tourbus isn't on the agenda... makes me wonder if jumping off in Slidell would be better.

Thank you for your insight.
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Having visited NO last August, I would say that certain parts of the city--and specifically, the parts near NOUPT and where conventions would be held--are pretty much fine. The French Quarter, the waterfront, Jackson Square, the Central Business District, the Superdome area, Tulane, NOUPT, St. Charles, Tchoupitoulas... all of those looked as safe as they may ever have been to me. Other places, not so much--Canal north of I-10, for instance, looked terrible from the streetcar, definitely not someplace I would feel safe getting off and wandering around. Jefferson Heights looked like a war zone from the car, coming off the Huey P Long Bridge, and some of the southern suburbs (to the south of the Huey) looked even worse. So it's highly variable, but the heart of the old city seemed pretty safe to me.
 
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I'll make my soap box as simple as possible. You could fall asleep anywhere on the streets or sidewalks in Houma and probably wake up to see the light of day. I wouldn't bet two cents for the same thing happening ANYWHERE in New Orleans. I live here and won't go to town after dark. I prefer to arrive about 10 and be gone by 3. End of tirade...
 
had8ley said:
I'll make my soap box as simple as possible. You could fall asleep anywhere on the streets or sidewalks in Houma and probably wake up to see the light of day. I wouldn't bet two cents for the same thing happening ANYWHERE in New Orleans. I live here and won't go to town after dark. I prefer to arrive about 10 and be gone by 3. End of tirade...
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I guess everyone has different levels of safety. I regularly walked three miles across downtown Philadelphia and West Philly from 2-3 AM, and all but one person I knew (who also lived in West Philly and occasionally took that walk) thought I was absolutely nuts. I just stayed in the well-lit, reasonably patrolled areas (generally passed a security officer of one service or another every couple blocks) and never felt endangered. Yet my car was broken into three times in eleven months, parked on my block... so it's not like my neighborhood was crime-free by any stretch. I just never felt I was personally in danger. Maybe that says I'm a bit crazy... :blink: or that I have mad ninja skillz :ph34r:

I felt fine walking from the CBD to Harrah's and back pretty late, but as secure places in NO go, that's probably the best. Heavy police presence and casinos are all about private security. I didn't see anywhere else in NO at night, so it's entirely possible it's an entirely different city then; and I'll definitely defer to your judgment there, had8ley, since it's totally not my turf. But during the daytime, I felt safe in the places I mentioned, for what that's worth.
 
It also depends who you are I'd think. Were Richard Kiel still alive, I don't think anyone would attack him, anywhere.
 
If you get off in Slidell, don't drink the local water. It is famous throughout the South for its taste. If you cna rent a car there, and Enterpirse seems to be almost everywhere, you can go west on I-12 and miss New Orleans altogether. The swamps of southern Louoisiana are interesting if you are into strange flora and fauna. When thinking about touristing there, remember, they do not call the mosquito the Louisiana State Bird for nothing.
 
George Harris said:
If you get off in Slidell, don't drink the local water. It is famous throughout the South for its taste. If you cna rent a car there, and Enterpirse seems to be almost everywhere, you can go west on I-12 and miss New Orleans altogether. The swamps of southern Louoisiana are interesting if you are into strange flora and fauna. When thinking about touristing there, remember, they do not call the mosquito the Louisiana State Bird for nothing.
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Hey Thelma/Louise - Can't add anything about Slidell - but we were in New Orleans in June. 8 of us met there from all different states. (Ages from 30's to 70's) We stayed in different places close to or in the French Quarter & walked until we had blisters. We were there 4 nights and none of us had any type of bad experience. We took the St. Charles Streetcar through the Garden District and had lunch out there. People were friendly everywhere we went - many thanked us for coming to New Orleans and our tourist dollars. We didn't go in the other areas, so I can't speak as to the safety/conditions there.

But we're taking Amtrak again in September and will end up in New Orleans for 4 more nights, because we had such a great time. But then, we like history, we like old towns, we like the music, we like to walk and poke around and hey, we like the food. We'll arrive on the Crescent and take a taxi to our hotel. (unbooked as yet)

By the way, we took a taxi in June, it was clean, no smoking, the man was polite and interesting to talk to. When I read this thread it was pretty much opposite of our experiences.

You sound like you'll have a good time wherever you go - you might want to read the travel advisor thread for New Orleans. Lots of information about NO & Louisiana. Email me and I'll give you the link if you can't find it.

Happy travels!
 
George Harris said:
If you get off in Slidell, don't drink the local water. It is famous throughout the South for its taste. If you cna rent a car there, and Enterpirse seems to be almost everywhere, you can go west on I-12 and miss New Orleans altogether. The swamps of southern Louoisiana are interesting if you are into strange flora and fauna. When thinking about touristing there, remember, they do not call the mosquito the Louisiana State Bird for nothing.
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Come on George; if you've ever enjoyed clam juice the water's just fine. Reminds me of a hot summers night some years ago on a traveling switch engine. The mosquitoes got so bad INSIDE the cab of the engine the brakeman and I shut all the windows and doors and threw a lit fusee into the cab. We smelled awful but we didn't have anymore visitors.
 
I have just returned from a great Amtrak circle tour that included 2 nights in New Orleans - last Saturday and Sunday nights. I took a cab from the station to my small hotel in the far end of the French Quarter - $11 flat fee and $1 gas surcharge. This was standard and didn't have to be negotiated. From there, I walked throughout the Quarter (including up to North Rampart Street)..... to and from two fabulous dinners (Galatoire's and K-Paul's) and all day Sunday in the challenging heat.

You are seasoned travellers, so you know the risks of any big city. But new Orleans has sooooo much to offer, and is trying very hard to get back on its feet. In my opinion, it's a no-brainer - especially if you like fine dining, fine shopping, fine local people, and some of the most stimulating local history and culture anywhere in the USA. As seasoned travellers, you know how to behave in urban surroundings. Don't let the bad publicity intimidate. Use your common sense wherever and whenever you go, and enjoy this fabulous city.
 
Sitting around a swamp campfire makes you kind of goofy. We discovered several things.

1. You really can start a fire in an outhouse potty with a match and it will smoulder all night.

2. To get rid of the raccoons, spot one and guide it into the alligator infested waters with a well-placed thrown marshmallow. You're lucky to be reading this. I counted over 50 alligators within the first hour canoeing the small river canal that feeds into the open prairie of the Oke. My husband kept insisting that I get a closeup picture of an alligator hissing at us from one of the floating "islands" they bask on. He would turn the canoe so that I was about 3 feet from its gaping mouth (and he a chivalrous, 9). I can testify that the inside of an alligator's mouth is a beautiful shade of pink and that it does have teeth and that slapping the water with your paddle (or the husband) does not make either of them instantly disappear...He kept saying, "can you see it, can you see it." I replied, "heck yes, I can see it, now back this thing up and get me out of here". They eat snakes. I didn't see one snake in all of those thousands of acres of wetlands. The cold winds (late April) at night blew the mosquitos away.

3. The required portable toilet that you are required to take with you makes a great banana storage unit. We never used it.

4. Duct tape works well to keep your canoe afloat. Our borrowed-from- someone's-front-yard pond, sight unseen, fiberglass canoe from the early '70's had noticable pinhole lights ALL over that i discovered when viewing the sun through them about an hour before setting out.

5. Having a Delta 767 (?) pilot keep his eye on the jets overhead and the GPS in his hand made navigating easier. The "trail" markers can be hard to find.

6. Big Birds lives in the Oke.

Anyway. Canoeing the Oke (and not just dabbling at the entrances) was one of my lifetime dream vacation wishes. AND, if you're a train watcher, Folkston is supposedly a great place to do it.
 
Guest said:
I have just returned from a great Amtrak circle tour that included 2 nights in New Orleans - last Saturday and Sunday nights. I took a cab from the station to my small hotel in the far end of the French Quarter - $11 flat fee and $1 gas surcharge. This was standard and didn't have to be negotiated. From there, I walked throughout the Quarter (including up to North Rampart Street)..... to and from two fabulous dinners (Galatoire's and K-Paul's) and all day Sunday in the challenging heat.
You are seasoned travellers, so you know the risks of any big city. But new Orleans has sooooo much to offer, and is trying very hard to get back on its feet. In my opinion, it's a no-brainer - especially if you like fine dining, fine shopping, fine local people, and some of the most stimulating local history and culture anywhere in the USA. As seasoned travellers, you know how to behave in urban surroundings. Don't let the bad publicity intimidate. Use your common sense wherever and whenever you go, and enjoy this fabulous city.
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Thank you. Somebody has to go first. I've already made the aforementioned housing contribution and solicited about $35,000 for the extended family (included 2 scholarships to a private high school which they backed away from) from friends and places. I put them in the front of every relief line in Atlanta during their brief stay because I knew they could lead and would never leave NOL. Cajuns don't leave Louisiana. They're inspirational people. The head of the family who stayed behind jumped into action declaring that they would rebuild quickly. He and family members slept near the presses to keep them going- EVEN though their homes were being destroyed and their families dispersed. They bought another house across the canal (?) to live in while they rebuilt in St. B. The plan was to rebuild one house at a time in their block, let a neighbor live in it while the neighbor rebuilt, until the whole block was rebuilt. They are now BACK in St. Bernard Parrish.

I just believe that they need the rest of us to help out. I think we can sweat the difficulties with some excellent planning. Thank you for your insight.

I also just read that the church/cathedral in the French Quarter is having a historical dig because the trees came down.
 
Guest said:
To get rid of the raccoons, spot one and guide it into the alligator infested waters with a well-placed thrown marshmallow. You're lucky to be reading this. I counted over 50 alligators within the first hour canoeing the small river canal that feeds into the open prairie of the Oke. My husband kept insisting that I get a closeup picture of an alligator hissing at us from one of the floating "islands" they bask on. He would turn the canoe so that I was about 3 feet from its gaping mouth (and he a chivalrous, 9). I can testify that the inside of an alligator's mouth is a beautiful shade of pink and that it does have teeth and that slapping the water with your paddle (or the husband) does not make either of them instantly disappear...He kept saying, "can you see it, can you see it." I replied, "heck yes, I can see it, now back this thing up and get me out of here". They eat snakes. I didn't see one snake in all of those thousands of acres of wetlands. The cold winds (late April) at night blew the mosquitos away.
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Just remember: An alligator is cold blooded, so if you feel a low level cool breeze it might not be a puff of wind. Alligators like to pull their prey underwater and drown them. They then come back over time as the flesh rots because it is easier for them to tear off the body parts. If an alligator bites you, even if you survive the bite, the follow up infections can kill you in a matter of days. Just because you don't see snakes does not mean they are not there. The old wives tale that snakes cannot bite underwater is wrong.
 
George Harris said:
Just remember: An alligator is cold blooded, so if you feel a low level cool breeze it might not be a puff of wind. Alligators like to pull their prey underwater and drown them. They then come back over time as the flesh rots because it is easier for them to tear off the body parts. If an alligator bites you, even if you survive the bite, the follow up infections can kill you in a matter of days. Just because you don't see snakes does not mean they are not there. The old wives tale that snakes cannot bite underwater is wrong.
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Whuh? Who taught you about gators? Gators don't like rotting flesh that much at all, they'd much prefer it fresh. It's also in their nature to wolf down as much meat as they possibly can as fast as they can, not leave it lying around for some other lucky gator to feast upon. And in a populated area of them where there's competition, this rings even truer. Also, if an alligator bites you, you've got much more to worry about than infections. They aren't snakes or garden lizards, they don't bite to stun and then let go. They clamp and yank and thrash all over the place. You'd be much more likely to lose or horribly maim a limb than to get an infection from a bite.

You are right about snakes, though: They do bite underwater. The fable you cite comes from the fact some of them they can't swallow underwater. Neither can gators, for that matter.
 
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