Back at the Lighthouse we considered our options for the afternoon. The paddle wheel steamboat Natchez was right there at the dock so we decided to take a ride up the Mississippi. We had about two hours before our trip so we went in search of lunch. The menu on the Natchez didn’t “speak” to me.

Instead we had lunch at the Gumbo Pot on Decatur St.

We both tried the Po’boys. I had shrimp and Sandy had hamburger. They were HUGE! and very good.

We also had a little excitement. It was clear that a storm was approaching as the wind began to gust pretty good. Suddenly it caught one of the umbrellas and over it went right on another table. That certainly got everyone’s attention while the waiters hustled around taking down the umbrellas so it wouldn’t happen again.

After lunch we made our way to a table on the dock where we could watch the river traffic while we waited for our turn on the Natchez. We had a front row seat for the steam Calliope concert.

Boarding was like going on a cruise.  Photos were taken to documents our trip.

The cruise was fully narrated and there was a jazz band playing inside.Both of us did a lot of our New Orleans souvenir shopping in the gift shop.

Remember those sugar cane fields we saw from the train? Well we got to see where a lot of that goes when we sailed past the Domino Sugar Refinery.

The narrator pointed out areas where the docks had been destroyed by many things from Katrina to fires. We passed huge ships and other refineries. The river it self was really wide and bustled with barges and tug boats.

In spite of the “iffy” weather it was a great ride.

Back on the dock we spotted a street performer. His “shtick” was to pretend he was walking his toy dog and freeze in place in mid-stride. Still pictures really don’e do it justice but he was quite good and very personable. His tip bucket was the white bucket you can see in the picture.