Pyrates, Pitbulls & Plaquemines
What a grand adventure it has been thus far! Before we even started our 7th annual NOLA Pyrate Week, we ventured to Baton Rouge to visit with Blanca Rush (a sponsor who donated a large amount o’ her family’s exclusive purple rice to last year’s adventure) and an interview with the Future Leaders of America’s Gulf for HTV10 in Houma.
The official event started with a bark – as we joined the nightly volunteer dog walk at Villalobos Rescue Centre! A tremendously hard working staff assisted some twenty volunteers o’ all ages (from 60+ to families with youngsters from 6 – 18) with the care o’ some o’ the cutest, friendlies, most energetic dogs ye ever will meet.
Later that evening we joined our compatriots at our ‘home base’ – Pirate’s Alley Café & Olde Absinthe House – for food, drink, tales o’ recent adventures and some fantastic portraits (with adjoining article) by our new mate and extraordinary local Photographer, Robert Warren (see the full article & photos here).
After a short search o’ the Red, White & Blue shop in Gretna, we faced a massive traffic holdup at the bridge – so we trimmed the sales and headed downriver – all the way to the end o’ Plaquemines Parish and the historic site o’ Fort Jackson (named for Ol’ Hickory – though he never saw it).
Sunday we joined the wonderful folks from Confetti Park – and a cast o’ many small Pyrates – to shoot some footage for their kid friendly Pyrate songs, Watch Out For The Pyrates and Louis Laffite The Pyrate King…we look forward to the finished project (many thanks to our constant supporters, Thais & Tony and the staff at Pirate’s Alley Café & Olde Absinthe House!
Our adventures continued with visits to the Audubon Wilderness Park in Lower Coast Algiers (and the discovery o’ a beautiful Buddhist Temple along the way), the first ever Pyrate History Day in the Town of Jean Lafitte – arranged by our good mate, Mayor Tim Kerner, who also took us for a wonderful lunch at Jan’s Seafood Restaurant and showed us two very old local cemeteries (both o’ which he has ancestors in and one built around an ancient First Nations burial Mound). We had a grand time with the Students & Teachers o’ Fisher’s High School..we are richer for the opportunity (and the students are richer by a share in the treasure). On the way back to New Orleans, we stopped to see the last o’ the POTC prop-ship; Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge…drydocked and being recycled in a local shipyard in Jean Lafitte.
In between we’ve managed to catch up with a few mates whose schedules are equally hectic – and made more new mates along the way.
As our resources are somewhat limited at the moment, we only have a few photos included…many more to come and further adventures as well – the third annual Houma Pyrate Day is Saturday (April 4, 11am-5pm)!
