Greetings! The 2008 trip to Memphis and New Orleans is definitely on.
The dates are: Saturday April 19 – Sunday May 4 (inclusive).
Total cost of A$6750* includes all airfares, all accommodation (16 nights), all museum entries and Jazz Fest tickets (for both weekends). The cost of the tour if you join in New Orleans (11 nights) is $5750.
In addition, you get a welcoming dinner in New Orleans plus the Cajun Country Tour which includes: a BBQ at Geno Delafose’s ranch, the Crawfish Boil at Marc and Anne Savoy’s farm (with as much crawfish as you can eat in an hour) and lunch at Jefferson Island with chef Patrick Mould.
*Costs do not include other concert tickets, others lunches or drinks (except at opening dinner and Cajun Country Tour).
We will spend three nights in Memphis and two nights in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
In Memphis we will visit Graceland, The Stax Museum of American Soul, Sun Studios, The National Civil Rights Museum and you will have the option of visiting the Rock N’ Soul Museum, the Gibson Factory or landmarks such as Ardent Studios and Willie Mitchell’s Royal Recording Studios.
In Clarksdale we will stay at the Shack Up Inn at the legendary Hopson’s Plantation where we will enjoy the unique accommodation and a blues gig or two. We will also be joined by a ‘blues expert’ and famed author (whose name I cannot divulge at the moment) for a visit to Robert Johnson’s real grave.
We will visit Clarksdale’s Blues Museum and journey to Helena, Arkansas to see the Delta Blues Museum and see Sonny Payne hosting the King Biscuit Hour, the world’s longest running radio show.
We will then journey to New Orleans and join Nancy Covey’s Cajun Country tour for Jazz Fest. We will stay at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel (which also has a swimming pool) in the French Quarter – just a short walk from venues such as The House of Blues.
On the Monday (April 28) we journey up to Eunice where we enjoy a BBQ dinner and dance at Geno Delafose’s ranch. On Tuesday (April 29) we head to Marc Savoy’s for the crawfish boil and on Wednesday we join the cooking class of chef Patrick Mouldand return to New Orleans in time for the Ponderosa Stomp at the House Of Blues.
The good news is that the second Thursday has again joined Jazz Fest – making it a seven day event once more.
Apart from Jazz Fest there are plenty of things to see and do in New Orleans. You might like to use your mornings for cemetery or planatation tours and go to Jazz Fest in the early afternoon. Better still, if you are keen to sample more then allow a couple of days after Jazz Fest to hang out and enjoy the city.
We will require a deposit no later than mid-February and will need full payment by the end of February.
Obviously, some people may require variations to dates of flights and or parts of the package and I need to know your requirements as soon as possible.
This is strictly on a FIRST COME FIRST IN BASIS. Contact me at: bwise@bigpond.com
