What comes to mind when you think of a Sunday drive? I think of a leisurely afternoon drive where no one is in a rush and you have no particular destination. I think of tulips, the Mardi Gras Fountain, and Coca-Cola.
As far back as I can remember, the Sunday drive has been a part of my life. My earliest recollections recount a spontaneous event in which my dad would announce that we were going for a ride. Dad would get behind the wheel and drive – sometimes in an intended direction, sometimes not. The afternoon trips were fun and would often take us along the New Orleans lakefront of the 1960‘s. Driving past neutral grounds planted full of flowers, we would feast our eyes on dazzling springtime tulips in every shade of the rainbow. As we drove along the lakeshore, waves lapped against the seawall as seagulls circled and squawked overhead. Back then the Mardi Gras fountain was in service, and although it was best to observe its changing colors at night, it was still a refreshing sight. Regularly my dad would drive us to the northshore of
Lake Pontchartrain where stopping at a roadside diner and having a 6 oz. bottle of Coke was the perfect respite from Louisiana heat.
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