We were able to leave on a Thursday morning due to school conference schedules and so we drove about 12 hours on Thursday and then Friday drove part of the way and stopped for lunch in Lafayette to have lunch with friends there. They told us about a very large, very old live oak nearby so we stopped by to see it.
After that we were off to New Orleans. We arrived and quickly discovered how hard it is to navigate the busy one way downtown streets but we got to our hotel and Anna came to meet us. We walked down to the river. There was a riverboat that had a steam powered calliope. There was a very lengthy recital and after we got over the inherent flat notes it produced we really enjoyed seeing and hearing it. It was something I had never seen before so that's always cool. Here's someone else's video if it.
We had dinner and then some beignets for dessert.
On Saturday we took the streetcar to Anna's place. We then got back on the streetcar to go to City Park. We needed some breakfast and so sampled our second beignet joint. We walked around the park and Anna took us to see the "Singing Oak" a tree with giant windchimes. It was awesome. Here's a little video clip.
We hung out under the tree for a long time. It was supremely relaxing.
We walked a little more and then headed out to get some po'boys for lunch. We stood in a really long line and the food was well worth it. It was the first of many outdoor meals we had, which was wonderful in and of itself.
We headed back down the french quarter to our hotel and relaxed for a bit. We then picked a restaurant on the St. Charles streetcar line. The streetcars are older and the windows open. It was a beautiful night so we enjoyed the ride and then had another meal outside.
Sunday we slept in and headed back out towards Anna's for brunch. We had a great meal (mine had a fried green tomato) and then we decided to go see the garden district. We stopped for some refreshments and then went to a nearby old cemetery. Julia's ankled had pretty much had enough walking at this point (she has flat feet...custom orthotics..but a lot of walking still hurts her). We went to go catch a streetcar but they were so full they wouldn't even stop. We decided to get on the wrong way and then catch one further down the line. We eventually did so and then headed back to the hotel for a rest and then brought some dinner in.
Monday, after a third beignet joint sampling, we went to a state park with a swamp and bayous. After some navigational challenges we arrived and walked for a bit. There was an elevated boardwalk to walk on in the swamp. We saw some gators and and interesting birds along with the cool swamp vegetation.
We left the park to go an a swamp boat tour. We saw lots of gators and Julia and Luke even held a young one.
We went back to the park to go on a different trail and had a wonderful time. Our favorite times as a family are always walks/hikes like these.
We drove back to the city and met Anna for a drink and then had some dinner.
Tuesday we had a leisurely morning and a nice brunch followed by a walk down by the river and a visit to some of the historic museums.
We headed back to pack up and have one last meal with Anna. We had some po'boys again. We all agreed they weren't as good as the first place but had another beautiful night to eat outside.
Wednesday and Thursday we drove back home. Lots of Texas in that drive!
It was a fabulous trip!
1 comment:
What a great trip! I'm so glad you got to go--and now I have the full story to go along with the photos I saw on fb.
: )
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