January 2, 2021
Today we spent the day exploring New Orleans. Despite it being a bit cooler than the last few days it was a beautiful day to be in the city.
We started the day with a big hearty breakfast at camp. We made our favorite, biscuits & gravy with scrambled eggs. We enjoyed the morning relaxing by our fire pit, researching what we wanted to do in NOLA today and having breakfast.
We left for the city around 10:30 am. Our intention was to park at a lot by the Superdome that we had reserved a spot in. However, once we saw it, the lot looked a bit sketchy so we headed on into the French Quarter, bit the bullet and paid almost $50 for parking for the day. One thing to note if you are preparing a trip, if you want safe parking, be ready to pay a pretty penny for it.
Once we had our parking situation settled we started to explore the French Quarter. We started at Jackson Square and the French Market. It was all very cool. I love browsing through wares made by local artisans and smelling the local food wafting through the air. We bought several items from the local artists, including two oil paintings depicting life in NOLA. (I told my mom that I felt like a “big girl” as I had bought my first piece of original artwork) The kids loved seeing the musicians playing in the streets and Noah even pulled money out of his own wallet to throw tips in their buckets as they played. I think the exploring the French Quarter was my favorite part of our trip.
Once we had finished walking through the market we decided we couldn’t make a trip to NOLA and not at least walk down Bourbon Street just to say we had done it. It was also well past lunch time so we found a restaurant on Bourbon Street to stop at to fill our bellies and rest our tired legs. Needless to say, I had to avert Noah’s eyes from a few shop windows as we walked down the street. Definitely not a place we’d want to be at night with kids, thank goodness it was the middle of the day. I will say, it was neat seeing some of the iconic balconies that you always see on TV when watching anything about New Orleans or Mardi Gras.
We finished our lunch and were refreshed and ready to see more of the city. At this point we hopped on the St. Charles Line Streetcar and rode out to the Garden District. We walked to Lafayette Cemetery #1, which is right in the middle of the Garden District, but discovered that it was closed for repairs. We didn’t get to go in but we peaked through the gate and took some pictures. We then got back on the streetcar and rode on out to Audubon Park. It’s just a very large park in the middle of the Garden District. It had big, beautiful live oaks, ponds, playgrounds, and lots of biking and walking paths. Even cooler though was that we saw Drew Brees’ house (quarterback for the New Orleans Saints for those of you who don’t know).
By the time we finished exploring the Garden District the sun was starting to set and we were tired. We had one more stop though, a drive-thru light show at City Park. We had read about it ahead of time and went ahead and ordered a ticket. It was neat but by far not the best light show I had ever seen. Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs beats it hands down any year. So, after the light show and after grabbing one more café au lait and begneights from Café Du Monde we went back to camp to settle in for the evening. Tomorrow, we end our little mini-vacation and head back to the real world. Overall, it’s been a good trip. We can now say we’ve seen New Orleans. Now, time to rev up the planning on our upcoming big summer trip, the Great Western