We got up early on Wednesday to hit the road for our drive from Atlanta to New Orleans. The trip took us through the states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and was 472 miles/760 kms! We arrived in New Orleans around 2pm, checked into the hotel and hit the streets.
We walked along the Mississippi River towards to French Quarter and our first stop was Cafe Du Monde to test out the Beignets and have a drink. After this we wandered through Jackson Square and then just walked the streets around the French Quarter for a while. We also tested out a Po Boy and walked along Bourbon Street during the daylight hours (where we saw some very interesting characters)! By this stage it was about 5pm so we headed back to our hotel via the Riverwalk shops and had a bit of a break (it was pretty hot out so needed some A/C relief!). That night we wandered back up to Bourbon St to check it out and must say it wasn’t really our scene!
New Orleans (within the main parts of the city and surrounds) was not at all what we expected. Obviously we were aware of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but I guess we were surprised by how much of the city hadn't recovered given it was 9 years ago. There were many examples of streets where some had obviously abandoned their homes, while others stayed on, or there were just whole streets of shells of houses and apartment blocks. Even in the main parts of the city there were some abandoned buildings.
On Thursday we had organised an Airboat swamp tour (thanks Michelle and Josh for the tip) and so we drove the half hour or so out of New Orleans to where the tour left from. Our guide, Marty, sounded just like Forrest Gump, but was great and definitely knew his stuff about the area. We had a great tour, saw lots of alligators (even touched one), birds, turtles etc and the airboat side of things was really fun. We were on the first tour of the day, and there were only four of us on our tour. We were really glad we decided to do this one, because by the time we got back, buses of people were streaming in and it was getting really hot!
After a quick lunch, we then drove about another hour further out to check out the Oak Alley Plantation. This plantation has been seen in quite a few TV shows and movies (including Days of Our Lives and Primary Colours). The house was built in around 1837 and has these amazing/enormous oak trees that lined a pathway to the house (the oak trees were already there when the house was built and are at least 100 years older than the house). We took a guided tour of the house and learnt about the history of the original family & their time in the house, as well as details of the last owners before the house was donated to the Oak Alley Foundation.
Our drive back into New Orleans took us to via a couple of shopping malls and then once we got back it was a quick rest and time for dinner.
Friday was an early start, off to the airport for our flights to Seattle, and this marked the end of our road trip (well the first one for this trip). Our drive took us from Chicago to New Orleans, through 8 states (although we only stayed in 4 states), and we (ok let’s be honest - Wade) drove a total of 1,672 miles or 2,690kms, over the course of a week. It was a really great way to see a big chunk of the country and there was a lot of really interesting/beautiful scenery along the way.
Here are some pictures from our time in New Orleans:
Drive to New Orleans
Canal Street
Walk along Mississippi River
French Quarter
Jackson Square
Bourbon Street by Day
Swamp Tour
Oak Alley Plantation
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