We headed out of Austin on Friday night and drove down to I-10 before heading east towards Louisiana. We passed through Houston and Beaumont, and we passed several refineries with enormous flames billowing from the top of one or more stacks. One of the flames was so huge that we could feel the heat at about a half mile away. We pulled into a travel center and set up for a few hours of shut-eye.
We woke in the morning and quickly passed into Louisiana. We traded big flames in on big bayous. At some point I realized we’d gone miles and miles without much more than a spit of dry land – that turned out to be the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge. We passed through Lafayette and then Baton Rouge before finally descending upon our destination.
We got to look out across Lake Pontchartrain, one of those lakes so large you can’t see the other side. We then swirled though a nest of highways until we were looking down into New Orleans itself, and everything seemed to settle into place. We went past the city a few more miles and pulled into Bayou Segnette State Park, where we made our home for the week.
Our camp site was all but submerged in a beautiful swamp. Alligators, and armadillos, and bunnies…oh, my! There’s an armadillo that rides on the dashboard with us full time – a stuffed one that Pop left in the window because “this truck is a Texas edition,” but I’d never actually seen an armadillo up close until Kristin and I were out for a walk around camp. We also saw dozens of bunnies, all of which reminded us very much of a house bunny we used to have name “Joe.”
We saw a lot of other wildlife as well, including several alligators. Kristin and I enjoyed a few bike rides, Kristin on her bicycle and me on the mini-bike. Along the way we also made a new friend, Steve the baby alligator – still young enough to have his stripes.
On our first full day in town we woke up early and went out, at the suggestion of a close friend, to eat beignets at Cafe Du Monde. For anybody who has not be indoctrinated, beignets are essentially square doughnuts with kind of a funnel-cake flavor, topped with a generous helping of confectioners sugar.
New Orleans is a foodie’s paradise; the menus are second-to-none. They are a little sparse with options for vegetarians, but we had no problem finding soul food, creole food, and also a restaurant serving vegan shrimp po’ boys.
We also walked down to the Mississippi river, and around a good portion of the French Quarter. We wanted to go on a ghost tour, but the timing didn’t work out so we tabled that one for next time. We also added a cemetery tour to the list for next time. Several cemeteries caught our eye with their unique above-ground design and elegance.
All in all we had a fantastic time in New Orleans. The only complaint we could think of is mosquitos, which are a problem we look forward to solving on our next visit, which will be hopefully very soon.
–Adam
I loved New Orleans, we were there before the Katrina flood. Glad you got to see it and eat Biengets at Cafe DuMonde. I ate there every morning while I was there, and walked all over. I’m glad you were there to see it.