New Orleans vacation photos
Mar. 17th, 2014 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holytoastrWe returned from our New Orleans vacation about a week ago. We had a most lovely time. I wish we could have stayed longer.
Some highlights of the trip below the cut. Full set of pictures can be found here.
The drive was a bit long, but we endured. We stopped at a couple out of the way places to eat and generally had a good time. But we were super exhausted when we got to our hotel! Which was really good because the beds at the la quinta were SUPER TINY. Just slightly bigger than a twin. It was pretty crazy. But we were too tired to care.
The plan for the next day was to sleep late and then go on an airboat tour, but we woke up bizarrely early and had to kill time. We ended up walking around a park along the river and then along Magazine St. Eventually we met up for lunch with our friend Billy before heading out to the swamps.
I was a little unnerved when we got to the airboat tour place and it was PACKED. Must have been at least 100 people there. But once they split us all up on our individual boats, it wasn't an issue at all. The tour guide was very informative and answered any questions we had. We took a large boat (vs the more expensive smaller boats) and didn't feel like we lost anything at all. There were only about 12 people on our "large" boat!
Fleet of ships heading out.
Tiny alligator.
There weren't a lot of alligators out and about due to the cold weather. But we did see a few tiny ones!
And the tour guide brought along a baby one for everyone to pet! I was super excited. It was so soft and cute!
Even though we didn't see a lot of wildlife, we saw a lot of very pretty areas of the swamp.
And everything looked more dramatic at sunset.
The next day we met up with Billy for breakfast.
I had rootbeer stuffed french toast which was crazy good. I was suspicious at first, but I was told it was a specialty there so then I HAD to get it. Glad I did!
Afterwards, we went to the Audubon Insectarium. I had never been there before because it had been built after we left.
Most of the live exhibits didn't photograph well, which is too bad because they were pretty cool! I saw cute little stick bugs and pet a giant cockroach and watched little beetles that looked like blueberries.
There were also plenty of silly things for me to pose with, and Ben got to eat bugs! (I almost threw up just watching him.)
The insectarium also had a butterfly house where A BUTTERFLY LANDED ON MY HEAD. I was pretty delighted. It was a very pretty butterfly house too! It was designed like a japanese garden.
There was a big pond in the center with super friendly giant gold fish. The guy that worked there told us about all the fish and then called them over like pets. It was pretty neat!
It's too bad it was so small. I had a good time. But we finished just in time for lunch, so it worked out perfectly. And then we finished lunch just in time to check into our new hotel.
It was much MUCH nicer than the la quinta and the bed was so big and soft!!! Granted, the room was only just bigger than the bed.... But it was there for sleeping and it did that job well!
After getting that taken care of, we did a tour of Tulane. I wanted to see the new student center they were building the year I graduated. I was sorely disappointed. The thing looks like a hospital! That was totally not worth all the construction sounds I had to put up with.
Speaking of which, there was construction everywhere on campus. I guess they are doing well since they were building new dorms in any spare spot they could find! Campus is going to get pretty crowded!
After that, we swung back over to the French Quarter for dinner. We had probably the best pizza I have ever had ever, which is pretty weird since I've had NYC pizza. I ate way more of it than I should have and was super full and sleepy afterwards.
By the next day, however, I had recovered in time for beignets at Cafe du Monde. Hooray for powdered sugar!
Then we did a quick walk around the French Market before heading over to the WWII Museum.
That museum was huge! We didn't finish it. We were way too tired. But we did see the movie I wanted to see and we did get through a good chunk of the exhibits. I liked the movie but thought they glossed over a bunch of details a bit too quickly. Maybe instead fitting the whole war into a 30 minute movie, they could have focused on one or two major battles? I don't know. The effects were pretty fun though.
When we walked through the aircraft hangar, I felt a bit smug because my local air and space museum (Smithsonian) has all the important airplanes from wwii. This museum had to fill their hangar with the regular stuff. But it was a super tall hangar that went up seemingly forever and there were walkways at each level, so that was pretty cool.
As mentioned, we didn't managed the whole museum. About lunch time, Ben was having a meltdown and my feet hurt so we called it a day. We tried to take the street car back to the french quarter, but it was having service issues so we just walked. By the time we got to a restaurant, we were insane with hunger and exhaustion. I actually ordered a daiquiri and I almost never drink. Granted, I also ordered a water in the biggest glass they had to go with it.
I got a vegetarian muffaletta which is one of the best sandwiches ever. (Other best being a french fry po boy.) How can anyone go wrong with cheese and olives? It made me wish I had a second stomach. That could also have been the crazy hunger talking.
Once fed, Ben and I crashed in our hotel room and had a good, long, badly needed nap. At that moment, I was incredibly grateful I had thought to get a hotel room in the french quarter for the last two nights.
Once rested, we met up with Billy one last time for cute desserts at Sucre. The desserts were so cute and tasty! Somehow I forgot to take pictures though! I am such a dummy!
The only flaw to the awful service at the place. When I told the guy ringing up Billy's food that ours was all together and we'd pay for it, the guy gave me a look like I had completely RUINED his ENTIRE evening. It was strange.
But I ate delicious tiny expensive desserts so who cares.
The saddest part then was the end of the trip. We left the next morning after probably sleeping later than we should have. But we had a nice, quiet drive back with a few stops here and there, including a korean taco shop in alabama. Who knew?
We got in super late. I was falling asleep at the wheel when Ben and I switched one final time.
I'd like to say I collapsed in bed as soon as we got home, but Noname is a vindictive little jerk and immediately peed my bed to "welcome" me home. So I got to clean that up before I could collapse into the bed. And then, la quinta style, Ben and I had to squish close together so I didn't roll into the spot that was now drying.
Generally a good trip though! And definitely someplace Ben and I should visit more often!
Some highlights of the trip below the cut. Full set of pictures can be found here.
The drive was a bit long, but we endured. We stopped at a couple out of the way places to eat and generally had a good time. But we were super exhausted when we got to our hotel! Which was really good because the beds at the la quinta were SUPER TINY. Just slightly bigger than a twin. It was pretty crazy. But we were too tired to care.
The plan for the next day was to sleep late and then go on an airboat tour, but we woke up bizarrely early and had to kill time. We ended up walking around a park along the river and then along Magazine St. Eventually we met up for lunch with our friend Billy before heading out to the swamps.
I was a little unnerved when we got to the airboat tour place and it was PACKED. Must have been at least 100 people there. But once they split us all up on our individual boats, it wasn't an issue at all. The tour guide was very informative and answered any questions we had. We took a large boat (vs the more expensive smaller boats) and didn't feel like we lost anything at all. There were only about 12 people on our "large" boat!
Fleet of ships heading out.
Tiny alligator.
There weren't a lot of alligators out and about due to the cold weather. But we did see a few tiny ones!
And the tour guide brought along a baby one for everyone to pet! I was super excited. It was so soft and cute!
Even though we didn't see a lot of wildlife, we saw a lot of very pretty areas of the swamp.
And everything looked more dramatic at sunset.
The next day we met up with Billy for breakfast.
I had rootbeer stuffed french toast which was crazy good. I was suspicious at first, but I was told it was a specialty there so then I HAD to get it. Glad I did!
Afterwards, we went to the Audubon Insectarium. I had never been there before because it had been built after we left.
Most of the live exhibits didn't photograph well, which is too bad because they were pretty cool! I saw cute little stick bugs and pet a giant cockroach and watched little beetles that looked like blueberries.
There were also plenty of silly things for me to pose with, and Ben got to eat bugs! (I almost threw up just watching him.)
The insectarium also had a butterfly house where A BUTTERFLY LANDED ON MY HEAD. I was pretty delighted. It was a very pretty butterfly house too! It was designed like a japanese garden.
There was a big pond in the center with super friendly giant gold fish. The guy that worked there told us about all the fish and then called them over like pets. It was pretty neat!
It's too bad it was so small. I had a good time. But we finished just in time for lunch, so it worked out perfectly. And then we finished lunch just in time to check into our new hotel.
It was much MUCH nicer than the la quinta and the bed was so big and soft!!! Granted, the room was only just bigger than the bed.... But it was there for sleeping and it did that job well!
After getting that taken care of, we did a tour of Tulane. I wanted to see the new student center they were building the year I graduated. I was sorely disappointed. The thing looks like a hospital! That was totally not worth all the construction sounds I had to put up with.
Speaking of which, there was construction everywhere on campus. I guess they are doing well since they were building new dorms in any spare spot they could find! Campus is going to get pretty crowded!
After that, we swung back over to the French Quarter for dinner. We had probably the best pizza I have ever had ever, which is pretty weird since I've had NYC pizza. I ate way more of it than I should have and was super full and sleepy afterwards.
By the next day, however, I had recovered in time for beignets at Cafe du Monde. Hooray for powdered sugar!
Then we did a quick walk around the French Market before heading over to the WWII Museum.
That museum was huge! We didn't finish it. We were way too tired. But we did see the movie I wanted to see and we did get through a good chunk of the exhibits. I liked the movie but thought they glossed over a bunch of details a bit too quickly. Maybe instead fitting the whole war into a 30 minute movie, they could have focused on one or two major battles? I don't know. The effects were pretty fun though.
When we walked through the aircraft hangar, I felt a bit smug because my local air and space museum (Smithsonian) has all the important airplanes from wwii. This museum had to fill their hangar with the regular stuff. But it was a super tall hangar that went up seemingly forever and there were walkways at each level, so that was pretty cool.
As mentioned, we didn't managed the whole museum. About lunch time, Ben was having a meltdown and my feet hurt so we called it a day. We tried to take the street car back to the french quarter, but it was having service issues so we just walked. By the time we got to a restaurant, we were insane with hunger and exhaustion. I actually ordered a daiquiri and I almost never drink. Granted, I also ordered a water in the biggest glass they had to go with it.
I got a vegetarian muffaletta which is one of the best sandwiches ever. (Other best being a french fry po boy.) How can anyone go wrong with cheese and olives? It made me wish I had a second stomach. That could also have been the crazy hunger talking.
Once fed, Ben and I crashed in our hotel room and had a good, long, badly needed nap. At that moment, I was incredibly grateful I had thought to get a hotel room in the french quarter for the last two nights.
Once rested, we met up with Billy one last time for cute desserts at Sucre. The desserts were so cute and tasty! Somehow I forgot to take pictures though! I am such a dummy!
The only flaw to the awful service at the place. When I told the guy ringing up Billy's food that ours was all together and we'd pay for it, the guy gave me a look like I had completely RUINED his ENTIRE evening. It was strange.
But I ate delicious tiny expensive desserts so who cares.
The saddest part then was the end of the trip. We left the next morning after probably sleeping later than we should have. But we had a nice, quiet drive back with a few stops here and there, including a korean taco shop in alabama. Who knew?
We got in super late. I was falling asleep at the wheel when Ben and I switched one final time.
I'd like to say I collapsed in bed as soon as we got home, but Noname is a vindictive little jerk and immediately peed my bed to "welcome" me home. So I got to clean that up before I could collapse into the bed. And then, la quinta style, Ben and I had to squish close together so I didn't roll into the spot that was now drying.
Generally a good trip though! And definitely someplace Ben and I should visit more often!
