Louisiana - NOLA

Up early to make the big trip to New Orleans. San Antonio to New Orleans is about 900 km (about the distance from Calgary to Vancouver). We continued to drive on the I-10 east and drove through Houston, Texas. Their downtown is much like Calgary's - big towers and definitely an larger business district than any other city we have been through. A quick few stops along the way for a picnic lunch and fuel stops, otherwise it was a blast straight on through kind of day.

Once we got into Louisiana there were tons of elevated roadways

over swamps, rivers and lakes. I had forgotten how much water and marshland there is in Louisiana. Everything is so green and fresh; you can really smell the sea air/humidity in the air. A big change from the dry desert air in Arizona and New Mexico.

We rented a "Mardi Gras Cottage" in the 7th ward just off of Esplanade Ave and N Rampart. We are 1/2 block off the busy road and it is surprisingly quiet. Eshysah owns 3 cottages that are on one long lot and are accessed through a side gate. Our cottage was the last one and opened out onto a quaint little garden. When the owner found the cottages they were abandoned, run down and missing foundations. The owner bought them and fixed them up to historical type standards, right down to the shuttered doors and stain glass windows. Simply amazing place to stay. It is a small place with a kitchen, full bath and a studio bedroom. It has very large doors with windows that lets in a ton of light. A great place for us and Roxy.

We arrived into New Orleans around 2:30 pm (a bit earlier than expected). While waiting to get checked in we decided to head down to Jackson Square to our favourite coffee shop - Cafe du Monde. It is about 1.5 km away from our cottage and located in the French Quarter. Very easy walking as everything is flat and has wide sidewalks. Every turn has a different styled house with brightly coloured shutters - never a dull moment.

We arrived at Cafe du Monde and there was a table opening up right away. Roxy our "service dog" came right in with us and sat nicely beside the table. It is open air, patio styled seating - but technically still a restaurant and not a patio. Nothing better than beignets (french styled doughnuts) and chickory flavoured coffee after a long drive.

After we got settled in we headed out for dinner and more exploring in the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street. We headed to Felix's for dinner for their famous broiled oysters. We split 12 broiled oysters ($20) and 1 lb of crawfish ($11.00/lb). Last time we were here crawfish were not in season, so it was great to try them. MMM delicious. We took a nice stroll around the French Quarter after dinner, enjoying and taking in all the action around town. It was a bit early for the full action of Bourbon Street, but still entertaining just the same.

Back home for the evening to kick up after a long travel day.

Total Travel miles: 640 miles