New Orleans!!!!!

We spent a VERY cold day in New Orleans today.  It was cloudy cold and a little misty throughout the day.  We got to the French Quarter way before our hotel was ready.  But they went ahead and took our bags and parked our car.  We paid for a hop on hop off bus ticket and rode around the city for a while.  The only seats available on the bus were on top in the open.  Did I mention it was cold?!?!?  If it had been warmer that would have been a great place to see the city!  We stopped and got beignets and hot chocolate.  We got off and toured the St Lewis cemetery.  We  were a little afraid to go in without a tour group but this was one of the smaller cemeteries and it was so cold we didn't think there would be to many thieves out and about.  There were other people in there with us as well, we didn't have any issues.  We got a very late lunch close to our hotel.  Jacob got a crawfish po boy.  Everyone at least tried the crawfish, Michael didn't like it.  He got a seafood gumbo that he did like.  Anthony and David got jambalaya. 

Our room was finally ready so we checked in and had our bags brought to our room.  Michael, Anthony and I decided to explore Bourbon Street a little before it got very late.  We saw lots of interesting shops and heard lots of live music coming out of the bars.  There wasn't really very much going on that day or that evening.  I enjoyed the city way more than I thought I would since I really prefer being out in the middle of no where.  I was sad to leave, but it may have been because the streets weren't crowded with tons of people.  Don't think I would like being there next week when Marti Gras begins!

 

 

This is Nick Cages future grave.  He purchased it before his tax problems and the government took his other 3 houses in New Orleans.  Apparently they can't take grave plots.

It was very cold...we could see our breath all day!!!

The hotel "Place d'Arms" courtyard.  Wish we could have enjoyed it more!

Dusk on Bourbon Street.

I loved the gaslights!!!

A not as planned day.....

We left Slidell this morning headed towards Belle Chase and Jean Laffite NHP.  Well we arrived to find they aren't open on Mondays or Tuesdays!  It was cold and rainy but the boys and I decided to walk one of the trails for a little while anyway.  David went back to the van.  His cold is lingering and it wasn't a good idea for him to be in the rain.  We walked half an hour in and then decided to come back.  I loved it, the boys thought it was creepy.  I will say the huge palmetto made lots of noise when the wind blew.  It did kind of sound like something was following us. 

The hotel I picked looked like it was right on the Mississippi, that was the reason I put us there so far out away from everything.  Well, it was close tot eh river but you couldn't see any of the river at all.  We could see huge ships sticking up from what was undoubtedly the river but we couldn't see it :( 

We decided to find a pizza place for lunch to make up for our not so great day.  We found some really great pizza at Rotolo's Pizzaria.  I used the extra time that evening to do a couple loads of laundry.

I loved the quiet beauty of the swamp...the boys thought I was crazy.  They thought it was creepy.

 

 

Very yummy pizza 

 

Swamp tour in Slidell

Woke up to a cloudy day.  It threatened rain our whole drive from Dauphin Island to Slidell.  I was a little worried but have tried to go with the flow and let things work themselves out....we are on vacation after all.  We went to Cajun Encounters for our tour and it was the most awesome thing!  I am tired so I will just post pictures of our wonderful trip.

A nutra rat.

 

Saw a couple of snakes too :)

We saw LOTS of raccoons!

This is the Whiskey Tree its 600 years old.  Apparently in the 20's and 30's moonshiners use to meet at this tree once a week and bring their product from the week.  They all tasted each others brew and whoevers was voted the best got to put a label on it and sell it for a dollar more a bottle than the others. 

The boys and Captain Sheldon!  Anthony thought he looked like Ben Affleck.

Dauphin Island

Dauphin Island

We spent the day exploring more of the Island.  We went to Fort Gaines, a civil war fort on the eastern tip of the island.  There is another fort on another island and these two forts were suppose to guard Mobile Bay.  It was during the battle of Mobile bay that one of the captains on a ship yelled, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."  One of the union ships in the battle hit a torpedo (a mine) and sank very quickly.  This caused some confusion with the union fleet and seeing this the captain of another ship yelled these famous words.

After the fort we had a picnic lunch looking out at the water.  Michael and I walked down to the beach and he explored the rocks for a while.  He found a small piece of sea glass.  I got to pet a really cute Chihuahua and just enjoyed sitting in the sun. 

We then stopped by the Estuary and walked their boardwalk.  We didn't go inside the Sea Lab but they had a touch tank outside with Rays and a couple of tiny sharks. 

We wanted to make dinner in our hotel tonight since it has a kitchen so we stopped and picked up some eggs and English muffins.  Then on our friend Willow's advice we went and got ice cream.  It was very good...thanks for the tip Willow! 

We also spent a little time back on the beach close to the hotel.  Michael and Jacob actually went in a little.  I thought it was COLD!!

I called and made our reservation for our swamp tour tomorrow.  I am excited for that!!

 

I went to the bathroom, when I came back these we on my camera....thanks jake!

These ovens were really cool!!

Interesting story.....This "ship" was thrown into a house by a hurricane in the 1990's.  They could tell that it was built in the 1800's or before but they couldn't discover anything else about it. 

These things are everywhere here.  We thought they were oil rigs but we learned they are drilling for natural gas.  They pump it straight to the mainland from the rigs.