The people down here are so friendly. We often had wonderful conversations with complete strangers lured in by our tiny baby. "Ohhh, sha-baby! How old?" started many of those. According to Google, "Sha" is a term of endearment in Louisiana Cajun and Creole slang that means "darling," "dear," or "sweetheart".
In our month-long stay in New Orleans, we were able to do a little sightseeing. Here are some highlights:
We saw the ocean multiple times, often from various parts of the end of the Mississippi River.
Venice, LA
Pass Christian, MS
One of my favorite drives ended here. But the journey took us past a number of alligators sunning themselves on reeds in the waterway next to the road.
Beautiful open water channels surrounded by swamp.
On our drives around the state we saw tons of beautiful houses along with these interesting ones on stilts near the coast/flood prone areas.
Swamp tour of the bayou. Such striking landscapes.
Oak Alley Plantation
Below is the alley of oaks viewed from the house. This would've been the driveway to the plantation back in the day.
Watching ships moving up and down the river. Marinetraffic.com became a frequently viewed site to see where the ships came from and were going.
Spanish moss and resurrection ferns on the trees.
I fell in love with living oaks. Too bad they don't survive in Minnesota.
Audubon Zoo, Aquarium, and Insectarium
We ate at many restaurants with delicious food and wonderful outdoor spaces.
In addition to these, we sampled many King Cakes (a Mardis Gras specialty dessert similar to a sweet roll) and attended a few Mardis Gras parades. The parades were often chaos; we stayed just long enough to get a taste before we retreated to quieter, less crowded parts of the city.
One event we didn't get any pictures of was a rabbit cookoff at an RV campsite. They had three categories: domestic rabbit, wild rabbit, and venison. No rules on how to cook it. Most of the dishes we tasted involved a bed of rice topped with rabbit stew or jambalaya. One group did rabbit tacos. We didn't stay for the venison group. One competitor we chatted with (lured in by the baby again 😄) said he goes boar hunting in Texas and shoots rabbits there when he sees them. He actually provided the wild rabbit for two other competitors that day.
We'll stretch out the 17h journey back to Minnesota over three days. It'll be so good to be home!
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