The goal was to leave Houston early, around 7:30 am, for a long driving day. Unfortunately, I underestimated the effect a full day at the beach and in the sun would have on us; most of us were still asleep at 7am! We finally managed to pack up and roll out around 9 am, but then made our way to a Buc-ee's gas station because we'd been told it was a must-see Texas institution. Not knowing any better, we assumed all Buc-ee's were similar. We assumed incorrectly. We ended up at a regular-gas-station-sized Buc-ee's instead of a Costco-sized version. Oh well. That's just something to keep on the docket for our next Texas trip.
Our first stop for the day was Avery Island, Louisiana, which GPS told me was a four hour drive. It felt like an eternity. I think the 4-5 hour drives are the hardest, mentally. Trips 3 hours or less seem to go pretty quickly. With drives over 5 hours, we're prepared for the long-haul. It's the middle distances that mess with my brain. One of the more "interesting" things of this drive were the constant billboards advertising personal injury attorneys. It seemed that there were two or three different attorneys locked in a one-upping game. As we drove across the state, we must have seen a hundred billboards for each of them. Nutty.
We arrived at Avery Island, home of Tabasco (and, notably, not actually an island but instead a salt mound) much later than we'd hoped. We had time to briefly visit the gift shop, which was full of a wide variety of ridiculously priced Tabasco-themed items, before heading over to tour the adjacent Jungle Gardens.
While at the gift shop, some of the more daring of us sampled a few Tabasco-flavored foods like ice cream and soda. Some thought the ice cream was okay (I thought it was disgusting), but all who tried the soda agreed it was gross. We are not exactly a spice-loving group.
Due to the late time and the blistering heat and humidity, we opted for a driving tour of the Jungle Gardens. We parked and hopped out and highlight points, including this Buddha which was purportedly made in the 1100s.
The scenery was gorgeous. We'd hoped to see alligators, but I should have known better. Five years in Florida taught us that alligators avoid the heat of the day. We didn't even catch sight of a snout. Boo.
When we got to the part of the gardens called "Bird City," I worried we might find another animal disappointment. As we walked closer to the viewpoint, however, we heard mighty squawking and callings. When we crested the hill, we were met with an incredible sight: thousands of snowy egrets!
After leaving Avery Island, we drove another couple hours to a town outside of New Orleans where we had a hotel for the night. It was a sure sign that Mark had joined us when I saw all our shoes neatly lined up by the door.
I was thinking about how much easier hotels are without babies or toddlers. Nellie has done an impressive job adapting to new sleeping arrangements and places. That was always one of my biggest struggles with little ones. Hurrah!
On the flip side though, most of my children were not born with a quiet button. I've thought about returning them to the manufacturer to have that issue remedied, but that sounds terribly uncomfortable. The loudness in hotel rooms is kind of infuriating. Maybe by the end of this trip they will have had enough experience in hotels to have learned the magical art of whispering. Then again, maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Saturday morning we managed to be up and out of the hotel by 8:30 am. As we rolled into the French Quarter of New Orleans around 9 am, I began to think perhaps I'd made a mistake in choosing to visit NOLA. It wasn't busy, but the streets were tiny, dirty, and full of potholes. There were police SUVs on nearly every corner. After we parked, our noses were assaulted with the smell of urine. It reminded me of visiting downtown Los Angeles with my dad when I was a kid.
But, we were there, so we tried to make the best of it. We found the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, which was just a building in the French Quarter. While the kids worked on their (hard) Jr Ranger booklets, Mark and I listened to a Ranger talk about the history of New Orleans.
I only heard the first 2/3 of the talk before leaving to help the kids with their booklets, but Mark says it was full of excellent information and was the highlight of his time in New Orleans. We had to wait a long time for the ranger to be available to do the swearing in and get the badges, but the kids were excited to add an unanticipated badge to their growing collections.
We made our way down the street towards the French Market and stopped in Jackson Plaza. The street vendors and performers were, admittedly, fascinating. We stopped to watch a street magician/ comedian. He was pretty impressive!
By this time we were getting hungry and also getting sick of passing shops full of crude and vulgar shirts. Thane had a million questions. "What do the shirts say? Why would people make shirts like that? Why is this a crude city?"
I figured that a trip to New Orleans wouldn't be complete without at least trying the cuisine. Aubree helped me order lunch from one of the vendors in the French Market.
We decided to get etoufee (one of Aubree's favorite foods she made in her cooking class at co-op) and a N'Awlins sample platter with items such as: collared greens, gumbo, and red rice and beans. All in all, it was a disaster. Some of the dishes weren't hated, but we all agree that we are not fans of New Orleans fare. But, at least we can say we gave it an honest attempt.
On our way out of the French Quarter, we chose to walk along the shores Mississippi River. Prior to this, I'd only ever seen the famous river from the windows of an airplane. Even though it was hot and muggy, we enjoyed this walk much more than the walk down the main streets. I think I could happily live the rest of my life without another visit to NOLA.
On our way out of the city, we decided to take a slightly longer detour to drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, which is the longest, continuous, over-water bridge in the world.
So long, Louisiana.
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