The Big Easy
While living in Louisiana, it was a must to see New Orleans, so in April when we had a few days off we took off to the Big Easy. We lived and worked in central Louisiana so we were about 3 hours away from New Orleans. On our way down we stopped at a beautiful plantation called Oak Alley Plantation, hence the name the property was covered in beautiful oak trees.
The oaks on this plantation dated back to the early 18th century and the house was built in the late 18th century. Walking along the plantation grounds was like walking into another world. The entire grounds were preserved as if you were living in the 18th century. Definitely a must see if you’re near Vacherie Louisiana.
When we arrived in New Orleans, we visited the garden district area first. Out of our whole trip this was my favorite part. Now you can pay to have a tour guide take you around all the historic houses and show you where famous people live but being on a budget I found a guide on pinterest. It basically had a map and gave you step by step instructions on which streets to walk down to hit all the highlights of the garden district and it also told you a little bit of history about each house we stopped at. Make sure you at least stop by the cemetery in the garden district there are two and you can tour those as well but we opted out of that because there are certain times of the day they do tours so look in advance if you want to do so.
That night we made our way down to the French quarter walking some of the streets before dinner listening to all the jazz players on every corner. We ended up eating dinner at B.B. Kings Jazz Club. We wanted somewhere that had good food and live music and it definitely was worth going to.
The next morning it was highly recommended by our co-workers that we have breakfast at the Ruby Slipper café. Our co-workers were right on this place probably some of the best breakfast we had ever had! Afterwards, we made it down the famous bourbon street and into the French quarter to see it in daylight.
In the French quarter we walked along the river admiring all the sights and seeing the steamboat. If you have extra money to spare I read that the river steamboat sunset dinner and tour is worth doing. We made our way around the Washington Artillery Park and then wondered into the French quarter streets. After walking a while we made our way back to Café Du Monde famously known for there delicious beignets. Of course another amazing recommendation by our wonderful co-workers and certainly a must!
To end our last night in New Orleans after dinner we decided to take a pedi cab. Now pedi cabs are all negotiable for the time frame you want. We did a 30 minute ride that took us all over the French quarter. Our driver made life come out of New Orleans while he pedaled us around we listened to jazz music and enjoyed every minute of it. We definitely enjoyed our little getaway to New Orleans and I think every one should at least go once. Some food you should absolutely try while you’re there is the po boys, jambalaya, gumbo and no exception the beignets! New Orleans is such a festive town year round and a perfect trip for any time of the year.
A Family Affair
While in Louisiana some of our immediate family came to visit for a long weekend while the kids were on spring break. So Matt and I came up with some of the top things to do near us in Louisiana. The first day they were there for supper we took them to Swamp Daddy’s restaurant which was known for there amazing craw fish. It was a challenge trying get everyone to try the craw fish but once they did most of them liked it. The next day we visited the little quaint town of Natchitoches. Now some of you may recognize the name of this town from the famous movie Steel Magnolias. We explored the little town going into all the shops and walked down the river that ran through the town. We couldn’t resist walking down the street where the house they filmed Steel Magnolias was and seeing all the famous actresses names on the side walk like Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts who played in the movie. For lunch that day we tried another famous Louisiana cuisine the famous Meat Pie at Lasyone’s. A meat pie is exactly that, meat stuffed in a fried pie crust and sometimes stuffed with other things like peppers or onions. Another delicious delight to try!
Last but not least we could not let our family leave Louisiana without going on a swamp tour. So we drove down near Breaux Bridge, LA and found us a good ole swamp tour. We road on a boat of about 12 people on a lake getting to see all the wild life of the swamp. This was really neat getting to see tons of alligators perched up on wood sun bathing paying us no mind and sometimes we probably got as close as 6 feet from them! Definitely a must if you’re traveling with kids they will love it! Louisiana was definitely one of the most cultured and most affordable states we have visited in our travels. So if you ever get the chance every one should visit at least once!
