Louisiana Plantations

We heard there were plantations nearby and took a ride to see what we could find.  There are eight plantations near New Orleans that offer tours, and we stopped at two of them.


Our first stop was Oak Alley Plantation, and this quarter mile alley of Virginia Live Oaks leading to the plantation house was just beautiful.  The oaks are over 300 years old and were actually here long before the plantation house.


The flowers were so colorful, and the sugar kettle looked right at home here.


This is looking toward the back of the house, and these are some of the younger oaks..


The guides looked like real Southern Bells.  The plantation owners must have loved their olive oil because they imported it in these huge jars.


This southern gentleman could really make the place come alive with his stories.


The big flat thing hanging over the table was a fan tied to a rope that a slave pulled to cool the guests at dinner.


The master bedroom.


This intricately carved cradle was in the master bedroom.


A  look down Oak Alley from the veranda off the master bedroom.


It would be nice to sit on this veranda and sip a mint julep while watching the ships glide down the Mississippi River.


Did you see the movie Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte?  This is the actual staircase that the head rolled down!  They filmed it here!  


Another look at Oak Alley Plantation as seen from the river bank.


This is Laura: A Creole Plantation, and it’s not like Oak Alley Plantation at all.


Although they were just as wealthy, the Creole’s tried to keep their plantation houses low key.  They had their big, fancy houses in New Orleans.


These furnishings are not original to the house, but they are in the style of a Creole Plantation.


The back of Laura Plantation house is rather plain.


These are the slave quarters.  This building housed two families of slaves and, even after they were freed, some lived here until 1979.

So that’s it for our visit to New Orleans. Now we’ll be winding our way north, towards home. 

New Orleans - The Garden District, back to the French Quarter, and The Levee

Another thing Jaime and Beth talked about was The Garden District.  Beth said we should take the streetcar.  So we did.


It’s the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar.  We rode it to the end and back  so we could see all of The Garden District.  The next day we came again and walked.


Everyone has seen pictures of New Orleans cemeteries, or read about them, and I wanted to walk through one myself.  


The tombs were very close together, and you can see a long list of the people that are buried inside some of them.


These were well maintained, but some are very unloved looking.


I loved these huge, old houses, and our handy Frommer’s Guide I printed out told us something about many of them.  Too bad I didn’t keep better notes.


Doesn’t this one look inviting, with it’s broad porch and balcony, and the huge fence to keep nosey tourists out.


This house I do remember because we were caught in a rain shower here.  It’s Archie Manning’s house, where the little Manning boys played football on the front lawn.  The house doesn’t look very large at first, but it goes back a long way and then stretches to the sides.


Most of the houses have fences around them.  Nice fences, not chain link.


I think this is John Goodman’s house. 


 This is Commander’s Palace Restaurant.  We didn’t eat here, dress code: no shorts.  Beth and her friends ate here, on the patio.


 The trees along St. Charles St. were loaded with beads thrown during the Mardi Gras parades.  They never take them down because it’s supposed to be bad luck if you remove them.



The night before we did our walking tour one of these huge old beauties caught fire while they were renovating it and burned down.


I just had to stop at each one and admire it.  Bob was very patient with me.


After our walking tour we went back the French Quarter had lunch at Pat O'Brien's, and this time the girls told me to try a Hurricane.  That was good stuff!!! So were the jambalaya, beans and rice, gumbo, and crawfish etouffee.  I tried it all!


 After all that eating and drinking in the French Quarter, the next day we went for a bike ride along the Mississippi River Levee. 


The river is deep and wide and we saw a lot of ships and barges during our 25 mile bike trip.



It’s a nice place for a bike ride with no traffic to worry about.


This is one of the famous pumps on the Mississippi River.  Remember hearing about them during the hurricane?  They have them spaced every mile or two along the levee.


 If you ride the levee trail south it ends at a park near the zoo.  


In true Hidden River RV Resort tradition, we stopped for lunch on our bike ride, and this time we had some good food at Cooter Brown’s.


Bob had a muffaletta and I had an oyster poboy but, after reading the menu more carefully, maybe we should have had the Coonass Special.  So good you wanna slap yo mamma!  Bob said that’s ok.  It just gives us another reason to come back to New Orleans.

It’s almost time to leave New Orleans but we took a side trip to see two plantations.  That’s our next blog post.

New Orleans The French Quarter: Part 1

I’ve wanted to go to New Orleans for many, many years, so when I finally got there we spent a lot of time in the city and took tons of pictures. 


Both Jaime and Beth said to be sure to have beignets at Café du Monde, so we went  there first.


When Bob saw the line he started to grumble but I ignored him.  I wanted some beignets!

Bob has the Thomas sweet tooth and he was glad we waited.  They were sooo good!  As a matter of fact, we returned there another day just to make sure we liked them. 

This building is across the street from Café du Monde, next to Jackson Square.  I loved the wrought iron balcony railings. 


So many of the houses in the French Quarter have shutters on their doors and windows. 


This house looks pretty in pink and the bows make it even more fun!  I wonder if this is left from Mardi Gras, or do the owners just like it this way.


The French Quarter has many beautiful building with all those wrought iron balconies.


We had lunch at the Acme Oyster House one day.  Yum!  We love oysters!


This group of street musicians looked like they just stepped right out of the bayou.


The steamboat Natchez was getting ready to sail.


The lady on the roof was playing the steam calliope.  It was….different.


Carriages were lined up in Jackson Square ready to take visitors on a tour.  In New Orleans the carriages are pulled by mules!


Saint Louis Cathedral was beautiful.


We noticed a little action on this street and walked down to see what was going on.


A movie, Now You See Me, was being filmed, in Rev. Zombie’s Voodoo Shop.

Everyone was walking up to this guy and asking to have their picture taken with him.  I recognized him too – Morgan Freeman!


Bob talked me into doing it too, but my new friend Morgan was very nice!


Woody Harrelson and Michael Caine were inside filming.  Or so we heard.


If you go to see Now You See Me, look for Rev. Zombie’s Voodoo Shop.  


I hope it won’t be cut!


Bob spotted this Rolls Royce and talked to the car’s personal guardian who told him that was his job: guarding the Rolls and bringing it when it’s needed in a scene.


Back in Jackson Square there were a lot of Tarot Readers, and a lot of people having their palms read,


and, of course more street musicians.


We wandered down to the river and I spotted this guy who was obviously dressed up for something.  Or is it just New Orleans?


It’s another crew filming near the river and this time it was a funeral scene.


The guy in the pink outfit told us they were filming for Treme, on HBO.  He was an extra and got paid $250 for two hours of work, dancing at the funeral.


He also told us that this is one of the dredges they use when they dredge the river 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  They have to keep the shipping lanes open because the Mississippi is a very busy river.

OK, that’s it for part one of our visit to New Orleans.  Next stop:  The Garden District.