The Big Easy

I had never been to New Orleans but it is a city I always wanted to visit. So when Greg told me he was going there to attend a conference for a few days, I was very excited to tag along. It was just before Kyler's birthday (March 13-16) and my parents were going to be coming to our house anyway so they were gracious enough to come a few days early and stay with the kids so I could go along with Greg.

Actually because I was using a free ticket, I was unable to fly the same day as Greg. :( He left on Sunday morning and I didn't leave until Monday morning. So he had a little bit more time there than me. Although he did have to spend the majority of his time in meetings so I got to see more than he did. But he did spend some time at the World War II Museum and walking around town. So I'll include a couple of his pictures as well.

Greg visited the World War II Museum and really enjoyed it.

This is one of the vessels used to storm Normandy on D-Day and more than 90% of them were made in New Orleans.

This is the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial along the water front.

He took this picture in Washington Artillery Park.


My flight there took the scenic route. I guess that's the beauty of Southwest Airlines, right? I flew out of Sacramento through Seattle to St. Louis (because that makes sense!). Then, from there, the flight was delayed indefinitely due to mechanical problems. Of course I was grateful to not be on a plane with known problems, but I was anxious to get to New Orleans as well. They finally got another plane for us and I was able to fly out that night after all. I was relieved when Greg picked me up at the New Orleans airport and we made it back to the hotel that night. I was exhausted.

Tuesday morning, I had breakfast at the hotel, walked around town for a couple hours and then took a city bus tour. I was so glad to take the tour because it really helped me see more of the city as well as learn more about its culture. There is so much history there and I enjoyed learning all about it. They took us to the Lower 9th Ward where we could see the most serious damages from Hurricane Katrina. This area of the city was completely covered in 18 feet of water that had to be pumped out over a 2-week period. There are many open lots where people have not come back to the area. But Brad Pitt has been helping to rebuild the area so we saw many of the houses he is responsible for. They are very space-age looking but they are supposed to be very eco-friendly.

I found this shop as I was walking around that opened up to a courtyard in the back and I loved all the colors and textures, although it's hard to tell from this picture.

The Canal Street street car.

Preservation Hall

Bourbon Street during the day is a very different place than at night!

The Katrina Memorial in the Lower 9th Ward. The tallest blue pole represents where the water level settled at 18 feet. :(

One of the homes built through Brad Pitt's foundation.

One of the more interesting highlights of the trip was visiting the cemeteries. It does seem like a bizarre attraction, but after you visit, it makes much more sense. Because the city is built on swamp land, if they bury the bodies in the ground, they just pop up to the surface which is a little gruesome. So the Spanish introduced them to the above ground tombs. They can hold up to 100 bodies in one. However, it is a process. When someone dies, they put their casket in the tomb for 1 year + 1 day. Then the casket is removed, the body (which is mostly bones now) is taken out and placed in the back of the tomb. There is enough room to do this continually until 100 people are buried in it. A tomb is typically purchased for use by a family. So if multiple family members die in a short period of time, they might have to rent space from another family in their tomb to place the casket until the 1 year + 1 day time period passes. Then they would take the casket out and move the body to the correct family's tomb. It seems rather complicated to me but I guess it works for them.

On my city tour, at one of the cemeteries.

It was fascinating to learn more about them.

If you look closely, you can see the Superdome through our hotel room window.


After Greg got out of meetings for the day, we went to the Hurricane Katrina Memorial, visited another cemetery (because Greg wanted me to tell him the history) and to City Park. Then we headed back to our hotel and dropped off our rental car before walking into the French Quarter for dinner. We had wonderful pizza at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen followed by beignets at Cafe du Monde! Then we walked along the water for awhile before heading back to our hotel for the night.

At the cemetery with Greg.

Greg at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial.

Hurricane Katrina Memorial Sign.

More of the memorial.

Having fun at City Park.

Loved the spanish moss hanging off the trees.

Self portrait with the trees above.

Having fun posing with the beautiful architecture.

Seems like on every street, there was something new and different to look at.

Mmmm, Louisiana Pizza Kitchen.

Getting ready to devour my beignet at Cafe du Monde!


Our last day there, Wednesday, I drove out to Oak Alley Plantation, which is about an hour out of New Orleans. It was so different there than in the city. I loved the big open spaces, the beautiful trees, and the beautiful views of the mighty Mississippi River. I had time there to leisurely walk around the expansive grounds and take a tour of the plantation house to learn more about it's history. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I took the time to go out and do that.

Welcome to Oak Alley Plantation.

This huge old oak tree made me think of a spider from this angle.

The view from the 2nd story balcony of the plantation house to the main road.

I'm standing close to the main road with the plantation house behind me.

From across the street, a sign telling about Oak Alley Plantation and looking all the way to the plantation house down the lane of beautiful oak trees.


Once back in New Orleans, I had to check out of the hotel, load up all our things into the rental car and grab some lunch. Then as soon as Greg was out of his last session, we met up and drove to the airport. It was too short a trip, but I'm so glad we were able to go. I have always wanted to go to New Orleans. I loved seeing the beautiful architecture throughout the city. And, you could see where old met new and different style influences came together. Very fun!