Thanksgiving Week Trip : Day One

New Orleans, Louisiana:  Last year when we were planning our summer road trip, we had anticipated going to New Orleans.  I did all the planning but when it came down to it, I made a last minute change to go back to the mountains and we went to Asheville instead.  But the New Orleans trip was only delayed until Thanksgiving break.

As with all of our trips, I had planned on doing a road trip.  We would have crossed a few new states off the list and made some stops along the way.  But the more and more I looked into driving, the more hesitant I was with the cost of parking at the hotel, the limited parking in the city, the length of the drive.  A few weeks ago, I happened to check airfare and found rates low enough on Southwest, it was cheaper to fly than drive.  So I booked us a flight and away we went.

It has been a long time since I have flown, 2009 to be exact.  Being an airplane nerd, I was really happy to be flying.  Our flight to New Orleans was the first flight out of  Tampa at 6:30 on Southwest Flight 1719.  I am glad I got to the airport a little earlier than usual, having almost always flown our of Sarasota-Bradenton, I underestimated the lines at the airport.  This was only compounded by the fact that we had to do secondary screening due to being flagged during screening.  But it was all good and we were off to the gate to board our Boeing 737-700 that would take us to NOLA.

The flight took off of Tampa on time and was a very smooth flight.  I was hoping for some turbulence but we didn't really have any.  I love turbulent flights but I think I am in the minority on that one.  The flight was a quick one, it felt like no sooner we were at cruising altitude, it was time to make our descent into Louis Armstrong International Airport.

On the ground, we caught our airport shuttle which took us to our hotel for the trip, the Drury Inn and Suites in the central business district.  To my surprise, they had a room ready for us so we checked in, dropped our bags in the room before leaving to explore the city.  The room we had been assigned was on the seventh floor looking towards the river.  I was very happy with the room, it was a lot larger than I had expected and the 20-25 foot ceilings made the room feel even bigger.  We grabbed breakfast downstairs before heading out to begin exploring the big easy.

The first stop of the day was to pick up our power passes.  If you are ever in a city that offers these passes, I recommend you consider them.  For a flat fee per day, you can experience as many attractions as you can fit into your schedule.  We have used them on trips to other cities and they are really useful.  In addition to having you attractions paid for, they allow you to bypass some of the longer lines, making it a win/win for maximizing you time in town.

Our first attraction was the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.  We got there a half-hour before it opened so we sat along the water and watched the large ships navigating the mighty Mississippi River.  When 10am rolled around, we headed in to check out the aquarium.  The aquarium is a nice little aquarium.  It has some pretty cool exhibits, my favorite was the rainforest area.

Then we went a couple blocks down the street to another Audubon attraction, the Insectarium.  This was something that I really had no interest in doing but my son thought it would be pretty cool so we did it.  I am kinda glad we did.  It certainly was a hidden gem.  The best part of the museum was the butterfly garden at the end of the museum.  I also did something I thought I would never do while we were here.  On a dare from my son, followed by a if I do it, you have to do it, I decided to eat bugs at the cafe.  I had Southwester mealworms and chocolate cricket cookies.  As much as it disgusted me to do it, it really wasn't bad, the cookie tasted no different.

Following the museum, we started walking towards a few other attractions on the pass, only to find that they were closed on Monday.  So we decided to have lunch.  Today's lunch was at Willie's Chicken Shack. It was really good and a great meal to kick of the trip.  I had shrimp which was delicious.  The sweet biscuit was probably the best part of the meal.  They say its slap yo' momma good and I'd say they aren't far off.

Following lunch, we walked back to the riverfront for our afternoon river cruise on the Creole Queen.  The paddleboat took us on a five mile tour down the Mississippi River.  Along the way, our guide told us the history of New Orleans as well as pointed out some of the highlights seen along the river.  The cruise included a stop at the Chalmette Battlefield, site of the Battle of New Orleans. It was pretty cool to see my son start to take a liking to history.  I have always had a interest in history and it has bored him.  But today, I tried walking away from the guide to self-explore but he wanted to stay and listen to the guide tell the history of the battle.  We spent about an hour touring the battlefield before heading back to the boat to take the journey back up river to the city.

Once the Creole Queen docked back at the dock, we headed back to the hotel for dinner before exploring the city a little bit more before calling it a day.

Tomorrow we will have another day of adventure in New Orleans.  Be sure to check back to see what Tuesday has in store for us.  I will also be posting photos from the trip as time permits.