Thanksgiving Week Trip: Day Three

New Orleans, Louisiana:  Our third day of the trip was a day that I was really looking forward to, a trip to the National World War II Museum.  This museum was a highlight of the trip for me. 

The morning started with breakfast at the hotel followed by a mile and a half walk to the museum.  On the way there, we passed through Lee Circle.  This park made history a few weeks ago as the statue of General Lee was removed from the top of the monument by city officials.  We got to the museum a little too early, so we stopped by a corner cafe for coffee before the museum opened.

The museum complex for the National World War II Museum was massive.  It was situated in five buildings spanning several city blocks and is still growing.  There is a theme to the museum which follows through the timeline of the war.  The first building houses the exhibits that showcased what lead up to the war.  It also had exhibits on the Manhattan Project and the war support efforts.  The next stop in the museum was the exhibits which focused on the war itself.  There was an entire floor for the European Theater and the Pacific Theater.  Next was the Boeing building which housed a fleet of aircraft and ground support vehicles.

The museum was probably the best museum I have been to.  It does a great job telling the story behind the US participation in World War II.  There is so much to see and experience here, it is real hard to do it all.  The museum continues to grow and they are actively building a new wing that will showcase life following the war.  A stop to this museum is a must do while in New Orleans.

After we completed the museum, we went across the street to the Confederate Civil War Museum however we did not visit the museum as they no longer accepted the Power Pass even though they are listed in the pass booklet as participating in the program.  When I questioned it, the operated gave and attitude so that made up my mind in paying out of pocket and we headed out to our next adventure. 

Our next attraction was the Audubon Zoo which lies a distance from the downtown area of New Orleans.  To get there, we decided to travel like a local and take the St Charles Streetcar Line.  The ride on the vintage streetcar took us to the park which housed the 58 acre zoo.

The zoo was laid out very nice and was easy to get around.  They had a nice variety of animals and there were pretty active in the brisk November air.  One of my favorite areas of the zoo was the Louisiana Swamp section which highlighted local wildlife found in the region. 

Once we finished the zoo, we hopped back on the streetcar and took it back into downtown.  Once there we switched over to the doubledecker bus which we took back to the French Quarter.  When we got back into the French Quarter, we started to explore on foot again with a visit to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. 

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum was housed in the drug store of the country's first licensed pharmacist.  It walked though the history of medicine in the Crescent City throughout the years.  It covered both traditional medicinal treatments and non-traditional treatments such as voodoo and more.

When we completed the tour of the pharmacy museum we headed back to the hotel to unwind and explore some of the hotel amenities and a little father/son shenanigans. 

I am not really sure what is in store for tomorrow.  Since it is Thanksgiving Day, there isn't much open.  We have dinner reservations for a Thanksgiving Dinner but outside that, we are going to wing it and see what happens.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day with their friends and family.