New Orleans: Second Half of The Trip

If you missed reading about the first half of my trip down to New Orleans, click here, to get all caught up.  Today I'm sharing the last couple of days spent down there.

On Thursday, Lindy and I headed out to the Houmas House Plantation and Gardens.

The grounds and the house were beautiful, but if you are wanting the history to go along with it, I'd skip this tour.  There were a few portraits on the walls, and I asked if they were the owners or family members of the home... hoping to learn more about the families that owned the plantation.  My guide told me, "We don't actually know who these people are... but you could name them if you'd like."  Then she went on to tell us what she likes to call each of them.  They were just random portraits that the owners had picked up to decorate the walls.  The whole tour was just strange like that.  The current owner actually lives in the house, and we walked through his room, as well as was shown pictures of his dogs wedding.  Yep, his dogs got married and the tour guide showed us pictures.  Like I said, the grounds and the house were beautiful, but I wouldn't spend the time or money on this tour again. 

If you are ever down that way and are wanting to take a legit tour of a plantation, I would highly recommend Oak Alley & the Laura plantation.  We saw both of these the first time we went down to New Orleans, and they did not disappoint.

On Friday, Lindy and I headed out on a swamp tour.

Our guide would throw out marshmallows to the alligators, and they would swim right up.  I guess the marshmallows resemble eggs, which interests them so much.

 Creepy... it looks like a mix between a snake and a dinosaur.

 Our tour guide.

This guy really leaped up when offered a hot dog.  Yikes!

As crazy as this swamp area is, there's also a real beauty to it as well.

After a day of alligators, we grabbed lunch at Felipe's.  A fun place to eat if you want good and quick Mexican food.  Then we all met back up at the pool on the rooftop of our hotel.  It was so nice!  Much different than the cold and snow we are seeing in Montana.

We cleaned up and went to dinner.  They let me pick where we wanted to eat, since it was my birthday on Friday.  Such a fun way to spend the day.

 Saturday morning we were up bright and early in order to be at the airport at 6:00.  We stopped in a little cafe and had breakfast, and then found seats in our terminal.  I was giving the big thumbs down because there wasn't a single coffee shop in the whole terminal.  What the heck?

 Denver however did not disappoint.  I not only found myself a Starbucks, but I got to have my first salted caramel mocha of the season!  I didn't even think about them being back in season, since I don't get the chance to swing through very often.  You can only imagine my delight!

On the plane headed back home with my coffee and book... a perfect way to end the trip.

It's good to be home.