Journey of a Lifetime

66 DAYS & 10,600 MILES ON THE ROAD

Friday, April 23, 2010

Day 3 - Mission: New Orleans, LA

Leaving Dallas was much like leaving any big city - you soon end up in the country. The only thing of note to report on the road out of Texas was driving through the town of Marshall. (I was incorrectly told at the gas station that this was the same town as "We Are Marshall". Thanks for clarifying that Heather! That Marshall is in West Virginia.)

The drive into Louisiana quickly turned to lush yet swamp-like trees. Making our way south through the state, we drove over the 18+ mile long Atchafalya Swamp Bridge.
Shortly thereafter crossing the Mississippi into Baton Rouge.
After our update of Day 2 at the closest Starbucks, we headed off again for New Orleans - more specifically - the French Quarter.
It was 9:00 pm when we finally arrived. Let me just tell you, it is insane there and forget trying to cross the pedestrian loaded Bourbon St. in a car. No one stops, they just cross and act like they don't know you are there.
Being tired from the 9 hour drive in, I was stressed and Hyde - errr I mean Colby was starving. This was our first time into New Orleans and we really only knew of food places that were open during daytime hours, and of course Cafe du Monde. Walking around on a Wednesday night, we stumbled upon the Corner Oyster House.

I had the Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage and Colby had the Gumbolaya - yes, Gumbo & Jambalaya in one dish. (By the way, this Gumbolaya turned out to be the best dish we found.)
Before heading out to our campground, we stopped at Cafe du Monde for Beignets and Cafe au Lait.
OH MY GOODNESS! I am not a doughnut girl, but these little lovelies were delicious. And who would have thought that the Starbucks addict would like chicory coffee?
You haven't seen the last of us Cafe du Monde - we will definitely be back.
Ok, now for the ridiculous part of the trip. Remember we said even the bad experiences would be recounted. This is the first big one, but it turned out alright.
Our campground was a 30 minute trip out to St. Bernard State Park - through the most heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina part of town. (More about that later)
When we pulled up to St. Bernard State Park, the gate was locked. Seriously. LOCKED! Boy were we mad. In all of our camping experience, we have never been locked out of a place before. I left the campground office a small piece of my mind on their answering machine. Mind you it was now after 12:00 am, so we did the only thing we could think of. We drove to a truck stop. Yes, a TRUCK STOP! You will all have to forgive me for not having the desire to take a picture of the truck stop, it was not a proud moment for us.
Fortunately, this all worked out in the end. We apparently just needed the gate combination, which they will gladly provide if you just call them and let them know. (So, we learned something new....CALL AHEAD!)

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