New Orleans, LA (State #2)-Bayou Segnette State Park

We headed out of Texas on Saturday. Getting through the Houston area traffic was the worst! After that, it was much smoother sailing.

We had decided to break our trip to New Orleans into two days since one day would mean a long travel day and would have us arriving into the park after dark. So we stopped over at Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA. It was a nice park but because we did not have reservations and it was pretty busy, I think we were parked in the not-so-desirable section. Fortunately, we got there early enough to explore the nicer areas.

The swamp areas had been drained due to excessive vegetation but to me they were still amazing and I could see how beautiful they would be when the water was there.

This little guy was hanging outside the trailer the next morning.

We left early and headed to New Orleans forcing our children to listen to Jambalaya, Battle of NewOrleans, and any other Cajun or New Orleans song we could think of along the way. Ha ha!

We arrived at our campsite around 1pm with lots of daylight left to take a look around. It is a nice spot. We are right next to the playscape! AND in the building right behind us is the nice, clean showers and the FREE laundry!

Greg was off on Monday so we headed straight into the French Quarter. About 15-20 minutes from here is the Algiers Ferry that takes you across the river and drops you off at Canal St. The ferry is free but we did pay $5 to park our truck in a lot. (We will later learn that this is an awesome deal as compared to the $25 it costs to park in the French Quarter for a day).

While we waited for the ferry, we saw this ship pass through.  What is it??

The kids loved the ferry ride but did complain that it was too short (~15 minutes).

Once in the French Quarter, Jordan was ready to try on some Mardi Gras masks...

There was the pink one.

And the blue one.

But ultimately she decided on the purple one. She thinks it's a “mean” mask, which is why she is making that face. It has something to do with My Little Pony and a mean pony that the elements of harmony could not defeat and well, we haven't really seen that episode.....

On down the street we had to get our picture taken with the goofy guy in costume who scared poor little Jordan as we walked by.

Next, was Cafe' Du Monde to try the famous beignets. This is the before picture.

And here are the after pictures. You cannot possibly eat one without powdered sugar exploding everywhere! Just breathing, while bringing it near your face, sends up a cloud of white! BUT it was well worth it. They were delicious!

 So after we dusted off the powder from our face and pounded it out of our clothes, we headed through Jackson Square to the St. Louis Cathedral.

It was very beautiful inside. I enjoyed just sitting there in the quiet and staring up at the ceiling to see the gorgeous paintings.

We roamed the streets admiring the French and Spanish architecture. And though we will not be here for Mardi Gras, we did get to see some of the decorations since they have already begun to decorate.

We enjoyed some jazz music and Jordan danced along.

It was strange that on Monday we ran into several little groups like this on the streets, but on Saturday when we came back, we didn't see any. We were disappointed!

Towards the end of the day, we rode the trolley, which the kids had been looking forward to ALL day.

Later in the week, the kids and I headed to the Barataria Preserve at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park.

There we went on a walk with the Park Ranger through the swamps and marshes and the kids earned their first Junior Ranger Badge! Jacob is especially excited about this and wears his badge daily.

The visitor center had a nice little hands on learning area. The kids enjoyed that for awhile and then, unbelievably, they sat through a 25 MINUTE video about New Orleans culture! Jordan really like the old black and white parts and Jacob enjoyed the music.

New Orleans has a nice little children's museum as well. Perfect for a rainy day! Since we have a museum pass from The Thinkery in Austin, we get into other children's museums for half-price.

The grocery store was adorable. It looked so realistic and even had working cash registers that printed a receipt! I love the little number lights above the register that they could turn off and on to indicate whether or not they were open.

There was also a nice little restaurant where Mommy got to sit and rest a bit while the kids served her “lunch”.

And here the kids learned how they could lift 500 lbs by using a lever. That was nice since we had just recently discussed simple machines in our homeschooling.

On Saturday, we headed back to the French Quarter since Greg was off. It was a busy place! Like I said earlier, we decided to skip the ferry and parked in one of the nearby pay lots. Big mistake! It wasn't really any more convenient and it cost A LOT! We will take the ferry the next time!

We started the day with a Riverfront History Tour led by a Park Ranger from the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. It was interesting and described much of the different cultural influences on the city.

Right where our tour ended were the Calypso Tumbler street performers. They were entertaining and funny as they did flip after flip. 

In the background you can see the St. Louis Cathedral again. Our tour guide informed us that many of the buildings, including the cathedral, were brick on the outside. But as time and elements began to wear away the soft brick that was used, they covered them with stucco to preserve them. So it was a little surprising to learn that this was not how it looked many years ago but nice that they could save it.

We passed by Cafe' Du Monde again and on the back side of the building is a window where you can watch them make the beignets.

Then we stopped by the Jazz National Historical Park which is located in the old US Mint. Here, the kids earned their 2nd Junior Ranger badge.

Upstairs we walked into a room and found we were in for a treat! Jazz drummer, Herlin Riley, was being interviewed and they were making some recordings to be used with other jazz musicians as part of a youth program. We enjoyed listening to him play and hearing his story.

At the end of the interview, one of the youth asked him to play a particular song. He told the teen to grab his horn and join him and then asked the others in the audience who brought their horns to join in too! I must say I was quite surprised that so many people carried their instruments around. But I am glad they did because it was so much fun! Towards the end of the song, a man from Canada grabbed his trumpet and went up on the stage to join in. I could not see his face but everything about him reminded me of Hudson (this part is for those who know him). While I have never seen or heard him play, I imagined that it was him for the rest of the song. That made it even more exciting!!! Afterwards, I began to tell Greg about this and before I could finish he told me he thought the same thing!

We made it back to our trailer after a very fun day and sat down for dinner. And just when we thought the excitement for the day had come to an end, Jordan landed nose first into a picnic bench. I won't show you the bloody, messy pictures from the day of but here is an after picture...

Our poor baby! But it could have been so much worse and we thank God there was no fracture!

To be continued...