first stop--New Orleans!

This was the perfect "half way point" on our drive to Florida so we planned ahead of time to spend half a day here to get all of our wiggles out and ease the strain of a 14 hr. drive to our final destination.

I spent 10 years of my life growing up in a suburb of the Crescent City and people give this place a lot of undeserved flack. Yes, Bourban Street is famous for people getting drunk, but don't people go out and get drunk in every city across the nation? We went to Mardi Gras with the rest of them and many don't realize it is mostly a family affair. Don't listen to what you read about in the papers. Hey, it is based on a religious holiday...the day before Lent! I have been wanting to introduce the city to Michael b/c of it's French influence (he served his mission in France), but we never made it a point to go through there. My parents had been a few times since Katrina and our old homes are still standing amidst other nearby homes that didn't have such luck.












In New Orleans, they love their food--and SO DO I! Mmmm I had a shrimp Po-boy and red beans n rice with sausage, and my favorite--beignets (pronounced ben-yays) at Cafe de Monde. Like scones with powdered sugar, OH SO YUMMY! We got that messy powdered sugar caked all over us!

Tyler was very excited to see the Mississippi River and let us know that the River ends in Louisiana--another great fact learned through the public school system. An interesting image on the side of this city worker car of the hurricane. This guy was

motionless on his ladder and had his bucket out for those who were impressed to donate. This is just around the corner from Bourbon Street, people, and look how normal it looks during the day.

And finally we caught the street car (not to be confused with a trolley--thanks dad) and the boys thought that was a lot of fun.

Oh and on our way out of the city, we drove past my old house in Slidell (I lived here from 2nd-8th grade). My bedroom was upstairs just above the roof on the right....I used to go out on the roof with my friends, even slept out there once. It didn't used to be pink....I think they lost a lot of grass in the hurricane...