New Orelans City Tour

St. Jackson's Cathedral in the heart of the French Quarter

The new Pipe Organ that was just installed after Hurricane Katrina

Altar

Close up of one the Alfresco paintings

Ceiling al frescoes

Looking from the back of the church

Me., Judy and Maddie taking in the scenery.

Cruising down the Might Mississippi River on the Natchez Queen

Madelyn and Mommy

Madelyn and Ninny relaxing on the upper deck

Mesmerized by the Paddle Wheel

Site of the 1814 Battle of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson became a war hero and later President of the US.

Domino Sugar Refinery. You can smell the sweet sugary scent from a distance. Look close at the shovel, thats processed white sugar being unload from flat bed boats that brings the sugar up the river from nearby plantations.

All giggles and smiles about being on the boat

Sun bathing beauty

Michael taking in the scenery-- it hot got two hours later

The only naval base that is spilt in two iun the US by the MS River

Ninth Ward Levy-- you can tell from the lighter color gravel where the Corp of Engineers has filled in the breech.

Madelyn and all her silly faces

The Paddle Wheel completely captured her attention for the majority of the trip.

The Natchez Queen

On the ferry crossing the Mississippi River

The large vault is for the local order of Catholic priest

Jesus welcomes visitors to cemetery #3

Louisiana state law states that a tomb can not be open for one year and one day from the burial of the last occupant. When the tomb is needed again, then vault is opened and the remains are then swept into a burlap bag and left in the back of the vault.

If your vault is not available due to prior occupants use, you can temporarily rent these small brick oven like vaults, until your family vault is ready. The body is placed in the chambers and because the vaults are above ground due to a high water table, the chambers acts like a slow cook oven reaching daily temperatures of 160 degrees, speeds up the decaying process of the remains.

The long rows of vaults

St. Jackson's Square view from the Natchez Queen

By day, by boat, and by night we saw most of New Orleans in one day. We started out very early on a the ferry to catch a bus tour of the city to ensure we hit all the major highlights including the numerous cemeteries scattered about the city. I loved seeing how different controlling countries (French, Spanish, and US) through out the history of New Orleans left their mark either architecturally, linguistically, or ethnically upon the city. The blending of food, music and building of old and new made for a great day of sight seeing and an even bigger appreciation for the early settlers who turned the bayou into the Crescent City. It was my first trip to the Big Easy, and although I did not see the city prior to Hurricane Katrina, I am still amazed how much damage the city endure from this massive surge from Mother Nature. You can tell the city is making a valiant effort in cleaning up and rebuilding the city, but the large areas of dissolute destruction remain everywhere. There will beautiful building and homes rebuilt or renovated and then in the middle, are areas dilapidated homes and piles of debris that floated to its remaining position. Whole sections of towns wiped down to nothing but fields of concrete slabs and then civilization again. What remained was charming, intriguing and thoroughly Southern. We ended the city tour with lunch in the French Quarter before we board the Natchez Queen for an afternoon paddle boat tour of the Mighty Mississippi. And to top off the evening we had dinner at a nice restaurant in the French Quarter before embarking upon a Ghost and Cemetery tour.

Emeril's: New Orleans

Michael, Madelyn and me in front of Emeril's

Judy, Madelyn and Me

The Banana Cream Pie was Amazing!

Emeril’s Banana Cream Pie with Banana Crust, Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Shavings

Madelyn and Ninny

Grilled Ribeye of Beef with Romano Potatoes, Local Vine Ripe Tomato-Arugula Salad, Aged Gorgonzola, Lardons and Aged Balsamico

Saffron-Chili Dusted Jumbo Gulf Shrimp with Brown Butter-Sweet Potato Grits, Skillet Beans, Benton’s Bacon, Smoked Corn and Mango Chow Chow

Andouille Crusted Texas Redfish with Grilled Vegetables, Shoestring Potatoes, Glazed Pecans and Creole Meunière Sauce

Madelyn fell asleep on the ferry back to the hotel, poor thing was stuffed and exahusted that she missed the boat ride.

Our first night in New Orleans we indulged ourselves at Emeril's New Orleans, and much to our delight it was DELICIOUS and delivered more than expected. All day long I had been telling Madelyn that we were going to go to a fancy restaurant and that she was going to wear her pretty party dress and she had to big girl tonight. In preparation for our visit to Emeril's, Maddie and I watched a few Emril episodes on the Food Network, and she quickly mastered the "BAM!" So when we got to the restaurant we had reservations for three and a high chair, the maitre'd seated us and proceed to unfold our napkins and place them in our laps. I had just situated Madelyn while the Maitre'd waited and then he also lays her napkin in her lap and pushes her highchair in. Madelyn, replied with "Thank you, I would like a Dr. Pepper and steak please, BAM!" The guy couldn't help but laugh and complimented her for being such a polite big girl. Maddie was ready for dinner . She will usually eat bits here and there, but that night was hungry, and you could not blame her after seeing the food.

For an appetizer, Madelyn and I ordered Crater Lake Blue – Rogue Creamery, Oregon(Served with Fresh Honeycomb). I was thinking, oh, she would love the sweet honey bits, I can have the blue cheese. I know that my kid has some odd food fetishes, but she ate almost the entire chunk of blue cheese and really was not interested in the honeycomb, so figure. Emeril' s is obviously known for its fresh sea food with a marvelous New Orleans flair, but they do not have a kid's menu or portion size. And since my daughter insisted that she have a steak, we shared an entree, Ribeye steak with Crawfish gravy and Gorgonzola cheese crumbles, with a side of sweet potato grits. It tasted as good as it sounds! My kid who hardly eats a few bites per meal, decide that night she would eat everything insight and managed to eat almost a 1/3 of the Ribeye, and as you can tell from the picture above it was huge. I tasted Michael's and Judy's but I really enjoyed what was left of my dinner.

Since this for us a once in a life time opportunity, why not try Emeril's signature dessert: Banana Cream Pie. It was so rich and decadent that it took a knife to cute through the banana chunks and then just melted in your mouth, simply delicious! Madelyn summed up the evening with "BAM", as she took the last bite of dessert. It was a wonderful meal and evening!

Oak Alley Plantation Tour

Oak Alley Plantation


Front of the home

Side View of the Mansion

English gardens then lead out to the Kitchen, but today the garage is filled with antique cars.

My lounging gargen beauty

Back porch view

View from the second floor porch

Just one of the 28 double row Oak Trees that line the path of the home.

My little monkey climbing over the tree roots.

Pretty flowers found throughout the grounds

My little Southern Belle

River side or back yard view

River Side View

Our first afternoon in Louisiana took across Lake Pontchartrain and back through New Orleans, half way to Baton Rouge to Oak Ally Plantation in Vacherie, LA. This was a historically beautiful home and plantation. We went in March and already it was a heavy and humid day, I don't even want to imagine what life must have been like without modern conveniences like air conditioning. But I learned a lot from the home tour tour we took about the architecture of the home and other details that were add to help cool this Southern Bell home. And it was were Interview with a Vampire and the Color Purple was filmed. Madelyn actually did very well on the tour, mainly because all the tour guides wore costume wardrobes and she was very impressed with her "big dress, just like Cinderella". The house had many interesting features, such as rolling in bed, giant treble cleft fans and breathtaking wrap around porches that overlooked the now levied Mississippi River. The best part of the tour was the Mint Juleps served at the end. That was the most refreshing drink for a super humid day! We spent a good portion of our time just wondering the plantation and checking out other interesting sites, including the working potion of the sugar plantation.