A swamp tour was at the top of my list of New Orleans must do’s. I talked to the kids about what kind of tour they wanted. I was leaning toward a kayak tour, because I liked the idea of gliding quietly through the bayou, at one with nature. The kids wanted an airboat tour, even though it’s noisy. It’s basically a Chevy engine powering a giant fan, strapped to a floating plank. Our driver, Scott, was very knowledgeable about the swamp and its inhabitants.
Scott knew which alligators hung out where, because the males have very defined territories. We stopped to see some that he knew by name, including a mom with four week old babies! If you look carefully at the last photo, you can see the mom in front and the babies in the back.
The swamp was beautiful. The company we went with, Ragin’ Cajun, operates in their own private swamp, and with just us on our boat it felt like we were the only people for miles.
In addition to alligators, we saw raccoons in the bayou. Willow was especially in love with bandit, who has no mask.
We all gave the swamp tour two enthusiastic thumbs up.
The tour company had a couple of resident cats in the office by the dock. With no cat cafes in New Orleans, we had to get some pets in while we had the chance.
Willow’s hives weren’t all the way gone yet, but she was a trooper through the itching.
On our ride back to the hotel, we were grateful for that sweet, sweet air conditioning.
We took a siesta during the hottest part of the day. Some hung out in the air conditioned room reading, some cooled off in the tiny pool. Then we walked around the French Quarter a bit.
Our first stop after siesta was Cafe Beignet for a taste of New Orleans’ signature treat. It seems like every place we visit has some variety of sweet doughy dessert, and we want to try them ALL.
We took the streetcar almost to the end of the line toward City Park. We wanted to go to Louis Armstrong cemetery number 3, which is supposed to be very haunted. The trip was an adventure in itself, and the wet marshy environment was so different from what we are used to.
It turns out that the cemetery closes at 4 pm, so we couldn’t go in and wander around the city of the dead. We did look in from the side, finding it unlike any cemetery we have seen. They don’t bury anyone below ground because the land is too swampy, so it’s all little houses. It looked spooky, even during daylight.
We found a little playground across the street that the kids had a lot of fun in. The giant old trees were gorgeous.
The whole are was full of pretty old buildings and beautiful, twisty trees.
We finished our day off with some really great food at Luizza’s by the Tracks. The ambiance was dive bar, but the bbq shrimp poboys and gumbo were delicious.
