French Quarter, Riverboats, and all that Jazz

Yep, that's right, next we went to New Orleans. We stayed at a KOA on the outskirts of town. It wasn't all that to look at, but the staff greatly made up for it! They provided a free shuttle into the French Quarter with plenty of history, Katrina tales, and other interesting facts. We went in that first evening for dinner. We didn't have a plan, and thought we would just wander around and find a place the suited our fancy. Again (Still?!?!) it was hot and humid. Walking around wasn't as much fun as we hoped it would be. It seemed we were finding Ritzy places or dive bars with not much in between. After about an hour, we were all miserable enough that we looked at a guide book and picked a spot and headed for it. It wasn't really the Cajun food we were looking for, but it worked for us at the time.

The next morning we took the shuttle in again around 9:00. This time Scott, the driver took us a different route into town so that we could see another part of town and hear many more interesting tidbits about New Orleans. Once back at the French Quarter we headed for The Court of Two Sisters for brunch on the recommendation of the KOA staff. We had a huge brunch. I think Marcus and Derek even had 6 desserts each! Once our bellies were full to bursting, we headed to the river and climbed aboard the historical Natchez Paddle Boat for our River Boat Cruise! There was a tour narrator who again, gave lots of interesting info about what we were seeing as we went by! We had a good time!

Back at the dock we walked to the Audubon Aquarium. We were NOT the only ones with that idea!! It was so hot and humid, that any place with AC was a popular place to be! I found the aquarium to be ok, but it was just so crowded that I really couldn't enjoy it that much. We are spoiled with our access to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!! Once through the aquarium, we went next door to the IMAX theater and watched Hurricane on the Bayou, which was a cry to save the wetlands because of the role they play in protecting against hurricanes. It showed a lot about what happened during Katrina.

Back to KOA in the shuttle. Yes, he found a 3rd way to go and we learned yet more stuffages about New Orleans. We had a full, good, day.