Road Trip... NO... LA...

*some are cell and some are my big camera

NOLA was a great experience.

It's one of those places you read about and want to visit.

It's not a place that I'd like to go to again.

We also happen to be there during one of the hottest weeks they've had.

It was 105.

The area outside the French Quarter is still devastated by the hurricane

This hotel is right outside

You can see it is still flood damaged with red "X's" on the doors.

Stopped at an Ihop before heading into the French Quarter. 

This is the patio at our B&B

The long outside hall to our little room at the Nine O Five B&B

Up the street

Down the street

The St Louis Cathedral once occupied by Pope John Paul

http://www.stlouiscathedral.org/

General Andrew Jackson.

He is a huge savior of NO

Inside our cute B&B

Not the best view of the TV

We had to MacGyver  a better view.

Sadly if I said that to Destine' she would have no idea who I was talking about, 

MacGyver-google him Des.

I wonder is there a law about driving a horse drawn carriage on a cell phone

Pirate Alley

I love that they let you know, Haunted or Not Haunted.

Haunted

Mississippi River

This strip is full of venders but around 5-6pm it is covered in fortune tellers

This may be why this place smells like sewer.

So many horses pooping and peeing in the street during the day

and the people peeing at night.

Inside the St Louis Cathedral

This is the third version since the first two burned down.

Down Town by the Omani Royal

A lot of the restaurants and businesses have these oil or gas lights.

We go through a bared and gated driveway, this door lock and then our door lock.

Hotel named after my boy?

The history here is intriguing.

700+ year old trees. 

(pee) drains in the alleys

William Faulkner Book Store, used to be his house

The iron on the building is just beautiful

These were called Romeo Spikes

To catch boys on their way sneaking out.

Saint Louis Cemetery

Above ground crypt's because they are below sea level

People are put in a crypt for a year and a day.

After the full year on the next day they are swept to the back of the crypt

and the next relative is put an bricked up,

It is so hot and boiling inside, it is like cremation.

"Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust"

This cemetery is still active.

It is also only open a few hours a day.

You can not just roam in.

You must have a tour guide.

Vandalism is so rampant that only tested,
 trained, and licensed by the state tour guides have access. 

These crypts are used as a type of holding.

If say two relatives die with in the year they would be put in one of these until the year a day is up.

This is actually Nicholas Cage's crypt.

He had this crypt built for him and sealed. 

Some say it is because of his movies national treasure.

Others say it is where he is hiding money due to his tax problems.

Only Nicholas Cage and the builder knows whats inside.

"The tallest monument in the St. Louis No. 1 cemetery is the The Italian Mutual Benevolent Society tomb. It was common for immigrants in New Orleans to pool funds to lower the burial costs for individuals. The tomb has space for more than a thousand remains. It formed the background in a disturbing scene in Easy Rider. According to local legend a statue known as 'Charity' was vandalized by Dennis Hopper who supposedly tore the head off the statue."

This is actually the reason that there are so many laws and strict guidelines for tourism.

They don't allow movies here anymore.

This was painted this morning by an artist.

It is his families crypt.

My favorite candy

The daiquiris are huge

Destine' trying a Po'boy sandwich

We discovered Beignets are just really amazing non greasy fried dough.

Mini Mardi-Gras in front of our Hotel Royal

It was 105 you could have rung my shirt out, it was dripping.

The Haunted Cornstalk Hotel right next door.

"The Cornstalk continues to be one of the Hotels with the highest Guest Satisfaction records in New Orleans.  Our gorgeous French Quarter Victorian is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is equally as famous as a tourist attraction as it is a Hotel. The 'Cornstalk' fence was erected in 1840 by the owner, recently married, who wanted to ease his bride's homesickness for her home state of Iowa.  The original owner, Judge Francois Xavier Martin, was  the first Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court and the author of the first history of Louisiana.

The Cornstalk Hotel has attracted many famous guests that include; Bill & Hillary Clinton, and even the "King" himself...Elvis graced the halls of The Cornstalk."

The Hotel is said to be Haunted.

The building was originally a school for boys and 

In the great fire of 1788 it is said that 5 boys died in the fire.

Guests have reported hearing children playing.

Other guests have reported after getting home and downloading their pictures,

finding pictures of themselves sleeping.

I probably shouldn't have read that the first night.

This horse peed on our car.

Des took these as we drove out of the French Quarter.

When they close up for the night they really close up.

Shudders, bars, spikes and pad locks.

Still a lot of flood damage.

Some of the houses are covered in moss and vines

On our way out we had two stops.

The first was a swamp tour.
We learned a lot about Alligators.
Our tour guide fed them hot dogs and "Mallows" (marshmallows-they resemble alligator eggs)

Snout shape: Alligators have wider, U-shaped snouts, while crocodile front ends are more pointed and V-shaped.

Toothy grin: When their snouts are shut, crocodiles look like they're flashing a toothy grin, as the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip. For alligators, the upper jaw is wider than the lower one, so when they close their mouths, all their teeth are hidden.

Home base: Crocodiles tend to live in saltwater habitats, while alligators hang out in freshwater marshes and lakes.

http://crocodilian.com/cnhc/cbd-faq-q1.htm

This line is how high the swamp can get

Trees need air to survive.

So the roots grow up.

You can tell which pics are with my good camera.

This pic reminds me of a Velociraptor

Yes People actually live out here

The tour guide says they loose pets because the gators sun bath on the docks.

It was a little scary when the gators swarmed the boat.

When they are coming from all sides it was scary

At one point I counted at least 10 all around us.

I still don't get it, who would want to live here?

Our last stop before Casa Needham

was The Houmas House Plantation.

Houmas House is known for Sugarcane.

What I loved about this house is that:

you could go in every room freely,

you could take as many flash pictures as you want INSIDE,

they even let people carry an open glass of mintjulip tea with them on the tour.

They let people touch things.

The current owner of the house actually lives in the house.

We went through his room and office.

The biggest surprise was they let someone on the tour play the 1800's piano.

This may not sound like a big deal to many of you but to anyone that has gone on any kind of old house tour, you know why this is so surprising and genuinely unheard of.

The gardens were amazing.

I just wish we had more time there.

http://www.houmashouse.com/

Some of these trees are 700+ years old.

Beautiful trees, as they stretch across the lawn, they make you want to climb them.

Currently the Houmas House Plantation also has two restaurants and serves weddings.

You can even stay in the Houmas House over night.

This used to have 24 oak trees lining the entrance of Houmas House.

Due to the great floods they built the levy (the green hill you see ahead).

Hand sewn tapestry completed by a nun (it would have taken 2 or 3 years for them to finish this)

This Sugar cane mural was complete by a slave that had no prior drawing or painting skills.

The two dogs are the original owners.

This Lincoln statue was carved with such detail you can see his veins.

The same person who carved Mount Rushmore carved this.

They encouraged you to touch it, it's supposed to be good luck.

Lawn Darts they would throw from the second or third floor in to the yard.

Medicine Chest

Music Box

Hand carved,Free Floating Stair Case

They immersed the wood in the Mississippi for 3 years so they could mold it for this stair case.

Hidden Gun closet in an armoire.

Look at this Stroller/high chair.

Can anyone say RECALL

The original 24 Oaks

This is the current owners office

So far the scariest picture I have ever seen.

It's one of the slaves whom used to lives here.

He was the head slave and stayed on after he was freed

The current owners Bedroom

Still in his bedroom 

This is the original part of the house

it is now one of the diner restaurants.

The original stair case

The Houmas House was a great stop.

I would stop there again.

So much history and too little time.

On our way to Casa Needham.

Flat Lands and Lonely long roads.

A whole lot of beautiful empty space.

Lovely Houses with tons of land