Exploring New Orleans {Road Trip Travel Journal, Pt. 4}

| Allison

Hello, my friends!

Well, this is it – the last post in my vacation series! Today we’re going to visit New Orleans, specifically the French Quarter. I am NOT a city girl and usually don’t enjoy touring cities that much, but this was such a neat experience, oh my goodness! I loved it.

Read on for what alligator meat tastes like, pictures of a gorgeous cathedral, a parking mistake, the longest bridge in the world, and the best game of Dutch Blitz ever. 🙂 Enjoy!

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The buildings in New Orleans are so neat! Some of them even have palms and plants growing from them.

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I loved this stretch with a beautiful old building on one side and majestic old trees on the other.

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We also saw several of these delightful contraptions. 😀

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One of the most beautiful sights we visited was the St. Louis cathedral. Here’s a phone picture so you can see the whole thing. Isn’t it absolutely stunning?

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I mean, it looked like a castle!

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And inside… wow. I haven’t been in many cathedrals but ah, this one was absolutely stunning. It’s impossible to convey the size and grandeur in a photo.

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So many rich paintings and gold accents and gorgeous details, especially on the ceiling.

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I know the colors are kinda the beautiful part of stained glass windows, but… I couldn’t resist making this one black and white.

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After that wonderful stop, we went to find a snack at Cafe Du Monde. We got French doughnuts which were incredibly messy but also incredibly delicious! They tasted pretty much like funnel cakes, but better. Yum – now I want another one. XD

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We sat down on a ledge outside the cafe to eat, and thus attracted many sparrows and pigeons. The pigeons cracked me up. They were everywhere with their wide eyes and neon pink feet. I think New Orleans really belongs to them. 😉 They sure act like they own the city!

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One thing I do love about walking around cities like this is finding random hidden gems of architecture. These arches looked abandoned, but I loved how brightly colored they were!

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This fountain felt very New-Orleans-esque. Music and bright colors.

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Such an interesting mix of new and old.

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The French Market was filled with all KINDS of shops selling food and trinkets and souvenirs.

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I’m not even sure what the “FRESH!!!! Fruit Cups” contained, haha. Anyone know what those little persimmon-looking fruits are?

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This was the best place to get pralines, according to some of our friends, so we stopped and bought a couple.

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This is a bit of the chocolate kind. They were good, and so was the original flavor. Nothing mind-blowing, but I liked them!

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We stopped for an actual lunch at The Market Cafe. (As you can tell, a lot of the New Orleans experience involves food. XD) I got a muffaletta and Megan got alligator bites – I mean, to eat. She didn’t actually get bitten by an alligator. 😛 You can see them past the fries in this picture. They tasted alright; kinda like a mix between chicken nuggets and fried oysters.

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There are musicians on practically every street corner, playing trumpets and drums, saxophones and banjos. Lots of jazz. The picture on the right is the guy who played while we ate lunch. 🙂

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Another street musician. How is the color scheme so perfect in this photo? 😛

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Aren’t these balconies neat?

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More interesting architecture details! Isn’t this so pretty?

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We walked past a lot of little booths set up in the street, selling art and prints and other such things.

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I’m not sure what the story is behind this chain-link fence covered in padlocks, but it must be an interesting one.

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And finally, a neat-looking boat we passed on the way back to our camper.

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Haha, funny story: when we at last got back to our camper… it was booted. :’D HAHA, we hadn’t paid for enough parking spaces for our huge motorhome! THAT was funny. And kind of annoying. Anyway, someone came and removed it for us soon and we were on our way again.

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We crossed the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the world’s longest bridge over a body of water at 24 miles! It kinda freaked you out to think about too hard, but if you didn’t do that, it was SO neat! Personally, I loved it.

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We have just a few miscellaneous pictures left from the trip. Here’s one from an alligator farm we were going to tour and then… no one was there and it didn’t look like much, so we just left. XD At least I got a picture of a parrot!

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The second-to-last night we stopped at a lovely campground in Mississippi, I believe it was. The weather was perfect for a picnic!

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I will end this vacation series with one of the worst photos but one of the best memories. After our picnic, my siblings and I decided to play a game of Dutch Blitz outside… only it was too dark. So Jeff tied his flashlight to a light pole with a trash-bag drawstring for a high-tech chandelier! We then proceeded with a very long, VERY loud game of Dutch Blitz. We kept remembering old movie quotes or inside jokes, or making up new ones. Thankfully we didn’t have any neighbors to the campsites beside us… Anyway, we had a grand time and much fun. Never underestimate the joy of a good card game.

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*happy sigh* These posts were so much fun to make; I hope they were fun to read as well! We were all VERY ready to get back to our own house which felt like a palace after cramming into a camper for 10 days, but it was a really, really good trip. And I’m delighted with the pictures I got, so that’s always a plus!

Have you ever been to New Orleans? Would you like driving over the longest bridge? Ever played Dutch Blitz?

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.

78 thoughts on “Exploring New Orleans {Road Trip Travel Journal, Pt. 4}”

  2. Man Alison, you went to my Home state and didn’t think to tell me? 😅😅😅
    Actually, the French doughnuts are called Ben-yays, and theyre not spelled like that, and since they are French they have a weirdly spelled name.
    Looks like you had fun though!

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  4. Big family + Dutch Blitz is one of the very loudest combinations!! XD It’s a favorite of ours, for sure! Alligator is quite unexpectedly good! We eat it at the Bass Bro Restaurant in Branson, MO. My family is actually moving to South MS, about 2 hours from New Orlean’s! It’s on our bucket list.🤩

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  5. These are amazing!!! I LOVE the color scheme in the picture with the street musician! The whites and greys in the background make the colorful center so much more brilliant!

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  9. Ahh, such beautiful photos!! I love all the bright colors!! Also, I don’t know why, I just find the “FRESH!!!! Fruit Cups” hilarious 😂 Loved this series, Allison!!

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  12. Oh my, New Orleans looks BEAUTIFUL! I love all of the pictures, but especially the ones of the cathedral! That was gorgeous.
    (I think the tiny fruit things in the “Fresh Fruit” containers are kumquats. :))
    I can’t believe your sister ate alligator! That’s…hardcore.
    Ooh, a 24-mile long bridge? That would be kind of stressful, I think.
    Dutch Blitz is so fun! And I admire your brother’s ingenuity. 🙂

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    1. IT WAS! I know, the cathedral was insanely beautiful.
      Well that seems to be the consensus! Now I want to go try some kumquats. 😀
      Haha! We’re not usually afraid of trying new foods.
      Yeah, it was most stressful for my mom. 😛
      Oh yes, Jeff is quite ingenuitive indeed. Dutch Blitz is GREAT!

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  14. What amazing buildings!! That cathedral really does look like a castle. Ooh, and those doughnuts look and sound delicious… and I’m rather hungry right now! Too bad you can’t eat pictures. 😛

    I’m so glad you guys had such a great trip! Dutch Blitz… I’ve only played it a couple of times, but it’s quite fun, once you get into it! 😀

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    1. I KNOW! Hehe, it would be AMAZING if you could eat pictures.
      I am too. ❤ Yes, totally! It takes a little while to get the hang of, but it's so so fun to play once you get it.

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  15. I’m a country girl, too, with no particular desire to tour the city. But all of these beautiful photos of New Orleans makes me want to go there! I love the all of the old architecture! ❤️ I’ve been to a few cathedrals before but not St. Louis cathedral. It’s now on my bucket list, though. 😉

    Haha! That was so funny what you said about the pigeons. Maybe the city does belong to them. XD

    I’ve had alligator meat once before (though not in the form of alligator bites). It tasted very aquatic compared to other meats. My parents once went to a Southern restaurant which severed alligator meat, and they said it was better than the stuff I had tasted.

    I think I would like crossing that bridge… if I didn’t think about it too much. And yes, I have played Dutch Blitz with friends before. The first time I played, I had no idea what I was doing, so I kind of ruined the game. XD But I’ve learned how to play since then, and it is so much fun!

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    1. SAME, girl! I loved the old architecture too.
      Yep, well they sure acted like they owned the city. 😉
      Yes, that’s it exactly – very aquatic. That’s interesting… I bet it does vary in taste depending on the quality – kinda like steak does.
      Yep, the key was not to think too much. 😉 HA, I know the first time you play Dutch Blitz is QUITE stressful. And then once you get it, it’s the best ever!

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  17. New Orleans is not a city I’ve ever really wanted to visit but I’ve enjoyed seeing it through your eyes.

    Cathedrals are one of my favorite things to explore when I do go to a city.

    I would have bought the fruit just to taste it!

    The little dog enjoying the drum music in your color-perfect photo…so cute.

    The padlocks on the fence is a ritual of attaching the lock with your one true love & throwing away the key to symbolize everlasting love. Not sure what it means if you use a combination lock?

    I’m surprised the world’s longest bridge is in New Orleans? I would have thought somewhere in the Netherlands. I could probably cross it but it would be crazy….I’d never want to cross it in a storm.
    We crossed a bridge over the Columbia River once going into Washington from Oregon…it was so narrow it freaked out my husband. We get to the other side only to realize we’d made a wrong turn & had to go back. Hilarious.

    Where the Ohio river runs into the Mississippi river are two bridges that are super narrow too. We travel that way from Arkansas to WV & Kentucky sometimes to visit family. You cross the Mississippi then immediately the Ohio. It’s so narrow that they often only let one lane through at a time for large trucks.

    Enjoyed your trip. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I didn’t really either… until we went!
      This cathedral was certainly one of my favorite parts.
      I know, now I kinda wish I had bought it!
      YES! Honestly I didn’t even realize the drummer had a dog until I edited the photo later, haha.
      Ooookay, that makes sense! Thanks for explaining the locks. 🙂
      Yeah, I was surprised it was in NO too. Oof yes, it would be quite scary to cross in a storm. HAHA OH MY GOODNESS. Your poor husband. I don’t blame him.
      Oh really? That sounds like a stressful bridge to cross too, my goodness.
      Well I enjoyed your comment! Thanks so much for reading, Jenny.

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  20. I have never been to New Orleans.I don’t think I would like to go on that bridge though because I am afraid of heights. Well… I don’t even know Dutch blitz is. I had thought it would one of those starts in chess. Hmm… Those little fruits, they were either kumquats or cherry tomatoes. I have been to many cathedrals in Russia, but no where else.

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    1. Yeah, the bridge was a little scary. It wasn’t actually that high, though. Dutch Blitz is a super fast-paced card game! Kind of like Skipbo, if you’ve heard of that. Anyway, it’s a fun one! I think they must have been kumquats; you’re right. Whoooaa, the cathedrals in Russia must have been incredible.

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    1. Sadly I have absolutely no memory of it as I was listening to music in the bottom bunk as we pulled in and not paying attention to the name. :’D Apologies.
      I MEAN. YEAH. The colors…?! Hehe, thanks, Weez.

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  23. Beautiful photos!! I love the black and white one , all the colour combination you use makes the pictures alive. Love the series,love the blog ❤️ thanks for sharing your wonderful memories.

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  25. Awesome pictures. Can’t wait to travel again. Have you ever been to England?It’s one of my goals, as well as Hawaii, Arizona, and Ireland.

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  27. Oh, this was so much fun to read! The St. Louis cathedral looks absolutely gorgeous! My family made a quick stop in New Orleans on our last vacation (mostly just for the beignets, lol) and it was pretty fun!

    (Also, the little fruit things almost look like kumquats? I don’t know. 😂)

    Thanks so much for sharing: I really enjoyed reading this!

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  28. Eep, I REALLY loved this post! I loved seeing New Orleans, now I want to go there! 🙂 I know exactly what those little orange fruits were – they’re kumquats! We used to eat them in FL when we lived there – you can eat them skin and all! 😮 I’m glad you had so much fun! Next trip you need to take is to El Paso! 😀 xD

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  30. I love New Orleans. We have been there many times. We planned to go in 2020, but Covid stopped us. The bridge is scarry. I rode across it on a motorcycle.

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