Fist Stop: New Orleans

We traveled across the country to see family this Christmas! I want to remember our trip so I will organize the posts based on locations!

The first stop: New Orleans. 

Dan and I have never been to New Orleans so we were excited to see it! The trip was supposed to take 7.5 hours from our house to the hotel. It ended up taking us 11 hours. It felt like such a long day. The delays were two part; one part slow stops and another part awful traffic. About 20 miles west of Baton Rouge we hit traffic. It took us an hour to go 15 miles. We found a restaurant off the highway to stop at for dinner and the parking lot was completely full. There were people and cars just everywhere and it was only 5:30pm! We were all stressed so we just booked it out of there instead of stopping. And by booked I mean get back on the highway and fought traffic. Sorry Baton Rouge but we were not impressed in the slightest. 

Such good little travelers!

We made it to New Orleans around 8pm. Originally I wanted to stay at a hotel in the French Quarter but they were all booked. So we settled for one a mile or two away called Hotel Indigo. It ended up being a better choice to stay there. The hotel was really nice and I think staying in the French Quarter would have been too much for our family. Lol!!!

We were all pooped from our drive down so we just ordered room service and got comfy in our hotel room for the night. The next morning we woke up, had breaksast and decided to head into town to see the French Quarter, Bourbon Street and the Mississippi River. 

We got to ride the trolley which was a highlight for us!

We walked around the French Quarter and stopped for beignets and hot chocolate. The line for the cafe was pretty long and we goofed and waited in the wrong line for sometime before realizing we were in the sit down line and we wanted the to go line. Ugh! The kids were done by the time we got our goodies. But we found a little bench and ate our treats (in other words: spilled our drinks, got sugar all over our clothes and hands and burned our mouths on the hot chocolate. LOL!). 

We then walked over to the Mississippi River. We saw a train pass by which the boys loved!

Then we walked by the river for a bit!

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4 :)

We listened to different street performers, saw human statues and saw lots of shops. Then we decided to go to Bourbon street so we could see it in person. Since it was before lunch we weren't too worried about taking the kids...that being said even then it was readily apparent that it was NOT a kid place. Lol! 

Someone got pooped out from our busy morning!

We hopped back on the trolley and went to the hotel to pack up and hit the road. 

We didn't get to do too much in New Orleans so take this with a grain of salt but we didn't fall in love with this city. It definitely is a flavorful city with lots of music and personality though! I'm just not sure New Orleans is a good fit for Dan and I. 

I would recommend that hotel for sure and I think it was worth the trip and time to see a small part of this city. I can see why people love this place and I bet you can have a lot of fun there ;)