Louisiana

 9 March     Castroville, TX - Broussard, LA     453 miles      9 hours

Today was a very long day  of driving. We left right after 7am. Caught the San Antonio morning traffic and it just went downhill from there. Lots of road work along the way, slow moving traffic, and idiot drivers. The I-10 is just very busy and the roads are awful. 

We finally made it to a Buc-ee's. We passed two others along the I-10 but it was very busy and we couldn't find parking. This one was located in Baytown and parking was a breeze. This store is something else! We had a brisket sandwich and I just looked around. We spent about an hour there.

Finally made it to Parkside RV Park in Broussard, LA. This is right outside Lafayette. This park looks pretty new and its very nice. They honor Good Sam. Total for 3 nights $135. There's a huge sports complex next door, looks pretty new too. 

10 March   Avery Island

We did the Tabasco Factory tour on Avery Island. It was $15 per person, that includes a self guided tour of the factory that takes you through the history and process of making Tabasco sauce. Tabasco brand products are made by McIlhenny Company, founded by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana. It was here that he developed the recipe for Tabasco original red pepper sauce that's been passed down from generation to generation. To this day, the company is still family owned and operated. The mashed peppers are barreled for 3 years before they are pressed and processed. This tour was excellent, we really enjoyed ourselves. 

We had lunch at the restaurant there. We're in Louisiana so I tried a sampler which included gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee and red beans and rice. I also tried their version of a spicy bloody mary. Everything was very good. They took extra long to bring out my plate, Joe was already finished eating his. When they finally brought mine out, they included a pecan pie and apologized for the mix up. This was our first time trying a pecan pie. We both didn't care for it but everything else was excellent.

Afterwards, we drove through Jungle Gardens which was included with the Tabasco tour. Beautiful gardens created by Edward McIlhenny. In 1895, he founded a private bird sanctuary known as Bird City to protect endangered snowy egrets. 

Alligator

Bird City    

In the 1920's McIlhenny found time to convert his private Avery Island estate into Jungle Gardens - decorating it with exotic botanical specimens from around the world. Its present size is over 170 acres. Jungle Gardens was opened to the public in 1935.

The grounds has numerous live oaks that are absolutely beautiful. Covered in spanish moss, these oaks are hundreds of years old. 

Jungle Gardens has remained a favorite south Louisiana tourist destination, wildlife refuge, and botanical marvel. Today, Bird City is home to thousands of egrets, other birds, and wildlife.

12 March     Broussard - New Orleans, LA       154 miles    3 hours 30 minutes

Pretty nice drive today. We decided to travel on Hwy 90 instead of I-10 to New Orleans. We think that was a good decision. We're staying at a Harvest Host location. Faubourg Brewing Company is located about 20 minutes from the city. The first night is free, additional nights are $20 to dry camp in their parking lot. We're staying here 4 nights. The surrounding area is industrial and looks kind of ghetto but there is a gate that is locked at night. This brewery is very nice with a large area for RV's.

Boondock in the parking lot

13 March   New Orleans

 We were here on our very first RV adventure back in 2010 but it was a quick trip and we didn't see much. Today, we took a Lyft to the city and went on the Hop On Hop Off tour of New Orleans. We bought a 2 day ticket for $51 per person. The tour was pretty good. We got off at Jackson Square to get beignets at Cafe Du Monde. We waited in line over an hour but it was worth it. We've tried beignets here and there in our travels but nothing compares to a beignet at Cafe Du Monde. 

Beignets so good

  

Then we went on a walking tour that was included with the Hop On Hop Off ticket. This was a French Quarter guided walking tour. Our guide was pretty good, it lasted about 45 minutes. 

We tried a muffuletta at Verdi Marte, a hole in the wall store. This was a first for us. A muffuletta is a famous italian sandwich with ham, salami, provolone cheese, olive dressing, and bread. The olive dressing is the secret. Chopped green and black olives with onions, spices, and olive oil. The bread is a round sesame seed roll big enough for sharing. These sandwiches are huge! We paid $16 and really enjoyed it. 

14 March    Back to New Orleans

 

Back to tour more of New Orleans today. We got off at the Garden District and did another walking tour. Beautiful, old homes with their wrought iron and cast iron fences. We passed Sandra Bullocks house and also the childhood home of Peyton and Eli Manning. 

   We went back to Jackson Square and walked to Oceana Restaurant. This is a very popular restaurant. In fact we ate here back in 2010 with my parents. The food was excellent. Joe had a creamy chicken alfredo. He said the chicken was  cooked perfect, so soft and very tasty. I had a jambalaya pasta...so good! We also had boudin sausage and a rajin cajun bloody mary. We enjoyed our meal.

Our stay here at Faubourg Brewing Company has been good. Lots of RV's stay here. Can't beat the location, about 20 minutes from the city. Lyft cost us between $15-20 one way. 

16 March     New Orleans - Vidalia, LA     176 miles     5 hours  45 minutes

The drive from New Orleans to Vidalia was very nice. Two lane road most of the way. Very scenic with rolling hills, farm lands, and big plantation homes. We took a 2 hour break in Gonzalez. Had a meal at Cracker Barrel and a Tanger Outlet was right next door so had to do some shopping. 

We're at River View RV Park. It's pretty here with big sites right on the Mississippi River. This is the main reason for coming to Louisiana. We are members of the Freightliner Chassis Owners Club. Joe will be attending Camp Freightliner for 2 days and a Freightliner RV rally follows. We'll be here for 8 days. Our friends from Tennessee, Mark & Julia will also attend. 

Joe & Mark

Joe & Mark completed Camp Freightliner and thought it was pretty good. The rally was pretty good too. There were some seminars, we participated in a couple of them. This rally was a little different from other rallies that we've gone to. There were a lot of socializing. Breakfast and dinner was provided everyday. The dinners were pretty good. They had a lot of local foods from the south. After dinner, we had some kind of activity so it was fun. 

Julia, Rachel, Dawn    

 We had a lot of fun this past week hanging out with Mark & Julia. We also made some new friends. Jim & Jane is from Florida and Leon & Rachel is from Alabama. We were all parked together so after dinner, we would gather by our RV and hang out. Rachel taught us a new card game, Swoop. Lots of fun, I hope I remember enough to teach my family when I go home.

Hope we can all get together again soon.