We stopped off at the welcome center for the Atchafalaya Basin, along US Route 10. This is a little gem, with beautiful displays, animated swamp creatures, and a 4 minute movie introducing the area. It was a nice surprise. They even offer free coffee - very good free coffee!
Around noon we stopped off in New Orleans. We like to break our trips up with something when we can. We drove down Esplanade, then onto Decatur to get to the French Market area. It's touristy, but it is the place for beignets.
Apparently it is also the place where Esther gets frisky with other mustachioed gentlemen.
Eventually we found the Cafe Du Monde. The place is crowded, but also disorganized. The waitstaff is slow, but eventually they get to you.
The result is wonderful!. Cafe au lait and beignet are perfect.
Even the touristy flavor has some interesting bits. Take a look at the hooves here. It may help to click on the photo and get the enlarged version. This is the trotting gait (diagonal legs hit together). This particular shot is the "clop" of the clip-clop that you hear with a trot.
Everyone here has a gig, whether it is begging, bouncing, or busking. This dude, who looked like he had been "rode hard and put away wet", played Christmas carols on his mandolin.
Leaving via Esplanade took us down a beautiful, live-oak lined street. There were a whole series of these beautiful homes along the way. Many had flickering gas lamps, as did this one.
This lovely old home was offered at $879, 000, despite its rundown condition. It would probably take a few hundred thousand to bring it back.
As we followed Route 10 out of town it was easy to see the hurricane devastation. You could look right through some homes, from one end to the other. No wonder there are all the "Brad Pitt for Mayor" t-shirts here. He has helped a lot, but there is more to do.
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