May 8, 2010

We woke up in the parking lot, slightly sore and went in to the Wal*Mart to buy some food items and use their restrooms. I cleaned the bugs off the windshield but these ones weren't going anywhere.

We headed back to New Orleans over the Lake Ponchartrain bridge. I’ve always wanted to go over it since I saw how it was built on a History Channel show. It’s 26 miles across the center of Lake Ponchartrain. Quite an engineering feat.

We went back into the city and got a good view of the skyline and bridge from the waterfront. There were a lot of people out walking around. They all still had beers and daiquiris in their hands though.

The aftermath of the previous night’s party was still evident, with bottles and beads hanging from the balconies on Bourbon Street.

Basically, in the daytime the architecture is coolest part of New Orleans. It’s different from anywhere else I’ve been. I really liked this building. Many of the streets looked similar but they were all really cool.

The Presbytere was a great central landmark of the city and the carriages in front just made it more suited for a photo.

I went to the Gumbo Pot for a cup of gumbo around lunch time. I had to try it while I was in Nawlins. It was good but I think I want something more spicy.

Cafe du Monde was recommended to me so I checked it out. There were plenty of people there that seemed to be enjoying it. The atmosphere was nice but it was extremely crowded. I guess I should expect that on a Saturday.

I got an order of beignets, which are little donut-type things, almost like pieces of funnel cake, with a LOT of powdered sugar on top. Delicious.

We got off the highway for a while and took River Road, a scenic drive along the Mississippi River. Ironically, we only saw the river once for a short time on this road. The rest of the time it was blocked by the high hills along the bank.

One thing that was really cool to see was a few plantation houses. This was Oak Valley Plantation and the entrance was amazing. The oak trees that line the walk are dated to be around one hundred years older than the house. Again, we didn't go in because it was pretty expensive but we got a look around the outside.

The rest of the road was nice. We passed a lot of farms and a massive oil refinery which supplies the pipeline that spans the US from north to south.

Our next stop was Baton Rouge, the state capital. We parked right in front of the the old state government building.

The building was awesome to see in person. We walked around for a while and realized there wasn't much to do there. We did go to a rooftop bar/restaurant to see the view. It was a nice place to sit but not great for photos. It would be great to hang out up there and have dinner and drinks though.

We kept heading west and it was really cool driving through the bayous and swamps. That's certainly a change from New Jersey.

We stopped in Lafayette for some disc golf at Ace Run, one of two courses in Acadiana Park.

The shots were mainly short, hence the name, but still a lot of fun. There were a lot of blind shots and curves and this one played right near a ravine that is probably where most people's shots end up since they put a ladder down to it next to the basket.

We played up to hole 13 and then decided to call it a day because of the dark but I was doing really well.

We lucked out because there was a campground in the same park as the course so we just went back to the camp and set up our tent. We went down the road to use internet and eat dinner and tried, unsuccessfully, to find a Wal*Mart for water.

We came back and I stayed up at the picnic table writing and entertaining myself on the computer as armadillos and camping neighbors freaked me out a little bit.

Total driving distance: 231 miles. Our shortest trip yet. It could be less tomorrow.