After a couple of days spent
camping on the Gulf Coast, it was time to hit New Orleans. We got into town
fairly early and immediately headed down to Bourbon Street to check out what
all the hype was about. It was a busy place even in the early afternoon on
a Thursday, and we quickly noticed that the specialty drink being offered was the
daiquiri, of which many different locations dubiously claimed to be selling the “world’s strongest.” We gave
the street a quick walk and then headed to the less famous areas to see what
the city was really like.
The other areas of the city were
more relaxed, cheaper, and had more live music and street vendors. We had been
eager to see these side streets for a while, specifically because several
people in previous places that we stayed in had told us specifically not to go
there. Any time we brought up that we were headed to New Orleans, people
immediately got very serious and told us we needed to be careful and that it
was a dangerous place, especially once you left the main drag. We were
skeptical of this advice, and naturally did the exact opposite, making sure to
get a taste of the whole city. Of course, once it got late, we headed back to
Bourbon Street to catch the main nightlife action, listen to some blues, and get
the classic Nawlins experience that we’ve heard so much about.
On the food front, New Orleans had
a lot to offer. We made a point of getting to the Café du Monde early for a
pile of beignets and café au lait. We also got various po boys at the Acme
Oyster bar, roadside jambalaya for a snack, and right before leaving on Friday we
grabbed a few muffuletta sandwiches for the road from Central Grocery. New Orleans fed us better
than anywhere else before it.
The next day, we spent a little time in Baton Rouge with
our friend Andrew Perkins, who goes to LSU. We got some crawfish
(which were slightly out of season but delicious) and took a quick tour of the
LSU campus. We called it a night fairly early after a few shenanigans and got ready for the long drive to Austin
in the morning. -J
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