New Orleans, Part 2 – 2008 Road Trip (Blast from the Past)

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This is a Blast from the Past post. These posts chronicle our travels and other life events before we started blogging!

In October 2008, Ken and I took our first big road trip together. We drove from DC > Atlanta > New Orleans > San Antonio > Memphis > DC.

This post covers the second part of our visit to New Orleans, LA.

Tell me, do you frequently tour cemeteries when you’re on vacation? No? Me neither.

But apparently cemetery touring is a big thing in New Orleans! And, they were so unique and beautiful, I’m glad we visited.

St. Louis Cemetery Number One

We started our second full day in New Orleans at St. Louis Cemetery Number One.

We spent nearly an hour in the small cemetery, wandering around and snapping photographs. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking here.

Among the graves at St. Louis Cemetery Number One is the grave of Marie Laveau, a famous voodoo practtioner in the 19th century. Her grave is covered with X’s, because of a legend that says she will grant your wish if you draw an X and leave an offering.

Cypress Grove and Metarie Cemeteries

After St. Louis Cemetery Number 1, we hopped on a street car to Cypress Grove Cemetery and Metarie Cemetery. Crazy enough, we bumped into a foreign couple on the street car that had been at the same restaurant as us two nights before! They had asked us to take their photo in front of some fake alligator on display in the restaurant.

Cypress Grove Cemetery and Metarie Cemeteries were larger, with more green space and was farther from the Bourbon Street area.

Natchez Steamboat

Later that afternoon, we took a ride aboard the Natchez Steamboat. It seemed like a pretty typical touristy thing to do in New Orleans, and it was really quite nice! There is a narrator on board the steamboat telling you about all the things you’re passing along the Mississippi River, as well as information and history about the Mississippi River itself.

The boat travels down the Mississippi a few miles, and then turns around. The narrator stops at that point, so the ride in the other direction was quiet and we could just sit back and enjoy the sites.

More French Quarter

The rest of our time in New Orleans was spent exploring the French Quarter even more. After our first negative experience on Bourbon Street, we decided to give it another try.

While walking, we enjoyed a famous “Hand Grenade” alcohlic beverage from Tropical Isle.

 

And we chuckled at the shirts for sale at Bourbon Street souvenir stores (keep in mind this was only three years after Hurricane Katrina).

And that was it for our first trip ever to New Orleans!

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