After San Antonio we drove through Houston to New Orleans. Hotwire.com landed us a hotel right in the middle of the French Quarter. We spent a couple days wandering the streets of Nawlins although we will take much more care not to wander onto Bourbon Street next time. It outdoes the strip easily, even at noon. They have a street car that takes you up into the residential area to look at all the old mansions. The trees along the streets were blanketed with Mardi Gras beads, probably from the big parade a couple of weeks earlier. I didn't realize this until the day was over, but we ate nothing but fried food all day. We started off with beignets from Cafe Du Monde, fried shrimp po'boys for lunch, fried soft shell crab, fried oysters, and fried catfish for dinner. I must be used to the American diet but poor Devin spent the night with major barf attacks. He is officially cured from the lure of fried food for good. We didn't see any of the after-effects from Katrina until we ventured into the Lower Ninth Ward where its toll became evident. One funny side story: we went to the Wal-Mart that we think was the Wal-Mart looted during the hurricane in search of diapers for Eva. Devin said it was a complete circus inside with people riding the un-sold store bikes all over, playing with the toys, throwing balls around. Meanwhile, I was circling the parking lot when a guy ran past me in handcuffs, followed closely by a police officer, while bystanders laughed and cheered. It was crazy. All in all, we really enjoyed our couple of days in New Orleans and we're happy we could squeeze it into our trip this time around.
*See complete album in post below.
