Day 8 - Vicksburg to Bourbon St.

Friday was an unexpectedly long day of driving. For some reason, I thought that Vicksburg was close to New Orleans, when in actuality, it's relatively close to the southern Louisiana border, but the drives to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, the end of the Great River Road, and then back to New Orleans were the bulk of the day's trip.

We started the day driving through the National Park at Vicksburg, viewing all of the monuments and historic sites of the battlefield. The story of Vicksburg is pretty amazing, as are the amount of monuments erected in the park.

We stopped in Baton Rouge for lunch. I had a soft-shell crab po'boy, and Brian had crawfish etouffee, which looked good enough for me to order later on for dinner. I am sensing much more cajun food for the rest of the weekend.

After passing through Baton Rouge and through New Orleans, we still had another 70 miles to drive (140 roundtrip).

After leaving New Orleans and continuing to the gulf, the scenery becomes increasingly deserted. Evidence of the hurricanes became more evident when we saw many trailers and deserted destroyed buildings. The drive was along a long flat road, surrounded by levees a few hundred miles away from each side of the road. We passed a number of oil refineries on our way to the anti-climactic endpoint. No bells and whistles, no state park, no monument. Pretty much - "stop driving, turn around, nothing more to see, and go have fun in New Orleans."




Which is exactly what we did. This is my first time in New Orleans, so I had never witnessed to debauchery that is Bourbon St. I'm glad I'm in my 30's now, because I have the perfect excuse to my usual ditching early antics (i.e. "...if only I was in my early 20's, I just can't do this anymore" type reasonings). After a couple beers at dinner, I tried a Hurricane - some concoction of rum and extremely sweet red liquid - and my stomach began reminding the rest of me that super sweet alcoholic beverages do not belong inside of my body.

The French Quarter is charming and inviting. I can see why people love this city. I'm looking forward to exploring the French Quarter today and tomorrow. Bourbon St. is a world unto itself. I was having difficulty taking some clear nighttime photos last night, so the best I have are what appears to be the legs of a blow-up doll propped up on a Bourbon St. balcony. Tame for these parts, it seems.