Naw'lens Part 3 - Checking Out a Swamp

Tuesday, February 15th - New Orleans

Our basic goals for this trip included three general types of activities: hiking, swimming and cultural activities. Now that we were stationed in New Orleans and had some time, we finally got around to our first hike. We visited the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center. The hike was pretty weak. It was a 1.8km walk along a boardwalk. I don’t even think that counts as a hike but I suppose it serves as a building block to get the kids to full hiking fitness. It did have its perks; a crawfish pond with dozens of turtles sunning on logs, the sighting of a swamp rabbit (which looks surprisingly similar to a regular rabbit) and a variety of birds. It was a very nice walk.

Next, we had been given some advice to drive through the Garden district in New Orleans along St. Charles. It was a fantastic display of wealth combined with history and culture. Massive house after massive house lined the street. The drive was really interesting as it gave an indication of how old the city of New Orleans is and how much wealth has passed through from all the goods coming down the Mississippi.

We stopped at Audubon Park outside Loyola University so the kids could play on a play structure (what else). The trees were massive and had wires from their tops into the ground to protect them from lightning. A pond in the park featured hundreds of ducks. We researched sea food restaurants until we decided it was too late to go out for dinner and went back to the camper.

Charlotte also lost her first tooth today. Her new nickname is Toothless the Dragon.

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