Happy New Year everyone! My family got back from Christmas in New Orleans last night, after a long day of travel, road tripping it with my Grandfather. Snow and nasty weather almost inhibited our travels, but decided to brave it out and stopped outside of Memphis when the sky began to look ominous. Fifteen hours later, we safely made it to our destination.
Everyone had an awesome time, the food was amazing, I shocked myself and everyone else by staying up until 3 on Bourbon Street, and as a bonus got to spend a lot of time with my younger brother and his wife. We did a bunch of walking, and riding the trolley when our feet got too sore. We walked through the Garden District and French Quarter and tried to convince our glutenous-selves that we were burning off the shrimp we had for dinner.
We also went to the WWII museum. It was so informative and interesting, I could have spent all day there, there was so much to see and learn about WWII that I think you could be there a week and still not absorb it all. We also took a tour/simulation of the sinking/capturing of the Tang Submarine. At the beginning each person is given a card with a member of the crew on it. It started out fun, almost like a video game, but then it goes dark and the reality of the situation sinks in. When all is said done and participants line up to leave our guide looks at all our cards and tells us if we lived or died, there were only eight survivors and I was not among them.
On our way back, we decided to spend a day in Memphis — big mistake.
The night we got there my mom and I were walking through the hotel parking lot when we were accosted by a guy in a nice car with Atlanta license plates. He rolled down his window and gave this big speal about a canceled check and having no money until the banks opened. They had been to three Churches, two hotels including ours with no such luck and he had an eight year-old and five months pregnant wife (two shadowy figures matching that description were in the car). Could you give us anything to get through the night? We were pretty certain it was a scam but what if it was true, would we want a kid to starve? We gave him some money, partially so he’d go away, mom and I had bad juju throughout the whole thing.
Upon entering the lobby we asked the person behind the desk if a family had come in meeting that description. No. Scam confirmed. We found out later that is a common accordance in the area.
The next day we went to the Civil Rights Museum. I had been there in high school and remember it being really cool. The Museum had acquired the Lauraine Hotel flipping it into a exhibit, with a Rosa Parks bus simulating being told to get to the back, a recreation of the Woolworth’s sit-in and a peep in the room Martin Luther King stayed in. Or at least it did in 2004. That part of the exhibit was closed for renovations, but you could see the section on James Earl Ray, of course they didn’t tell you this until after you bought the tickets…We paid forty dollars to see a display on an Assassin, we were all disgusted and left a bad taste in my mouth.
Our last shot was watching the ducks march at the Peabody Hotel. Simple enough right? Not only did I find it to be cruel and unusual punishment but we could barely see the ducklings. The next day we packed up our bags and headed back to Illinois, calling our weekend excursion a lame duck.
All in all it was a great trip so I can’t complain too much! I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and has a happy new year!
You know… people scam all the time when they are begging on the streets. I have a friend who refuses to give them a dime. If I have a dollar I always give it to them. It's not what they do with the money it's what you did with your money. So you guys did right even though it was a scam. Sad really.
I went to a Titanic exhibit a few years ago where you were also given a card of who you were on the ship. Then at the end you found out whether you lived or died. It was neat despite being sad.
I had to google this duck march thing. So the ducks stay in the fountain all day and then go on the roof at night? humm…
Sounds like it was still a lot of new adventures!!
New Orleans is one of my favourite places – my husband and I toured the South on our honeymoon (we're both Brits) and we had such a nice time there. We keep saying we will go back for our 10th wedding anniversary! Glad you had fun 🙂
I liked Memphis but I got the impression that it's a very poor area, with lots of homeless people.
It sounds like Memphis wasn't that great but you had a blast in New Orleans. The food there is to die for and the walking helps 🙂 I love Jackson Square during the holidays so y'all picked the perfect time to go 🙂