NOLA day 3

If you go to New Orleans, you must, and I repeat MUST go to District Donuts.

I will tell you why in a second. 

Yes, they have some pretty darn amazing donuts.
I got a cookie to go with my fresh squeezed satsuma juice (much like a tangerine). 
#balance. 

But the real reason, is for this hot honey butter chicken sandwich.

Moment of silence, please. 

Hands down THE best chicken sandwich I have EVER had.
Blows them all out of the water!

And yes, I have been to Nashville.
From the flaky biscuit, to the perfect heat on the house made hot sauce,

to the honey butter glob.

I will even go as far as to say this is probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my life.

I was pumped to check out the Garden District.

I think my favorite part of New Orleans.

It was happy and quaint in every way.
Most celebrities have their homes here.

Including Sandra Bullock, my personal favorite!

Magazine Street is in the Garden District. 
Cutest shops, and murals.
I could have explored all day!

I'm thinking of painting my porch ceiling blue!

I so badly wished we could have stayed longer to explore.
We had to leave to make it to our bus tour!

Our guide, Charlotte, was a wealth of knowledge. 
I'm glad we decided to do this because we saw and learned so much on this tour!

I think the most interesting part was going down to the lower ninth ward neighborhoods, 

and seeing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina.

You can see that a lot of homes still had numbers written on the outside
from rescuers after searching.

This house below was searched on Sept. 12 (9-12), 

TWF means anything from Gas off, to food and water left.

Bottom block A or D means Alive or Dead, and some of numbers

indicating how many people were found at the house.

It was very surreal seeing this in person.

Very somber looking at houses on stilts all in a row in a neighborhood.

 

There were gaps in between houses where only grass stood, which

meant the home that was there got washed away. 

The impacts of the storm very much still there 17 years later.  

We stopped at a cemetery.
We learned that early settlers in the area struggled with different methods to bury the dead.

Because the water water table is very high, when they dug down, the grave becomes

soggy, filling with water and literally make the caskets float!

This was their best option.

Our next stop was City Park.

Such a bummer it was a quick stop, it was beautiful!!

And huge. So much to explore.
There are numerous lakes, botanical gardens, museums, playgrounds, a mini amusement

park, a stadium for shows, even Cafe De Mundo for beignets, a train that circled around, all in the park!

You could spend all day there. 

You can see the swan boats in the pond.

These authentic mossy trees were gorgeous. 

I guess I will have to go back to see it all:)

We got back on the bus and cruised to St. Charles Avenue!

It is probably the most famous street in New Orleans.

A street car line runs right through and is known for it's breath taking

mega mansions. 

It is lined with Southern live oak trees with mardi gras beads hanging from

the limbs from people throwing them on there during their famous parade.

We drove past 2 very prominent private Universities on
 St. Charles, Tulane and Loyola.
Both average a cost of $60,000 a semester, yikes!

This is Tulane.

It was fun seeing graduates getting their pictures taken in cap and gown

in anticipation for their upcoming graduations. 

Some mansions along the way. 

 

That concluded the tour.
Everybody else was in a hurry to get off the bus and head to their Plantation tour.

I had to switch my plans last minute and leave a day early.

Casey was getting put in as Bishop, so I was headed home for that new change of our lives!

I had about an hour before I needed to catch an uber to the airport.

I took my time walking back to the hotel and got one last ice cream cone at Kilwins!

I LOVE seeing new places.

The world is such an amazing wonder!
I try to picture myself living in each destination I visit, and
what it might be like if I did. 
As much as I like to travel, I do love my home in Arizona.

Also grateful for the time I had with my sisters and cousins!