Down on The Bayou

Today was one of the days I was most excited for when I first read over the itinerary for the trip.  Today we got to take our very own trip down the Achafalaya Basin Bayou.  I have wanted to take a ride down the bayou ever since I saw Disney's Princess and the Frog, and today my wish came true.  Since the water levels are so high there weren't too many gators out swimming but it the bayou is such an interesting and unique place it was still so much fun. 

This was our captain, captain curtis and he made the whole trip.  He had a very heavy Cajun accent so it took me a while to be able to understand what he was saying, he literaly sounded like Ray off of the Princess and the Frog movie (after this trip, so much more of that movie makes so much more sense!  They pretty much nailed the New Orleans/Cajun culture)  He told hilarious jokes the entire ride.

After our wonderful boat ride we had lunch right on the waters edge.  For an appitizer I got bayou gumbo then got a fried shrimp po' boy for my main course complete with gator tots.  During the meal Linda got us all a special treat, crawfish.  Being a true New Orleaner she loves crawfish and felt that to truely experience the cajun culture we needed to eat some crawfish.  So she got a big platter full and came around to each table and taught us how to go about eating a crawdad.  I ate one only because I wanted the right to say that I had actually peeled and eaten one.  But to be honest they freak me out, all those little legs and those beaty eyes give me the willies.  But I am sure their crawfish boils are a total blast!

Then we had to bid adiu to the wonderful Cajun country and head back to the city.  It was a long bus ride ... but we did make a few stops to try and break it up.  One was right on the waters edge and there was a cool fountain that had all the symbols of the different Mardi Gras krews around it so that was pretty cool. 

Another one was just at a Mcdonalds haha but I got to hang out with Reggie for a little while wich is always fun, he is a hilarious guy but he has an awesome and somewhat surprising background. He has a masters in music specializing in concert piano and was a Navy Seal instructor for 20 years! He was fascinating to talk with.

 

When we got back to New Orleans we checked into our new hotel, The Ritz Carlton, which is located on Canal Street which is more down town.  Of course it is fabulous and our rooms were gorgeous!

The view out my window

Then we had the afternoon free, we had a couple of plans in mind but they all fell through so we strolled along the water front and got some pictures of the famous Natchez steam boat.  Then we explored some of their tourist souvenir shops just because they are so silly.  One was called Voodoo Blues and their slogan was "May the Curse Be With You" it had all sorts of silly voodoo trinkets, of course it was a tourist shop and not a real voodoo place.

For dinner tonight we found a cute little french cafe called The Palace Cafe.  It was an adorable, classy little place with wonderful food, it was a great choice.

For dessert I got the Mississippi Mud Pie, I figured it would just be wrong to not eat this at least once while so close to the real Missisppi river.  It was, as expected, delicious.

We passed this store, So Good, while walking back to the hotel.  The girliness of it was too overwhelming and it sucked me, bethy and my mom right in, the boys had no choice but to come with us.  It was hilarious how over done it was but it actually had some pretty awesome jewlery.