New Orleans Trip 2008

Taking the Grand Tour, which includes a Cajun Bayou Tour and a Plantation Tour.

Our van driver's name was Stanley, and he was extremely knowledgable about Louisiana and New Orleans. He was very friendly and full of knowledge.

The bayou tour was amazing. Was saw many alligators and swamp vegetation. We had a minor brush with a thunderstorm, so we cut the tour a bit short.

Our first plantation tour was Oak Alley plantation. It was enormous and beautiful. We had an authentic cajun lunch of gumbo, red beans and rice, jambalaya and bread pudding. It was delicious. The actual tour was just okay. Our tour guide was very wooden and sounded like he was reading from a script...badly. We got caught in a huge thunderstorm walking back to the gift store, complete with a downpour, thunder, lightning and wind. Scary, but exciting.

Our second tour was Laura Plantation, a Creole plantation just down the road from Oak Alley. It too was beautiful, though not as grand as Oak Alley. However, the history of the plantaion was very intriguing and our tour guide (Meze) was top notch. She was very knowledgable about the plantation and full of Southern hospitality.

We took the Haunted French Quarter Walk and found out the hotel and more specifically the building we're staying at in the hotel is haunted by soldiers who suffered and died at the Battle of Orleans! Tour was good. Our guide was pleasant, natural and added a lot of historical perspective to Haunted New Orleans.