Great American Road Trip – Nothin’ but love for ya, NOLA

Last Updated on March 2, 2023

Every day spent in New Orleans leads us closer to hiring a real estate agent – we are loving it here in NOLA that much! Fluctuating feelings of respect vary between immense reverence for the incredible landscape of swamps, bayous, lakes and the wildlife and people who inhabit it, and the deep respect of the entirely original, utterly eccentric culture that exists here among NOLA locals.

Our third day in town began with a gospel brunch at the House of Blues, which, although geared to tourists, managed to get tables of stiff, slightly uncomfortable white folk clapping and waving after platefuls of classic southern food and free-flowing mimosas, which was served by tattooed hipster types. For a more authentic gospel experience, we would prefer next time to head into the Tremé neighborhood and spend a Sunday morning in St Augustine’s church, minus the brunch and with a whole lot more of that clappin’ and wavin’.

As the mercury hit 95 oh-so-humid degrees, we drove north through an hour of nearly uninterrupted swamp land to visit the Laura Plantation in Vacherie, LA. At one hour and twenty minutes, this plantation tour was by far the most-well organized and informative we’ve been on since setting off on this NYC2NOLA road trip three weeks ago. The subject matter stretches from the history of the four generations of the family who ran the plantation to a deep, insightful look into 18-19^th century Creole culture of French and Spanish, German and West Africans, concepts like free blacks vs slaves, languages spoken, architectural style and a quote we’ll never forget: Louisiana didn’t join up with America, America came to Louisiana (in 1803 with the Louisiana purchase).

Just down the road, the Oak Alley Plantation is a more traditional plantation, and we managed to jump on the final 5pm tour, which we had all to ourselves.

Back into the Big Easy for dinner on Magazine Street we drove, before retiring to our second to last night at the InterContinental…It is hard to believe that our time in the city is almost over.

Time has flown by, and this road trip from New York to New Orleans is coming to an end. We will be writing about our discoveries in much more detail over the next few weeks, so please stay tuned for acute observations on our discoveries in the South.

For now – make sure to read tomorrow for an important road trip announcement! If you enjoy the pictures, like us over on Facebook for a photo of the day, everyday, and follow us on Twitter for daily updates on our globetrotting adventures.