One Day to Explore New Orleans: Our Experience
Normally Deanna and I like to stick to our hikes in various rural areas, but this time we wanted to at least have one day to explore New Orleans and its amazing culture!
STOP NUMERO UNO: CAFE DU MUNDE
Deanna and I didn’t waste any time at all on our very first stop. We had already gotten a bit of a late start, leaving our campground at St. Bernard State Park around 10-11am central. Turns out Cafe Du Monde is just as busy as it was when I hit it up back in 2008.
The photo of Deanna above is actually while we were waiting in line for Cafe Du Munde, all the way down the street. Before reading further, was it worth it? MOST DEFINITELY.
BEIGNETS AND COFFEE.
Just how good are the beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Munde? Well, Deanna doesn’t eat gluten due to a sensitivity that upsets her stomach among other things (more on that at theharvestskillet.com) and even SHE tried the beignets.
I of course devoured them upon first glance of the fried dough covered in a ridiculous amount of mountain stacked delicious blood-sugar level destroying powdered sugar. Oh, and don’t you worry about getting coffee without sugar…why on earth else would they put so much powdered sugar on these beignets? TO DIP THEM IN YOUR COFFEE OF COURSE!
STOP NUMERO DOS: RIVERWALK ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Not only is coffee my kick starter every morning, but the combination of it along with A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF SUGAR called for some energy burning time. Since the Riverwalk is literally right next to Cafe Du Munde, we decided to check it out. That and Deanna still had NEVER seen the Mississippi River up close in person (flying over in planes doesn’t count). Obviously beignets took priority, but the Mississippi River was a close second.
We never took the trolley car, but quite a few people were definitely taking advantage of it as we tried to cross the tracks without being hit by one. Just kidding, it really isn’t that hard to cross.
The Riverwalk is really nice on a super cloudy day, so I can only imagine how beautiful this area is on a bright and sunny day with blue skies. There is even a set of stairs right across the trolley tracks where you can sit on/relax while enjoying your to-go beignets and coffee. No, I didn’t get even more to go although tempting.
STOP NUMERO TRES: JACKSON SQUARE
I kind of feel like Jackson Square is what brings all the French Quarter together, well in addition bourbon street on a late night. Jackson Square borders the incredibly beautiful St Louis Cathedral. The Cathedral towers over all the surrounding architecture and sticks out like a thumb covered in gold.
Jackson Square itself is a great place to sit down, soak in the beautiful views, and take a break after walking for quite a while with its plentiful benches.
Jackson Square is also home to a lot of the street acts that are done throughout the area. So if you are into some magic tricks, music, art, or other street talents, this is a place to check out. We saw some dude cracking a whip right outside the St Louis Cathedral which definitely woke us up after taking a break from our Mississippi stroll.
STOP NUMERO CUATRO: CC’s.
Need even more energy after trying to explore the French Quarter in one day? We hit up CC’s and thoroughly enjoyed their beverages. Deanna ended up having a chai tea (bag not latte) while I decided to get a strawberry/banana smoothie rather than having to hit up the Mississippi Riverwalk again to burn energy.
We were kind of lucky to find a seat as this place seems to get a good amount of customers as well, but it was worth it. Got us the energy we needed to get back on our feet and keep on exploring!
STOP NUMERO CINCO: LOUIS ARMSTRONG PARK
If you were wondering why I didn’t name this article “One Day to Explore New Orleans: THE FRENCH QUARTER“, well that is because eventually we walked all the streets we could/wanted to walk. It was time to explore another nearby attraction just outside the French Quarter called Louis Armstrong Park.
Louis Armstrong Park is a beautifully constructed area full of various vegetation/flowers and architectural delights. Unfortunately it did look like some folks in the area saw it as a dumping ground for some garbage, but if you look past that it is quite amazing.
There is definitely quite a bit more to see around the area since we never even really hit up downtown New Orleans AT ALL, but the French Quarter is really the main reason New Orleans gets its hype.
OTHER NEARBY ADVENTURES
Dauphin Island and Fort Gaines
NOTE FROM WRITER
If you enjoyed this blog post or the video to go along with it, feel free to share it with your friends. You can find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also subscribe to our channel’s RSS feed via the subscribe button on the sidebar. If you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave them below and we will try our best to get back to you! Thanks for reading/watching!
Also be sure to check out Deanna’s food blog, The Harvest Skillet, when you get the chance! A lot of awesome and healthy recipes to use there!
Adventure On!
