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Travels of the Rennhack family
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🚗 Domestic 6/17/2016 – 6/21/2016

New Orleans, LA

⭐ First Bourbon Street⭐ First airboat swamp tour
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Outside our hotel on Bourbon Street
Outside our hotel on Bourbon Street
9places
Michael, Kathywho went

A long weekend in New Orleans before a work week at Waterford and Grand Gulf. Friday afternoon at Mardi Gras World among the floats, then two nights on Bourbon Street, where a parade came past. Saturday was the full day: a paddlewheeler down the Mississippi to Chalmette Battlefield, the National WWII Museum after lunch, and an airboat out of Crown Point into the swamp to see alligators. Sunday was the WWII Museum properly, three and a half hours of it, and Jackson Square, before moving out to Kenner for the plant visits.

Day by day

Getting thereDay 1Friday, June 17, 2016

Riverwalk · Mardi Gras World

  • Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International (AZO) · United States
  • Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW) · United States
  • Louis Armstrong New Orleans (MSY) · United States
  • Riverwalk, New Orleans, LA · United States
  • Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, LA · United States
  • Four Points by Sheraton French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

AZO → DTW

DTW → MSY

Our City Sightseeing tour guide, mic in hand
Our City Sightseeing tour guide, mic in hand

By Michael

Kathy and I flew from Kalamazoo to New Orleans by way of Detroit, landing at Louis Armstrong International in the early afternoon. Downtown near the river we hopped on the City Sightseeing New Orleans open-top bus for a loop past the Audubon Aquarium and the streetcar line, mostly just to get our bearings.

Kathy aboard the open-top sightseeing bus
Kathy aboard the open-top sightseeing bus
Kathy and I on the flight to New Orleans
Kathy and I on the flight to New Orleans

Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, LA

By Michael

From there we went out to Mardi Gras World, where they build the parade floats. We walked through the warehouse among the giant figures, faces and heads built for krewes we didn't recognize, a mural of the king cake baby on one wall. I came away with a gold Mardi Gras doubloon on a bead necklace.

Arriving at Mardi Gras World
Arriving at Mardi Gras World
Rows of parade floats inside Mardi Gras World
Rows of parade floats inside Mardi Gras World
A towering red superhero float head
A towering red superhero float head
A machine carving a foam figure at Mardi Gras World
A machine carving a foam figure at Mardi Gras World
Me with my Mardi Gras doubloon
Me with my Mardi Gras doubloon
Rows of parade floats waiting inside Mardi Gras World
Rows of parade floats waiting inside Mardi Gras World

Four Points by Sheraton French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

By Michael

We checked into the Four Points by Sheraton on Bourbon Street and spent the evening walking the street itself, packed with people even on a Friday, with a parade coming past while we were out. We stopped for a photo out front with the crowd still moving behind us.

Outside our hotel on Bourbon Street
Outside our hotel on Bourbon Street

Day 2Saturday, June 18, 2016

Riverwalk · Chalmette Battlefield · The National WWII Museum · Crown Point · Bourbon Street

An old map of the battlefield, the river and the Gulf
An old map of the battlefield, the river and the Gulf

By Michael

Saturday was the full day. We walked down to the Riverwalk in a light rain and boarded the Steamboat Natchez for the ride down the Mississippi to Chalmette Battlefield, the site of the Battle of New Orleans. Inside the visitor center there is a large old-style map on the wall showing the river, Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico.

An albino alligator at the airboat dock
An albino alligator at the airboat dock

After lunch we went to the National WWII Museum, though we only had time for the Freedom Pavilion that afternoon, aircraft hanging from the ceiling above the vehicles on the floor below, before heading out to Crown Point for an airboat tour into the swamp.

The airboat took us out under long canopies of live oak hung with Spanish moss, past alligators sunning on the banks and swimming close by the boat. Someone handed me a baby alligator to hold for a photo. We came back into the city for the evening and walked Bourbon Street again before heading back to the hotel.

The Steamboat Natchez at the dock
The Steamboat Natchez at the dock
The cathedral skyline across the river
The cathedral skyline across the river
Back at the museum, aircraft still hanging overhead
Back at the museum, aircraft still hanging overhead
The line into the Freedom Pavilion, aircraft overhead
The line into the Freedom Pavilion, aircraft overhead
The Freedom Pavilion, planes hanging above the floor
The Freedom Pavilion, planes hanging above the floor
Wingtip to wingtip under the Freedom Pavilion roof
Wingtip to wingtip under the Freedom Pavilion roof
A bomber alongside the museum's photo wall
A bomber alongside the museum's photo wall
Kathy and I gear up for the airboat
Kathy and I gear up for the airboat
Out on the airboat into the swamp
Out on the airboat into the swamp
A baby alligator held out for the camera
A baby alligator held out for the camera
A no deer baiting sign on a swamp tree
A no deer baiting sign on a swamp tree
An alligator sunning on the bank
An alligator sunning on the bank
Cypress and Spanish moss over the water
Cypress and Spanish moss over the water
A closer look at the baby alligator
A closer look at the baby alligator
A quiet, rainy French Quarter morning
A quiet, rainy French Quarter morning

Day 3Sunday, June 19, 2016

The National WWII Museum · Jackson Square

The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, LA

By Michael

Sunday we went back to the National WWII Museum to do it properly this time, three and a half hours in the Freedom Pavilion under the hanging aircraft, at a slower pace than Saturday's quick stop after lunch.

Tanks and jeeps fill the museum floor below
Tanks and jeeps fill the museum floor below
A bomber passes low overhead in the Freedom Pavilion
A bomber passes low overhead in the Freedom Pavilion
A red-tailed fighter over the museum floor
A red-tailed fighter over the museum floor

Jackson Square, New Orleans, LA

By Michael

In the afternoon we walked over to Jackson Square, the cathedral and the old artists' fence along the park, our last stop as tourists before the weekend wound down.