Tour de Louisiana

St. Louis Cemetery #2

For some reason, our Airbnb host asked us to check out early. Since we woke up early anyway, we packed up our things and made our way back downtown to check out the cemeteries while they were open. We spent about an hour walking through each block of St. Louis Cemetery #2. For more info about the cemeteries in New Orleans, click here. It was odd to see crumbling tombs side by side with brand new, gleaming ones and palm trees growing out of the rubble. Although the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day, there was still an eerie feeling.

Vietnamese Breakfast

Best Thing I Ever Ate is one of my favorite shows on the Cooking Channel. Conveniently, I watched an episode right before we left where Emeril LaGasse raves about a Vietnamese restaurant named Pho Tao Bay. The restaurant is located between Tulane Medical and Louisiana State University. Due to time constraints, we were unable to make it there for dinner the day before, but they open at 1000, so I dragged Dave there for…let’s call it brunch. The restaurant is set up cafeteria style with long tables and you order at the front. I ordered the Pho Ga (rice noodle soup with chicken) with a side of Goi Guon (pork and shrimp rolls wrapped in rice paper), and Dave got a Banh Mi sandwich. The food filled and warmed our bellies for the long drive to Shreveport, Louisiana.

Baton Rouge

I felt like we couldn’t really leave Louisiana without making a stop in the capital; in reality, it was because I had forced Dave to listen to Callin’ Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks about 14,000 times on the trip. Have a listen. You’ll love it! Haha

We looked into a number of parks but ended up settling on the Baton Rouge Zoo. Although it’s fairly small, the zoo only costs $8.75 and was a great stop to stretch our legs and see some animals. We even FINALLY got a chance to see the elusive alligator which had evaded us the entire trip!

Shreveport

The drive from New Orleans to Wichita Falls, Texas mapped out to about 10 hours without stops. Ten hours (especially this late in the trip) is way too long for one day of driving so we broke it up by stopping halfway in Shreveport, LA. This was basically just a sleep stop so we didn’t plan for too many activities. We arrived around dinner time and enjoyed a backyard picnic underneath another gigantic Live Oak tree. Betty Virginia Park was only a couple of blocks away on foot. The park is surrounded by beautiful homes and was a great place to watch the sunset. After returning to the house, we took advantage of the free washer and dryer which were made available by our Airbnb hosts and watched Netflix until bedtime.

The next morning we set out for the last leg of our trip.