Chester's Thanksgiving Vacation

So you may be wondering what little Chester was up to while we were off gallivanting in Louisiana. Well, he was having his own big adventure at my parent's house.

The night before we left on our trip, I took Chester and my sis (Thanksgiving break) to meet my parents in Roch for the exchange. I went alone, as Adam was with his family to celebrate his grandma's birthday. We met up, grabbed Chipotle for dinner, and then went our separate ways. Chester was pretty upset about it, but I hear he settled down pretty quickly.

He always has so much fun with my family, and loved that my mom was on Thanksgiving break and home with him almost every day.

My mom was kind enough to send us daily updates from the little guy so we wouldn't miss him too much.

Day 1 (Wednesday): 
"I slept well even though I was in my kennel. I had fun hiding under the bed and escaping from Grandma at bedtime. I really wasn't tired.
 I tried to be friends with the white dog next door, but she would not have anything to do with me. Fine. I already have a girlfriend.
 Lots of good sniffs here!"

[My mom got him a few new hats, which I'm sure he just loved...]
"What I won't do for a TREAT!"

 "Very busy helping decorate grandma and grandpa and Christine's tree"

Day 2 (Thursday, Thanksgiving):
"Did you go on vacation too?
I went for my walk this morning with Grandma and took your advice. I did NOT bark ridiculously at a white dog down the street even though she did at me.
I might have a new girlfriend!"

"The Packers bore me.
Don't tell Stine."

[After the Packers lost]
"Sad around here."

 Day 3 (Friday):
"Got grandma's attention by chewing on her jingle bell coaster. Only chewed on 2 bells. It worked bc look where I am now!"

"Having a little quiet time"

"I love my starfish!"

[watching a movie]
"I love it on grandma's lap!"

Day 4 (Saturday):
"Good morning! Grandma's comfy lap!"

"This is how I get treats now.
Another thing, Grandma won't let me sleep in bed with her.
I hate that kennel."

[because it was so cold for New Orleans on our trip]
"I bet I'm warmer than you are!"

"Busy relaxing."

[Starfish taken away and put in his bag]
"Let me explain about my starfish.
I love it.
I like to chew on it.
What is it doing in my bag?"

[he went and laid down under the tree all by himself]
"I love grandma, grandpa and Christine's tree!
Maybe they'll just leave me here tonight?"

"Who needs presents under the tree? I'm here!"

Day 5 (Sunday):
"I can't believe I had to sleep in that kennel again.
I tried to refuse to go in, but it didn't work.
Enjoying napping on grandma's lap now."

 [Aunt Carey kindly picked Chester and Christine up to take back. She dropped Chester off at Adam's parent's house for the night.]
"Grandma wants me to stay a little longer.
I don't want to hurt her feelings, but I really miss my mom and dad!

[Curt and Robin generously watched Chester for the night and day, before bringing him with to pick us up at the airport Monday night]

Day 6 (Monday):

"Hi mom and dad, it's snowing!"

[per Robin, "Chester was romping in it. Super cute!"]

New Orleans Day 5: A Night at Oak Alley Plantation

After a quick lunch in Slidell, we forgot to go to Mississippi, instead heading back towards New Orleans so we could travel along the River Road and spend the night in a cottage at Oak Alley. Here's a little map of our route -

 

 We made an accidental detour by the Superdome when I was a bad navigator and we missed our freeway exit. It allowed me to snap a photo of that horrible place (I may still be bitter from a certain NFC Championship Game...).

It was a short delay, and we were back the right way in 5 minutes. Along the road, we could see a few above ground cemeteries. They are so unique looking!

 

Our route took us along the east side of the river. I was surprised to see how close together the plantations were. At one point, there were nearly 500 plantations lining both sides of the river on the 70-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The plantation lots were narrow but stretched far back from the river. The reason for this being that the river frontage was at a premium, as this was how they transported their crops of sugar cane and pecan.

 

Unfortunately, during Reconstruction after the "War of Northern Aggression" some of these great homes fell into disrepair. Then, in the early 1900s Mosaic disease wiped out many of the sugarcane crops and led to financial ruin at many of the plantations. The great houses were then abandoned. Also at this time, the area along the River Road became much more industrial. In 1932, the Army Corps of Engineers completed the levee system along the river which wiped out many of the huge plantation gardens and ruined the view of the river from these houses.

You can still see the big plantation houses in varying states of disrepair along this stretch. There are many different house styles ranging from Creole (like Laura) to Greek Revival (like Oak Alley) and Italianate. There's even one considered "Steamboat Gothic" called San Francisco. It was closing when we drove by, so weren't able to tour, but I grabbed a few photos from the road. It's very unique looking.

We crossed over the river on a really high bridge to the west side of the River Road. 

 

By 4:15, we were at Oak Alley. We wandered the grounds for a bit and took some photos before checking in at 5. Oak Alley is famous for it's quarter mile allée of oaks. These oaks were in place long before the plantation house was even built, and are thought to be over 300 years old!

 

 We rented a whole cottage for ourselves as I thought it would be weird to share one. These cottages were old sharecropper cottages that had been updated. It had 2 large bedrooms, living room, bath room with dressing area, dining room, and full kitchen. 

 

 Because we were out in the country, we had arranged for food from the plantation restaurant to be waiting for us in the fridge to be heated up. Adam had chicken and sausage gumbo with rice and my salad. I had seafood au gratin with veggies. The food was okay, but worthwhile to avoid the hassle of going somewhere or making something.

 

By 7, it was dark, so we decided to take the flashlight, camera and tri-pod to do some exploring. The cool thing about staying on the grounds is that you are free to roam the plantation after closing. I was really excited to take advantage of it. The grounds were lit up beautifully, and there wasn't a soul in sight. It was spooky but amazing.

 

On our way to the big house, we made a kitty cat friend that followed us the whole time. I thought our new friend was adorable, but Adam was not amused.

In front of the house, we set up the camera and tripod, and had fun taking some long exposure shots.

 

We even got in on a few of them.

Adam did the smile perfect on his first (and only) try!

 

Then we walked back to our cottage in time to watch the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead. It was a really neat atmosphere to watch it in! Spooky and isolated.

Favorites:
Adam - Swamp Tour
Stef - Seeing gators and the swamp, walking along the allée of oaks at Oak Alley, especially at night

New Orleans Day 5: Swamp Tour through Cajun Encounters

Note: Eventually, I will finish this trip recap. Preferably before we go on another trip. I have about a month...

By Sunday, we were ready to get out of the city. Fortunately, we had plans to do just that! We grabbed one last breakfast at the hotel, and then walked to the car rental place on Canal Street. It was only a 1/2 mile walk, but felt longer dragging all our gear in the hot sun. Yes, the sun finally came out in full force for the last two days of our trip.

We rented a car from Budget as they were the only rental company nearby our hotel that was open on Sunday morning. It was not exactly a fantastic experience. The car was a pile (a Toyota or something gross), had lots of miles on it, and New York plates so we felt extra touristy. We were there by 10:15, and after checking-in, we had to wait outside for 15 minutes before it even arrived for us. We were finally on the road to Slidell, LA (I recognized them name from Swamp People) by 10:40.

On the schedule for the day was a swamp tour just northeast of New Orleans, followed by plantations northwest of New Orleans. Before leaving the room, Adam called and made a reservation for us through Cajun Encounters. I had quite the dilemma deciding what company to do our swamp tour through. I found that most offered significant savings if you transported yourself to the site (usually only $25 per person vs $50). Then the big dilemma was which swamp to tour. I finally settled on Honey Island as it was said to be the most picturesque, and then selected the tour company (Cajun Encounters) because their tour times fit our schedule best. I was a little stressed about this whole thing, but it ended up working fine. They had multiple boats that went out at the noon tour time, so we could have just showed up without a reservation and been fine.

It was an easy 45 minute drive from New Orleans, and allowed us to see some interesting things from the highway like the 9th Ward, which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, and a huge bridge over Lake Pontchartrain.

We were a little early for the tour, so we made a brief stop at a little bayou along the road. I wandered down the boardwalk and took a few photos. It was nice just be out in the sun!

At Cajun Encounters, we checked in, and waited for our noon tour to start. The tour went out on a flat bottomed pontoon boat. Our guide was interesting and had a strong accent - it was like being on Swamp People. He had even filled his 3 gator tags this year!

We were hoping to see some gators, but weren't expecting it as this is their dormant season.

Luckily, one of the first things we saw was a baby gator.

Our guide found another small gator laying in the rushes.

Then, we hit the jackpot! We got to see a pretty large gator laying in the water soaking up the sun. It was really cool!

The next part of the tour was to go by some Cajun houses. It was interesting to see how people adapted their homes to live down here with the constant threat of hurricanes and flooding.

This is a shrimping boat -

The second part of our tour was to go deep in the swamp which required us to go through a narrow pass.

We even saw a few raccoons!

This is what I always pictured the swamp to look like. It was beautiful.

The Spanish Moss dripping from the trees was lovely, but apparently you don't want to touch it. It's home to all kinds of nasty bugs!

On our way back, we saw a bunch of turtles sunning on a log.

We both really enjoyed the 2 hour tour. It was through a private swamp, so I appreciated that the wildlife (including gators) there couldn't be hunted. However, I wasn't too keen on how the tour guides gave marshmallows to the racoons (and the gators in the summer) to engage them for the tourists. This isn't part of their natural diet, and makes them dependent on humans. Ick.

After the tour, we had planned to cross the border to Mississippi (only 3.4 miles away!), but completely forgot because we were hungry. We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's in Slidell, and then headed back towards New Orleans and on to Oak Alley Plantation. I was crushed when I realized we had forgotten!