Day 31:New Orleans City Park.

When we drove out of the Los Angeles area 31 days ago, we were glad to see that the rest of the country had smooth and beautiful roads. No need to worry about those darn potholes, bumping our heads on the roof of the van or having the Airstream bounce right off of the hitch… until we got to New Orleans. Oh man, the roads are crap here! I think the entire state may have crappy roads. And the turning lanes and layout of the roads suck. And I am not even the driver! So when Dan said he wanted to drive into the center of town instead of hopping onto the ferry today, he got a little more than one raised eyebrow from me.

We crossed over a toll bridge, found free parking for our over-sized van and found our restaurant of choice with no issues. Good job, driver Dan! Today we were not going to choose a random restaurant. Today we were going to go to a highly recommended place thanks to our road trip guide book. We chose Juan’s Flying Burrito in the Garden District.

And this place is awesome! Dan and I ate every last bite of our burritos. Ava demolished her beef soft taco. All this after our cheese dip appetizer… that had free refills! I think we may have to go back for seconds.

Today’s sightseeing choice of the day was for Ava. We decided to go to a section of the New Orleans City Park called Storyland.

After paying $3 each for Dan, Ava and myself (Mila was free), we headed into Storyland and Ava immediately ran towards Captain Hook’s pirate ship. She has been really into Peter Pan lately so this was just perfect for her.

Next up… Snow White. Even though Ava really likes Snow White, seeing her lay there, waiting for her prince, was a bit creepy. I guess there used to be speakers at all of the statues in Storyland back in the day which used to play the actual stories. Hence, the name.

High up in the hairy trees was a dragon that you could climb.

Did I mention that he was a fire breathing dragon and a slide?! This thing was pretty tall for a kids slide but not too fast.

Now this little slide was dangerous. It was super steep and every kid who went down it pretty much fell straight onto the ground. Barely touching the slide itself.  It was that steep. And Ava must have went on it at least 20 times.

Right next to Storyland is a little kid’s amusement park. And guess what? It was opening day. Thank goodness because we were promising Ava a carousal ride. Phew! The carousal and building are both on the National Register of Historic Places by US Department of the Interior. Built back in 1902 and still beautiful as ever.

Ava waited patiently in line until it was her turn on the carousal. She picked one of the inside horses just in case this sucker goes around at warp speed, as some of these antiques are known to do. When the carousal started to spin, Ava’s horsey did not go up and down. Oh oh. But luckily there were no tears. She just matter-of-factly stated that her horsey did not move.

Probably because she knew Mama bought tickets for the choo-choo train. A lady at the park told us there was a REAL train here at the park. Hmmmm. If this mini train is “real”, then the streets of New Orleans must be super smooth too.

The 1,300 acre New Orleans City Park sits on what was previously a piece of a plantation. The City Park is also home of the New Orleans Museum of Art and the largest collection of mature live oaks in the world. Trees in the oldest grove are over 600 years old.

On the way home, we passed by lots of cemeteries. It almost seems like we see one every few blocks in New Orleans. Maybe because they are super hard to miss since none of the graves are below the ground as we are use to seeing. Check out that elk! Someone wasn’t messing around with their final resting place. Good job, elk guy! You made the ornate castle guy pale in comparison.

Alright. Mila’s old bed bit the dust last night. Time to go buy a new bed at the baby store. I think this pink one will fit perfectly in the Airstream’s kitchen/hallway ;-).

the end,
marlene