kika

My adult daughter and I will be in New Orleans for a weeks near the end of Sept and I am thinking about renting a car to do a day or two of side trips. The cost of the rental is fine, but hotel parking is nuts and I am not sure about leaving it overnight in a lot nearby (we are staying in the French Quarter) from a security perspective. Can anyone comment on that?

Bayou tour: think I have landed on using Cajun Encounters even though I don't love using such a big company. Air boating looks like fun but feels disruptive, so we's prefer to do a small boat tour. The other tour company I am looking at is Pearl River Eco Tours, but they don't have as many departure times. Does anyone have input on one vs the other? Any other tour company I should be looking at? It is important to me that we are being as respectful of the environment as possible.

Since both of these places are in Slidell, I am thinking to combine the tour with a bike ride along the Tamanny Trail (starting in Lambton) to and from the Abita Springs Mystery House. My primary question is how safe that route is for two women biking alone. I do this all the time where I live and am not fearful but having my daughter with me makes me a bit nervous. Also wondering if the mystery house worth seeing.

Plantation tour: Whitney and Destrehan are the ones that appeal to me the most as we are more interested in the experience of the slaves than the plantation owners. Is it too much to see both? Is one more comprehensive than the other? It's such a shame that the San Franscisco plantation is closed now.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

tomfuller

I can't comment on your tours but would suggest that you rent from Hertz soon after they open in the morning and return late in the day. Hertz is on Convention Center Blvd near the south end. Their prices start at about $60/day. The taxi/Lyft ride from there back to the FQ will likely be less than the overnight parking fee.

PrairieHikerI

Maybe on your next trip you can visit St. Martinville and Lafayette which are in Cajun country. Known as Le Petit Paris (“Little Paris”) where the arts thrived in the 1700s and early 1800s, St. Martinville has an unique French and Black Creole history. The downtown is small but cute. The Evangeline Oak Park centers on an ancient live oak tree (with hanging Spanish moss) on the Bayou Teche that has been the most visited spot in St. Martinville since the late nineteenth century. The tree is named for the heroine of the poem Evangeline, written and published by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1847. In Lafayette you can hear live Cajun and Zydeco music and eat Cajun and Creole food. Between Lafayette and St. Martinsville is the Cypress Island Swamp! View alligators and many types of birds beneath live oak and cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss.

StantonHyde

If you click on my user name you will see my trip report on New Orleans, including renting a car for a day side trip to visit 2 plantations.

Michael

We liked the tour of the bayous we had with the Honey Island Swamp Tour.

https://flic.kr/p/hUeDPq https://flic.kr/p/hUegaj

kika

Thanks for the tip, tomfuller. Sounds like an excellent idea.

kika

Sounds very interesting, especially since we recently returned form Paris. I think it's something I would do on a separate trip with my husband. Thanks for the suggestion.

kika

Thank you. I read it and it was really helpful. I hadn't planned on visiting the Presbytere but after reading your report will definitely work that in to our plans. I wasn't sure how to get a good, respectful sense of the impact of Katrina, but this sounds perfect. Still considering a bike tour of the lower 9th but am trying to be mindful about contributing to disaster tourism. Glad to read that Mardi Gras World and the Voodoo Museum were worth it.

On a separate note, it is comforting to see that someone else has feet as itchy as mine when it comes to travelling. Wow, you have visited a lot of places! Being an active, 50 year old with a husband who sounds similar to yours I am going to have a glass of wine (or two) in the coming weeks and enjoy reading your other reports. Thanks!

kika

Thanks, Michael. Is that the"Dr Wagner's tour"?

Michael

It's this tour: https://www.honeyislandswamp.com/

StantonHyde

I'm glad this was helpful! I love planning travel and am lucky to live in an area with an abundance of national parks. My husbands works weird hours in the emergency room so we can go several days without really seeing each other. Our once a year adults only vacations have been vital!! It was great when the kids hit that sweet spot of being able to carry their own bags, etc. Now they are teens/going to college and we are on the edge of not really having many family vacations/weekend adventures. There are so many places within a 6 hour radius that I want to visit--that's my plan when we are empty nesters