The main reason we decided to make this stop was because we wanted to go to New Orleans. New Orleans itself was the first and only "fail" of the trip in the minds of our kids. As soon as they stepped foot into the city, they were ready to leave. We are definitely more of a family that loves nature and adventure over cities. Still there were some really good parts about the city. The kids' favorite part were the beignets. We walked to Cafe du Monde in Jackson Square in the French Quarter. The cafe was mobbed. Partially because it is probably always mobbed, and partially because a movie was being filmed there. We walked to a different corner in Jackson Square, got great beignets there, and ate them while looking over the Mississippi River. That was a great moment in New Orleans!
After eating our beignets, we all stuck our feet in the Mississippi, just because it seemed like a good thing to do. It was fun. :)
Speaking of the Mississippi River, our campground is on the east bank of the Mississippi, so we took a ferry ride across the river to New Orleans. That was a big hit of the trip for me, as I always wanted to ride on a boat on the Mississippi River.
There were some nice Mardi Gras statues in New Orleans:
And, since our kids are used to posing to look like statues, it made Char and I laugh a lot that they saw this statue and immediately did this:
We also enjoyed some jazz music on some street corners, and our youngest really enjoyed dancing.
It really was an interesting few hours in New Orleans, even if our kids did want to leave right away. I'm glad we did it.
The wonderful part about this week, though, is more the campground - Bayou Segnette State Park. It's only about a half hour from the city, but it feels very "country," and is quite relaxing for a family that loves the outdoors. From our campsite, we were able to scooter to the levee. I remember hearing about levees failing in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit, but what I'd pictured in my mind didn't look like what these levees look like in real life. Here, the kids are standing by an opening that can be closed off in the levee. Fortunately, there is a nice scooter path right next to the levee.
Back at the campsite, we were fortunate to find another full-time RV'ing Christian family with 4 scootering children camped across from us. Our kids were so happy! For the last two and a half months, we've been camping a lot with snowbird-ing senior citizens. The adventure is still amazing, and we wouldn't trade it!, but our whole family had been missing friends. It's very fun to make friends on the road while traveling the country!
Did you notice in the above picture that all the children in the other family are girls? My boys were quite skeptical about playing with four girls, but this is a really great family. I loved watching the kids all scooter at top speed together, hike, and play water balloons. Char and I had fun with the parents in the other family, too.
After their family left today, I noticed we were all pretty cranky. My oldest son voiced what I think we were all feeling, "It's really hard to have good friends around and then have them leave. It makes me remember how much I miss friends." I guess it's a reminder about life. Adventure is fantastic, and I do think that when God organized our family, He put the love of adventure in us all! But, life is about relationships. If it weren't, God's top rules would probably be, "Make lots of money," and "Be a good cook," or something like that. However, His top rules are to love God and to love other people. Life's about relationships. I'm loving the chance to focus so much on my relationships with my family of 6 while we're on this adventure! At the same time, we still all miss our friends. So to all of you, our friends and family, we miss you! We hope you're having a great week!
No comments:
Post a Comment