Weekend in New Orleans

The trip to New Orleans this past weekend was absolutely AWESOME.  The best photo trip I've been on so far - and also the best mini-vacation I've been on in a very long time.  It was so great to go out with friends and just hang out in new places chattin' and relaxin'.

It would take me a long time to recount the entire weekend, but I'll try ;).

Saturday we drove down to New Orleans and ate at Guy's Poboys - which was delicious.  There I told Harper about some pictures I'd found online from Jazzland/Six Flags New Orleans and how cool they looked...  So to make a short story slighter shorter, we went to Jazzland!

We were able to get in pretty easily.  At first Nate and Dave stayed by the car because Nate didn't feel comfortable with going in.  Harper (Harper Levy Photography) tried telling him that the city owns the park now and they already said that they wouldn't prosecute anyone who trespassed, but he had to google it for himself...  And Dave helped convince him to venture inside (yay!).  I was very glad for that because I know Dave really wanted to go in (and he said later that Jazzland was his favorite part of the trip).  Again, so much fun!  Harper and I got grrrrreat pictures, though it was hotter than Hades and I think all of us wanted to drop dead soon after going in.  I easily have over 100 great pictures from Jazzland, so I'll only post a few of my favorites:

And by a few, I meant a lot ;).

After Jazzland, we were super sweaty, exhausted from the heat, and very thirsty, so Dave directed us to Cooter Brown's (heehee).  It was a great sports bar - we got to watch Rugby from the 70s and the U-17 World Cup...  And after we had a couple of beers Dave directed us to two cemeteries in Uptown, both of which were very interesting and beautiful.  I got a lot of pictures of some of the statuary and the more interesting graves.  And here are a few of those(!):

An observation in both of these cemeteries: lots of fake flowers.  That intrigued me for some reason.

Another Woodsmen of the World Memorial marker!  See post below when Dave and I went to the St. Gabriel Catholic Church cemetery and saw a ton of these markers there...  

This is the second cemetery we visited...

Sun beam!

Again, so many beautiful statues and graves...  I don't know why I'm so fond of cemeteries...  It's not for "goth" reasons, but I do think they are beautiful and peaceful...  Also, I like comparing the dates and names...

We decided to get dinner after the cemeteries.  Harp voted for Superior Grill so that's where we went!  And it was awesome.  An hour wait, but we all got to talk and drink while we waited.  Then we quickly ate through two baskets of chips and salsa.  Our main courses were absolutely delicious (or mine was at least)...  Then we called it quits for the night and finally checked into our hotel!

The Cotton Exchange Hotel - well, all I can say is that it was only one night and I wasn't expecting 4-star exceptionalism.  The pillows sucked as Dave reiterated to me just a few times...  And we didn't have any towels...  And even when we called down for some they never arrived because "housekeeping doesn't have any ready and we'll send them up as soon as they come out of the dryer."  :\      So... yeah...

Next day we checked out of the hotel and went to the Riverwalk for some ben-YAYS (thank you, Storyville) and then walked around for a bit.  I got a few pictures of the neighborhoods, Lee Circle, and Lafayette Square.   Interestingly, Lafayette Square has a several statues - none of which are depictions of Lafayette.  The first we came across was some dude who founded schools or orphanages (my love of history failed me on this dude).  In the CENTER of the square?  Henry Clay.  Henry Clay.  Henry Clay!?  Uh huh.  Finally, the last statue was of Benjamin Franklin.  There were also some abstract statues there, one of which looked like a rotted apple with legs...

Dave and I wandered back to the hotel and then hopped in the car to take a driving tour of Uptown and his old haunts.  New Orleans street trivia: there is no fifth street.  There's First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth...  But no Fifth...  Also, Calhoun and Clay streets are parallel to each other, yet the two hated each other in real life.  

We drove past some of Dave's old apartments, Loyola and Tulane, and down some of his favorite streets.  Then we hit River Road.

I think that we left New Orleans about 1:30 and we got back to Baton Rouge, via River Road the whole way, at 6:30.  Minus an hour or so for stops.  We saw Destrehan, Godchaux House, San Francisco, Laura, Oak Alley, St. Emma, and Nottoway.  East and west banks.  Dave hadn't seen many of the plantations before, despite living in New Orleans for several years, so I felt he needed and education ;).  For me, San Francisco was the most impressive.  It also has a fascinating history behind it.  San Francisco's history, from its official website: 

The year was 1827. Just 40 miles downriver, New Orleans was celebrating its first Mardi Gras. Elisée Rillieux, a free man of color and a smart visionary, began buying tracts of land and slaves to establish a sugar plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish. But Elisée never intended to be a planter himself. Like his brother Francois, who in 1822 created an estate that later became Godchaux Plantation, he was more of a speculator and a good one at that. Only three years later Elisée sold the plantation to Edmond Bozonier Marmillion and his partner Eugène Lartigue for the enormous sum of $100,000 dollars, collecting an estimated $50,000 dollar profit.

To provide his surviving sons Valsin and Charles with a prestigious residence, Edmond began building the plantation home that exists today. In 1853 he hired expert builders and purchased twelve highly skilled slaves to convert his extravagant vision into reality. When main construction was finished two years later, Edmond appointed accomplished artists to carry out an ambitious decoration project. It featured five artistically hand painted ceilings, painted door panels, faux marbling, and faux wood graining throughout. The house became so distinctive that it inspired novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes to write "Steamboat Gothic", a story about the family she imagined lived there. Viewed from some angles, the house closely resembles the ornate and yet graceful superstructure of a Mississippi riverboat.

Edmond passed away in 1856, less than one year after the home was completed. The day after Edmond’s death, his oldest son Valsin returned from Europe and was forced to take over the plantation. Valsin Bozonier Marmillion was married to Louise von Seybold of Munich, Germany, and had three daughters. Together they lived at the home and ran the sugar plantation for the next fifteen years. The unusual name “San Francisco” is believed to be derived from Valsin’s comment about the extraordinary debt he was confronted with when taking over the estate. He declared he was sans fruscins or “without a penny in my pocket.” The name evolved into St. Frusquin and, in 1879, was changed into “San Francisco” by the next owner, Achille D. Bougère.

As a result of the Great Flood of 1927, the Army Corps of Engineers began building the
Mississippi River levee system and completed the project in 1932. The new levee unfortunately sacrificed the luscious front yard and gardens. The project would have also claimed the home, but local residents lobbied the Louisiana legislature to pass a measure that would save as many plantations along the River Road as possible. Fortunately, the Corps was able to curve the levee around San Francisco. 

It wasn't the grandest house (I think Nottoway gets that distinction), but I think it was most beautiful.

During our travels, we accidentally took a detour away from River Road and made it to Paincourtville before realizing the mistake.  We both refused to completely blame the other though ;).  But that was how we saw St. Emma Plantation, which I found intriguing.  I still need to find more history about it though.

Here are a few pictures from New Orleans Sunday and then the River Road Plantations:

Lee Circle

St. Charles

Henry Clay

Benjamin Franklin

Godchaux House

San Francisco

The Mighty Mississippi

Oak Alley

St. Amico Chapel

St. Emma

Nottoway

All around, the trip was a huge success!  Got some great pictures out of it, and more importantly, had a fantastic time.  We'll have to do it again soon.  Thanks to Nate and Harp for great conversation and good fun, and of course thanks to Dave to putting up with my photographic needs ;) and showing me the best time I've had in NOLA.  :)