Day 2: New Orleans

After Biloxi, we stopped in New Orleans for an authentic Cajun dinner and to see the marvelous French Quarter.  Despite being in the low 50’s the Big Easy was still filled with people roaming the streets with drinks in hand.  We decided to park for a few hours and stroll the streets with Maggie. First, we stopped to get Amy an authentic Hand Grenade in honor of her brother, Jeff.  Then we stopped by the world famous Pat O’Briens to get a Hurricane for me. We were now in the proper mindset to experience New Orleans.

We then made our way to the pet friendly Chartres House for dinner. WOW what a feast! We got the “Taste of New Orleans,” which was a sampling of Red Beans and Rice, Crawfish Etouffee, Chicken and Andouille Gumbo, and Jambalaya. We also ordered Boudine and Fried Alligator appetizers. My favorite, which I had never even heard of, was the Boudin, a beef, pork, rice, onion, and pepper sausage. Turns out, there are many types of Boudin in different regions of Cajun America. If we had time I would surely like to try them all. Amy’s favorite was the Fried Alligator and, for the record, trying it was her idea, not mine. I thought it well… tasted like chicken. No really, it did.  I highly recommend this place and they even allow pets at the front tables. Maggie just laid under the table the whole time hoping for scraps.

After N.O., we got back on I-10 and drove until we were on the outskirts of Houston where we stayed the night. We spent a good 9 hours in the car that day. Texas is so big and we’ll be on I-10 the whole way through starting from Louisiana and ending near El Paso.  A total of 878.6 miles!