Our trip to New Orleans was a long one so we broke up the journey and camped halfway on a lake. The spot was beautiful and we were super excited to get up for a sunrise swim. We cooked up some fajitas and did some stargazing in the evening and were even lucky to spot the ISS flying across us. Unfortunately our restful night sleep was disturbed by our campers next door. They had a 50ft RV with a generator going all night, partly to power up their LED lights they had strewn across the pitch. This included an LED American flag. Garish and needless to say…not our kind of people!
Although bleary eyed, we managed to have a quick dip before we left for New Orleans. Now New Orleans is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. It makes me super sad to say we felt more unsafe there than anywhere else. We heard gunshots outside our campsite at night and were warned by an uber driver about the youngsters in the city who wouldn’t think twice about robbing us. After our NFL game on the first day, we walked down a road with other fans and saw children as young as 10 carrying guns on them. It was pretty scary to see and such a shame as you can see the culture of the place with the cajan food and French influence.
Our NFL game was an experience either way. We hadn’t been to a game before and I honestly can’t believe the ‘show’ that they put on. It’s soooo dramatic and the music, fireworks etc were pretty incredible. We love live sports so thoroughly enjoyed this. Great to also see Tom Brady play in what could be his last season.
On the way out of New Orleans, we decided to take a little gator tour in one of the many swamps in the area. They are cool creatures. Not quite as big as the ozzie crocs, but still wouldn’t fancy a swim with them for sure!
Our campsite that night was next to a swamp and we thought the only creatures that would bother us on land would be the mozzies (who took great pleasure in eating us alive). However at 2 in the morning, James shot up in a panic as he heard something on the back of the truck. We looked out of the tent and rather amusingly, found a raccoon trying to get into our trash bag. We then saw them all over the campsite. Commonly referred to by the Americans as trash pandas, we actually found them really cute and loved seem all their footprints over the bonnet of the car the next morning.
A couple of sleepless nights though and we were desperate for 9 hours of zzzz
Onto Texas…