New Orleans Sept 2012

On our drive back to Utah we made a few stops. We drove through Louisianna a few days after hurricane Isaac hit and we couldn't believe it. They have built their freeways like one continuous bridge so that when the flooding comes in, the roads can still be used. Same with the power lines. They are all up on platforms. The water was right at the base of the road. The damage was just crazy. Full grown trees were snapped in half. Some of the exits and the cities off of those exits were completely flooded. We even saw an alligator swimming right off the freeway in the flood water. Our first stop was New Orleans. The restaurants were crowded because a lot of people were out of power so they came downtown to find a hotel or hang out in a restaurant to watch TV. This was probably our least favorite city we have visited so far and we have been to a lot of places. The week we were there, there was some type of Mardi Gras going on but it was for gays. We were looking for Bourbon St. so we asked a local lady. She looked at our girls and said, "It's one street over but it really isn't a kid friendly place right now." That's all we needed to know :). It wasn't our favorite city because it had a dirty feeling to it and all of the shops had very crude things in them, stuff to do with Mardi Gras. The food was good though :) We walked the river walk...

Took a break in the air conditioned restaurant and enjoyed some good food. John and I both tried new things. This is huge for me because I normally don't get anything out of the ordinary. I ordered jambalaya which was pretty good and John got gumbo and shrimp sauce.

Walked around the city...

The rainbow flags were everywhere because of the theme of the week. Madi loved the rainbow flags. John kept reminding her, "No we don't like those flags." Madi would say, "Yes I do love those flags Daddy!"

We got the girls Mardi Gras beads. They thought that was pretty cool.

Our pool on the rooftop of our hotel...