New Orleans Trip -- The FINAL Chapter

Before leaving the city, we decided to tour the Garden District and Magazine Street. The Garden District looked pretty much the same as it did before Katrina, with the exception of some new construction or renovations under way. The St. Charles trolleys were running and it was good to see that the old oak trees lining the boulevard survived.

Here are a couple of houses I was able to photograph as we were driving through the Garden District on our way to Magazine Street ...

The shops on Magazine Street were closed Sunday morning, but there was so much traffic and cars lining the street that it was difficult to get any decent photos. I'm probably in the minority, but I really don't care for the shops on Magazine. I much prefer little out of the way flea markets, antique malls, and "junk" shops.

After we drove up Magazine Street, we said our farewells to New Orleans and headed for I-10 and home.

As I mentioned in Chapter 1 of this epic, we stopped at Middendorf's at Manchac again for lunch and then decided to go through Natchez on the way home.

In Natchez, we stopped at Fat Mama's Tamales, to pick up some hot tamales. Fat Mama's claim to fame is her "Knock You Naked Margaritas." I don't know about the margaritas, but her hot tamales will knock your socks off.

I also took time to get this picture of the Mississippi River bridge at Natchez. By the way ... that's kudzu in the foreground (if you don't know what kudzu is, please see my post called, "The Art of Kudzu").

From Natchez, we took the Natchez Trace which was a nice change of pace. My husband loves to drive the Trace -- the speed limit is 50, and there is relatively little traffic on it. He can just relax and enjoy the peace and tranquility of scenery like this ...

The town of Port Gibson was our next stop because it has one of those "pictures just begging to be taken," and I wanted to take it. Located between Natchez and Vicksburg, Port Gibson has many historic buildings that survived the Civil War because Grant believed the city "too beautiful to burn." It is home to the beautiful First Presbyterian Church, circa 1859, which has a very unique steeple featuring a large gold hand pointing toward Heaven ... not something you see everyday!

Well, the next stop was Vicksburg and home where we had a "surprise" waiting for us. If you'd like to hear the rest of that story, please read my "A Soggy Homecoming" post.

I hope you enjoyed our trip to New Orleans as much as we did. I'm sure we'll be going back again sometime, perhaps in the fall when it cools off some. I promise I won't write another novel about it, though.

Sincerely,