Traveler friends - advice needed!

[persephone65]

So we are strongly considering taking the girls to New Orleans this summer for our family vacation.Yes, I know it will be hot as hell, we lived in La. for a year plus. We will probably be going right in the middle of July to avoid Dove's Shakespeare schedule in the early part of summer

Comments

[stori_lundi]

Having done the train to Alabama when I was like 14, it was *painfully* slow. That was only 17 hours. You'll be on the train for like 26 hours. I was used to long car trips, was a book nerd, and had my walkman too. The train stops a bazillion times in all those little Southern towns along the way. Just a caveat. Granted kids these days will have laptops and portable DVD players but sitting in a seat for 26 hours is still sitting in a seat for over 26 hours. For the price, flying is the same, if not cheaper, esp. if you watch the sales on something like Kayak.com and soooo much quicker.

[persephone65]

Well, we'd be taking a sleeper car, so 2-3 hours from DC (including dinner on the train), go to bed, then all day on the train, prob 12 hours to NO. We thought the train ride might be fun for the kids with sleeper cars - bringing plenty of DS games and books, of course. Also considering flying back rather than training it coming home...

[evcelt]

If you want a tour company that goes for "authenticity rather than sensationalism", I highly recommend Historic New Orleans Tours. We went on their Cemetery/Voodoo tour, and it was very good.

Steamboat tour: The Natchez is really the only choice you should consider.

A ride through the Garden District on the streetcar line is a lot of fun.

If there's enough interest in WWII history, the National WWII Museum is supposed to be good.

The Lafitte Visitor's Center has a nice little exhibit on the Mississippi Delta and also is a lovely shady quiet refuge from the Quarter (with public restrooms).

The Louisiana State Museum on Jackson Square has lots of interesting exhibits...

Dining:
The Gumbo Shop is good and moderately priced, and is a nice looking place to boot.

Johnny's Po-Boys is probably the best place to get po-boy sandwiches in the FQ, and does a mean muffaletta, too.

Pierre Maspero's is also pretty darn good.

The Crescent City Brewhouse was also pretty good when we went there many years ago...

[larp_tech]

Last time I was there timing didn't work out but I thought the gospel brunch at the House of Blues would be interesting.