I got up early this morning to do some tourist time around the Big Easy.

My first stop was The Ruby Slipper, which (at one point) was high on Foursquare's list of best pancake places in the country, and also well-regarded as a breakfast joint. The rated location closed for renovations with two alternatives in the French Quarter available. No complaints, but I wouldn't have even called them #1 for my trip.

I loved the Treme series, and I had a little time to wait before the Jazz National Historical Park opened, so I wandered out to a coffee shop there. I didn't get through the neighborhood enough to 100% recognize any spots from the show (and it's been a few years), but it was a fun walk anyway, and the barista was very pleasant.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the full experience for the Jazz NHP; it was in maintenance mode and combined with the French Quarter visitor center for Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. It was still fun to track down, and they had some content, so I didn’t feel too bad about collecting a stamp.

On my way between the NHP sites, I went by the French Market area, which is the home of Cafe du Monde. I accidentally went into one of their dry goods / souvenir stores first and was directed to the actual cafe "half a block down the street." Ha. If that was half a block, when I found the actual cafe, the line was two blocks down the street! I thought the line in Seattle for the original Starbucks was a lot, and that was much shorter (and moving much better). I made the choice to settle and went for the location in Riverwalk (mall), which was bland, but at least I got to see the donuts being made:

Between the heat and the rain that caught me near Riverwalk, I was happy to have a late checkout to get another (cleansing) shower before I left!

When I split town, I got a chance to cross an item off my bucket list: crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (bridge). At nearly 24 miles, it was amazing engineering feat to experience. My only frustration was that the day was grey and drizzly, so the lake was less pretty than it could have been.

From there, I went on a nearly 100 mile stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway (Natchez to roughly Jackson). I saw an old inn, which was cool, and I got passport stamps (on paper scraps; my stickers are full!) from a chance ranger station (it seemed small for a visitor center) that happened to be still open! 😀