Disclaimer: The following series of pictures document our trip to New Orleans. We are obsessive about pretty houses and wrought iron railing, in particular, so we took about 850 photos - comprising almost 5.76 GB. Of those 850 photos - not even 10% feature John or I. So, if you are a "people" person when you read blogs, you will be bored to tears. On the plus side, if you were dreading a whole series of blog posts without our adorable kids taking center stage and with only our ever aging mugs as the main focus, worry no longer!
John and I were very fortunate to take a trip to New Orleans this past June. My library sent me to the annual American Library Association Conference and John came as my ever-faithful guide, to chauffeur me to whatever destination I required. Ok, not really. John spent most of his time looking at pretty plantations while I listened to heated discussions about linked data.
A good time was had by all.
To start off with, we arrived in NOLA at about 2 am in the morning and upon arriving at our hotel, were greeted by a rather friendly and accommodating desk clerk of questionable gender. Welcome to New Orleans, folks!
Regardless of dress standards, our desk clerk was awesome and bumped us up to a nice suite, pictured below.
Not too shabby, eh? So, if you are ever in the neighborhood, check out the Maison St. Charles Quality Inn. Despite the name brand hotel chain, it is actually several old mansions that have been renovated as a hotel space with a lovely fountain garden and pool area courtyard in between. And apparently once upon a time, it was also owned by the most famously evil character of all time... more on that later.
Our first day in Louisiana was spent on a drive out west of New Orleans, visiting the Oak Alley Plantation and the Nottoway plantation. We'll just focus on Oak Alley for this segment of the NOLA tour.
Isn't it gorgeous? Just kidding. We thought we would take a picture of this for Sue, since I know she misses those ol' southern amenities.
And I kid again... this is neither Oak Alley nor Nottoway, but ....
St. Joseph's Plantation.
Which we drove by and took pictures of out of the window of our car.
Cause we are classy like that and all.
Here we go - Oak Alley Plantation, which you vampire fanatics will recognize as the home of the gorgeous but deliciously tormented Louis (Brad Pitt... I did say delicious, right?) in Interview with a Vampire. Although I must admit that I hated to watch the movie because Mr. Tortured-For-All-Eternity-Louis obviously doesn't know how to value the amazing piece of property that is his home. I therefore, selflessly volunteer to take over ownership - and live there - and dress up in pretty dresses - and drink ice tea... er... well, lemonade. We have a deal, yes? Ok, I'll shut up now.
Here's Oak Alley:
(Is it just me, or is this EXACTLY the tiny house that Lindsey made? Awesome taste, little sister!)
Apart from the trees, which are the signature piece of Oak Alley, this is the best part of the entire place - what a balcony!
This is also a view that I never get tired of...
This might be the only picture we had taken together.
Following are some landscaping shots from the sides and back of the house.
And below you will find a neat little display on vintage farm equipment.
Here is the mighty Mississippi, right across the street from the beautiful Oak Alley.
Literally, it was right across the road. The picture of the gate and pathway at Oak Alley that you see below was taken at the exact spots we were standing in the pictures above.
Bet that location has some historical preservation committee sweating pretty darn profusely - and not just cause of the humidity (which I can assure you was AWFUL!)
John and I were very fortunate to take a trip to New Orleans this past June. My library sent me to the annual American Library Association Conference and John came as my ever-faithful guide, to chauffeur me to whatever destination I required. Ok, not really. John spent most of his time looking at pretty plantations while I listened to heated discussions about linked data.
A good time was had by all.
To start off with, we arrived in NOLA at about 2 am in the morning and upon arriving at our hotel, were greeted by a rather friendly and accommodating desk clerk of questionable gender. Welcome to New Orleans, folks!
Regardless of dress standards, our desk clerk was awesome and bumped us up to a nice suite, pictured below.
Not too shabby, eh? So, if you are ever in the neighborhood, check out the Maison St. Charles Quality Inn. Despite the name brand hotel chain, it is actually several old mansions that have been renovated as a hotel space with a lovely fountain garden and pool area courtyard in between. And apparently once upon a time, it was also owned by the most famously evil character of all time... more on that later.
Our first day in Louisiana was spent on a drive out west of New Orleans, visiting the Oak Alley Plantation and the Nottoway plantation. We'll just focus on Oak Alley for this segment of the NOLA tour.
Isn't it gorgeous? Just kidding. We thought we would take a picture of this for Sue, since I know she misses those ol' southern amenities.
And I kid again... this is neither Oak Alley nor Nottoway, but ....
St. Joseph's Plantation.Which we drove by and took pictures of out of the window of our car.
Cause we are classy like that and all.
Here we go - Oak Alley Plantation, which you vampire fanatics will recognize as the home of the gorgeous but deliciously tormented Louis (Brad Pitt... I did say delicious, right?) in Interview with a Vampire. Although I must admit that I hated to watch the movie because Mr. Tortured-For-All-Eternity-Louis obviously doesn't know how to value the amazing piece of property that is his home. I therefore, selflessly volunteer to take over ownership - and live there - and dress up in pretty dresses - and drink ice tea... er... well, lemonade. We have a deal, yes? Ok, I'll shut up now.
Here's Oak Alley:
(Is it just me, or is this EXACTLY the tiny house that Lindsey made? Awesome taste, little sister!)
Apart from the trees, which are the signature piece of Oak Alley, this is the best part of the entire place - what a balcony!
This is also a view that I never get tired of...
This might be the only picture we had taken together.Following are some landscaping shots from the sides and back of the house.
And below you will find a neat little display on vintage farm equipment.
Here is the mighty Mississippi, right across the street from the beautiful Oak Alley.
Literally, it was right across the road. The picture of the gate and pathway at Oak Alley that you see below was taken at the exact spots we were standing in the pictures above.
Bet that location has some historical preservation committee sweating pretty darn profusely - and not just cause of the humidity (which I can assure you was AWFUL!)
