Day FOURTEEN | N'awlins Bound

After another rough morning in the frigid temperatures, we finally got to pack up our frosty tents and head to New Orleans. It was hard to tell what Savanna Students were more excited about, visiting New Orleans or finally sleeping in a room with heat and a warm bed. Our agenda for the day was to drive towards New Orleans and stop at Evergreen Plantation to tour the grounds of the largest, most in tact plantations in the south. Afterwards we were to continue heading south to our hotel in the French Quarter.

Upon arriving at Evergreen Plantation we ate lunch with whatever we could find in the vans; fruit cups, bread, and water seemed to be the popular find. After a short bathroom break and getting all the bees out of the vans we drove up the driveway to the Plantation. The 200-year-old Live Oak trees made quite an impressive statement as you entered and made you feel as if you were in a movie. We talked with Renee about the history of the Creole-style house and of the land. We also learned about the various owners of the property and the slaves that lived and worked there. Renee also shared with us the Creole culture and some history about the native New Orleans people. To be Creole, one must be born in the New Orleans area.

After a quick laydown of our sketchbooks and some more conversation with Renee, we loaded up and rolled out. The view from out of our windows was definitely different from what we were used to; it was all water. We were driving on a causeway. Once into New Orleans, our task was to find our hotel. As simple as that sounds, it was not. As it turns out the road and trolley system is a little tricky and very particular in terms of when you can and cannot turn. Four of the five vans made it through the illegal left hand turn across the trolley tracks, the fifth van, however, was not as lucky. One of the several dozen police officers on that corner thought that we shouldn’t be turning and he let us know. So after driving several blocks we were finally allowed to cross the tracks (legally) and had to make our way back through the traffic to get to our hotel where we were greeted by Gary waving at us from the middle of the road. Once we were parked and all of the vans were unloaded, the night was ours to explore and find some awesome New Orleans cuisine.

Xinan and Alex