We have driven through Louisiana numerous times on our way back and forth to Texas, but we never stopped to do any sightseeing. This time we finally dedicated some time to seeing its two largest cities: Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Even without Mardi Gras parades, you can still “laissez les bon temps rouler” or let the good times roll while visiting Louisiana.
Baton Rouge:
Louisiana’s capital city, Baton Rouge, means “red stick” in French. The name was coined in 1699 by a French explorer after seeing a bloodied cypress pole on a bluff along the Mississippi River. The pole was marking the boundary between hunting grounds of two Native American tribes. Baton Rouge actually has two capitol buildings. Although we couldn’t tour inside, the current capitol building sits on beautiful grounds surrounded by magnolia trees.
The Old State Capitol looks like a castle and now serves as the Museum of Political History. It details Louisiana’s flamboyant political history and includes an interesting exhibit on the controversial state governor and US senator, Huey Long. The rich wood paneling, cast iron spiral staircase, and stained glass are wonderful examples of the building’s original beauty.
The Old State Capitol is also home to Louisiana’s refurbished Merci Train boxcar. After WWII, the United States sent 700 boxcars full of relief materials to war-torn Europe. In appreciation, France later sent the Merci Train—one boxcar of gifts was sent to each state. The people of France filled the cars with items such as wine, clothing, art, furniture, and even thank-you letters from children. The story behind his event and many of these treasures is so interesting. Sadly, not all of the boxcars and gifts still exist but you can check your state at MerciTrain.org.
We enjoyed stopping to say hi to Mike the Tiger at Louisiana State University. The beloved mascot has a lush 13,000 square- foot home right on the campus and gets over 100,000 visitors a year. LSU works to educate the public about the preservation of tigers and the conservation of their habitat worldwide. The majestic Bengal/Siberian mix is the 6th in a line of “Mikes” that have represented LSU.
The USS Kidd Veteran’s Museum has a prominent place along the river in downtown Baton Rouge. You can walk through the veteran’s museum and then outside into the Fletcher-class destroyer. This ship served as part of task forces in the Pacific and is the only surviving US destroyer still in her WWII configuration.
Over 62% of World War II sailors were between the ages of 17 and 24. Usually sailors on a destroyer would not have had access to ice cream, but the 330 men on the USS Kidd got lucky by having this machine. I would agree with the Navy that ice cream is of strategic importance for morale!
New Orleans:
I was excited to finally get to visit New Orleans. We did the city bus tour to get an overview of the town and learn some of its history and traditions. Our tour included a separate walking tour of the beautiful Garden District homes. Interestingly, the cemeteries in New Orleans are prime real estate. Because of the high water table, residents are buried in above ground vaults or crypts often with multiple family members inside.
We wandered through the French Quarter, with its colorful buildings and cast-iron balconies. I had to make sure to see the building used in filming NCIS: New Orleans. Bourbon Street was full of music clubs and eateries, and the French Market had lots of local crafts and goods. While masks were still in use and hours limited in bars, many people were out on this sunny day and we had fun despite no parades or craziness. As a consolation, we did tour Mardi Gras World to see how the floats are made and learn about Mardi Gras and its traditions.
My goal of experiencing Café du Monde was realized after a 30-minute wait in line. The shop only sells coffee and beignets yet stays busy 24 hours a day. Right across the street is Jackson Square with street perfomers and artists lining the streets. The beautiful St Louis Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
Swamp Tour:
About an hour outside of New Orleans we went on a cool swamp tour with Cajun Encounters. Our tour guide, Capt Chris, is a fireman and native of the area who knows all of the ins and outs of the river. We saw birds, raccoons, wild pigs, and alligators as we cruised among the cypress trees and heard interesting stories of the swamps.
Wildlife Preserve:
One of our best finds was the Global Wildlife Animal Safari in nearby Folsom. It is one of the largest free-roaming wildlife preserves of its kind in the country and is home to over 1000 exotic, endangered, and threatened animals from all over the world.
We had a private tour and enjoyed an hour of feeding reticulated giraffes, Grant’s zebras, American bison, deer, llamas, and numerous other species. There are 4 different sizes of food you can buy to take on your tour. I wanted to maximize my feeding opportunity with the 30 lb bag!
The 900 acre facility is a beautiful home for these amazing animals. We spent an hour roaming the grounds and learning about their care from our guide. We enjoyed the chance to interact with the animals so much.
Some Video Moments:
We loved our visit to Louisiana and our timing worked out perfectly to hit a dry spell between spring storms. While we didn’t see everything, I felt like we saw some highlights of both Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We enjoyed sampling some of the local cuisine and tried po’ boys, meat pies, beignets, boudain, and king’s cake to name a few. Now we have a new state on our travel map!
Looks like you experienced Louisiana on a level we have not. Attending a Bowl game doesn’t provide the same opportunity for diving into the culture as your trip did! We may need to plan our own deep dive into the area!
Hey Jacki! I highly recommend it–so much to see and do. I’m sure we just scratched the surface, but it was a lot of fun.
I am glad you had the dryspell. Loved that staircase picture!
Yes, I was watching storm after storm hit the area before our trip and keeping my fingers crossed. We definitely lucked out with good weather for the most part. We did have one evening storm with a tornado warning, but other than that it couldn’t have been better👍 Some of the old buildings we have visited have been so beautiful. That staircase was just a small view of what we saw–it’s hard to narrow things down to just a few pictures when I probably take hundreds!
My mom and I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans a few years ago, and it was an amazing time! I’ve definitely been wanting to go back there, and now seeing a picture of those amazing beignets from Cafe du Monde, I definitely need to get back ASAP! I haven’t had the opportunity to see Baton Rouge, so I will need to visit whenever I get back to Louisianna.
Hi Emily,
Thanks for checking out my blog. I’m glad you had the chance to visit New Orleans–it had been on my bucket list for quite a while. You’ll definitely want to get some beignets when you go back!
Looks and sounds like you had a super fun time. I think we would like the swamp tour and wildlife preserve. And we have never been to New Orleans so this would be a great trip for us!
Hi Angie,
I hope you get a chance to visit New Orleans–there is so much to see and do there. I highly recommend the swamp tour and wildlife preserve!
Now I’ve been to LA too! Many times for business travel. I also enjoyed walking around on Bourbon Street. It was on a Sunday before the Saints were about to play. It was busy down there and I remember some of places from these pictures you shared. Never got me a beignet though, it looks delicious. I really enjoyed the part about Mike The Tiger (I never knew that) and what a great majestic place the Wildlife Animal Safari is and looks like so much fun. Thanks for sharing!
How cool that you got to visit Louisiana for work. Do you get to travel often? I had been wanting to see New Orleans, especially, for a long time so it was a fun visit. If you ever get back, you will definitely need to get a beignet!