Day 5 Vicksburg, MS to New Orleans, LA

After a delightful continental breakfast, Jon and I were back on the road to the Battle of Vicksburg National Park. We somehow got in for free, and drove the driving tour and saw the battlefields and where the US held siege over the city for 46 days. The park was pretty boring compared to Gettysburg, etc, but the coolest part was by far the U.S.S. Cairo museum and the remains and reconstruction of the vessel. The Cairo was an Ironclad Gun Boat and the museum holds artifacts that were recovered on the vessel. From there, we pressed on to New Orleans.





Fairly uneventful drive, except for the fact that we reached halfway mileage wise, at 2,000!

Upon arrival in New Orleans, we checked into the Hotel St. Pierre, a small place in the French Quarter, 3 blocks from Bourbon Street. It was a super sweet little hotel, and I will probably stay there again. Once we got situated, we headed down to see what the town was like.

First off, we stopped in at Yo Mamma’s and got some hamburgers, which were recommended to us. The recommendation did not disappoint. We then walked around down town and saw some of the restaurants and bars we would later find ourselves in. As we passed Pat O’Brien’s, I recalled Joe saying that that is where the Hurricane (insert bad New Orleans Joke here) was invented. So, we tried them. They were good. At this point, its only 2:30 pm, and we decide to get some nice cigars and 2 for 1 frozen drinks to go, and head back to the pool to relax. As it turns out, the water was way too cold for swimming, so after the cigars we proceeded to get ready to go out for dinner. We had a couple drinks in the room and then went down to Café Mephistos or something along those lines. The food in NO is quite good, and we sampled some calamari, catfish, and jambalaya. This is where it starts to get blurry. Hand grenades, beers, 495 lb man singing the blues, more beers, whiskey, about 3 more hand grenades, and then we discover the dungeon. I love this bar. It is a heavy metal bar (+1), has 2 dollar PBR bottles (+1), and they let the gutter kids bring their puppy inside (+1 so with my math skills from last night, we are at….1+1+1=drunk) We left, and came back, Jon wasn’t a huge fan, the bouncer kind of made fun of him for not liking metal, and the next thing we know its 10 am and we struggle through a breakfast and get on the road to Austin.



After an uneventful drive through Texas, seeing some stuff that makes me feel more American, we go downtown to check out Austin. So far, I think I am going to like this town and could easily see my self here if it was closer to the skiing.

Coming next…University of Texas tailgating starting at 9 am, the Salt Lick BBQ, and partying in Austin.
Until then, keep your tips up.