Day 3 - GA to LA

First thing in the morning we went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which was right across the street from our hotel. I was a little skeptical of going to Atlanta because of the crime and some bad reviews online, but I was BLOWN AWAY! The Aquarium is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. You walk through this huge tunnel and there are whale sharks, manta rays, groupers, sand sharks, etc. just swimming over your head. Then you come into this viewing room with a plexi glass wall bigger than any movie screen with a view of the whole giant tank. It's unbelievable. The pictures don't do it justice, but you should look at them anyways (Atlanta Photos).  When we left the Aquarium, we walked through Centennial Park and had lunch, then we were on the road again!

The drive to New Orleans wasn't quite as long as the drive to Atlanta. It helped that we moved over a time zone so it was like we gained an hour. Also, we didn't want to stop in any rest areas in Mississippi because all of the signs advertised heavy security, which made us a little skeptical of stopping there.

We got to New Orleans around 8:00 and you can still see signs of Hurricane Katrina all over. We had to drive through a neighborhood of completely boarded up houses to get to the French Quarter. Our hotel, Hotel St. Marie, is this huge old timey place right off Bourbon Street. Every room has a balcony so we chose a room overlooking the courtyard which has a pretty nice pool and lots of tables and a nice garden. Then we ventured out to Bourbon Street. It was a Monday night but it was still packed with people. Every bar and adult entertainment location had people outside beckoning people in. We wandered for a bit and decided to eat at The Embers on the balcony overlooking Bourbon Street. We wanted to do something authentic to the area, so Tommy ate Alligator, which just tasted like turkey sausage, and I had a giant "Cajun Cooler". It is so crazy that Bourbon Street really is a nonstop party. We tried to go into a few voodoo themed places, but they were sort of disappointing, but we'll try again this morning.