Great article, Freda - far too many people don't consider New Orleans as a family destination. We've actually stayed with Danny, at Opencanvas, a wonderful place hosted by a New Orleans scholar and gentleman. He turned us on to so many great local joints, from the $10 / 3 lb box of crawfish at Cosimo's, to the true-New-Orleans experience at Bachanal. Our daughter loved splashing around in the pool while we lounged around the courtyard with some long time-time friends.
Exploring NOLA from the Bywater, was the authentic New Orleans experience we wanted. We can't wait to get back there.
Frenchmen street with fantastic entertainment all for the cost of a beer and a tip for the band is right at the edge of Bywater next to the French Quarter. It sounds like you got the best out of your trip anyway - not difficult in New Orleans. Thanks for the reminder.
How about using "crawfish" instead of "crayfish" in this article? I just can't with the tourists.
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My husband and I have been traveling with our three children since they were 2 weeks old. When they were 1, 3 and 4 we spent a month in Mexico. The next year we took them to El Salvador. And we got out a lot, using their teacher at a bilingual kids' camp, or someone from the hotel, to watch them.
Making it seem like it is such hard work to travel with one 2-year-old seems a bit disingenuous to me, hardly the kind of folks who would revel in the excess, music, light-heartedness of New Orleans. How is it that your friends couldn't tear themselves away from their own kid for a night when given the chance to get out in New Orleans? Maybe that kind of inability to trust (friends, fellow parents for heaven's sake) put a damper on everyone's vacation.
Making it seem like it is such hard work to travel with one 2-year-old seems a bit disingenuous to me, hardly the kind of folks who would revel in the excess, music, light-heartedness of New Orleans. How is it that your friends couldn't tear themselves away from their own kid for a night when given the chance to get out in New Orleans? Maybe that kind of inability to trust (friends, fellow parents for heaven's sake) put a damper on everyone's vacation.
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Great article and wonderful explanation of making the most of NOLA with little ones. I still have vivid memories of my first visit there as a 5 yr old - over 60 years ago. BUT... $10 a POUND for (as Bryan correctly pronounced) CRAWfish????!!!! Smack dab in the middle of CRAWfish season???!!! That's insane. Esp since two people are easily capable of polishing off a 5 lb tray without breaking a south Louisiana sweat; nola.com publishes a great guide to help find boils every day of the week during the season. I'm thinking/hoping this was an uncaught typo. And a Lyft driver unable to find Tip's in his sleep has no business behind the wheel. It should be noted the streetcar fare of $3 is for a one day unlimited pass; single fare is still a $1.25 bargain. These possible cavils aside, this "out of town local" really enjoyed envisioning the wonderful memories created during the family trip.
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Crawfish. They're crawfish.
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the tale was good. Not sure about the drinking and driving,nor the adult in the cargo area, not secured in a SUV.
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Yeah, the drinking and driving bothered me, too. It was made worse by the precious cargo. If the SUV was too small for everyone to be fastened in, then that's the time forLyft. In fact maybe use two Lyfts or taxis with the carsets you already have, to take you back and forth. Then you could drink without guilt or danger.
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Ah, LOVE this. I have had wonderlust since our two-year was born, but as a working mom, I am not willing to leave her for more than a night or two. The solution: vacations with families and their similarly aged children. I can relate so much to the author's failed evening out. And to her realization that the point of the trip was to enjoy her family, and the other family. It's incredible how much children alter what we enjoy in life.
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When will you yankees learn? They're CRAWfish!
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What a wonderful rendering of good times in the Big Easy!
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Thanks for the tips. We're headed back to NOLA next month.
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in this lovely article I miss a visit to the chaming Edgar Degas Museum on Esplanade Ave, the house where the great impressionist painter sejourned in 1872-73 as guest of his maternal family part of the not very Americanized French Creole culture of New Orleans. However after the civil war and for a long time onwards Americanization hit New Orleans with full blast forbidding for instance French to be taught in the city schools. Degas most remarkable New Orleans work depicts the city´s famous cotton office.
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That was my dream, too, when we set out on our joint vacation with another family this summer. I’m glad that it’s possible for this to work, and that it worked for this family. I really hope it works for us some day, too. But this time around, it failed spectacularly. A word of caution to first-time joint-vacationer parents: make sure the two families have similar philosophies on sleep and scheduling. If you are too different, cut your losses and cancel the trip. We had only known said friends pre-children, and were unprepared for their parenting style (and we live too far away from each other to have seen it in advance). It turned out that they don’t believe in a schedule at all, and put their screaming baby and toddler to bed at 11pm at night. We had the choice of either ditching them for the sake of our schedule, and not seeing them much at all during our trip, or sacrificing our two toddlers’ sleep and everybody’s sanity so we could spend time with friends we see only every other year. We chose the latter. By the end of our 4-day trip, our kids were so exhausted they were crying almost non-stop all day long. Nobody in our family enjoyed the trip. The other family saw nothing wrong or out of the ordinary. I love them, but I will never vacation with them again. Not with kids anyway. Just like not every friend makes a good roommate, not every friend makes a good travel companion either, especially when little kids are involved! Know your friends before you take the dive.
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Exactly right. This is why I do not vacation with family in a rental home, though the Jersey Shore appeals...
What we can do is a few days of family fun with each of us having separate rooms in the same motel. We have the understanding that we split up during the day (they are into Beach; we are in to history) but eat together for dinner one night. The other night/nights, we do not do dinner en masse but if a few relatives want to eat together they do. After dinner, you are on your own. Those with kids put them to bed. Those of us whose kids are grown may split up for cappuccino or stronger drinks. Works out. But sharing a kitchen and bathroom will not fly!
What we can do is a few days of family fun with each of us having separate rooms in the same motel. We have the understanding that we split up during the day (they are into Beach; we are in to history) but eat together for dinner one night. The other night/nights, we do not do dinner en masse but if a few relatives want to eat together they do. After dinner, you are on your own. Those with kids put them to bed. Those of us whose kids are grown may split up for cappuccino or stronger drinks. Works out. But sharing a kitchen and bathroom will not fly!