Friday, March 15, 2024

NEW ORLEANS!

For our first county/parish-collecting adventure of 2024, we flew into an airport we’d never visited before – New Orleans. We ran into former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at the Milwaukee Airport. He was gracious enough to take a few pictures with us. We then took off, and arrived early Saturday afternoon, rented a Ford Explorer, and immediately headed out of town. (We would return.) Our destination for the evening was Baton Rouge. But as usual, we took a roundabout way to get there. We went northwest on I-10, driving into St. James Parish, followed shortly by Ascension Parish. We then got off the interstate, headed north on HWY 22, and entered Livingston Parish. Continuing farther north, we briefly crossed into St. Helena Parish, before heading straight to Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge sits in two parishes – East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge. We hit them both. But before heading to our hotel, we drove through town on I-10 and entered Iberville Parish. From there, we turned around, went back to town, stopped for a quick bite to eat at the Shake Shack, then retired for the evening at our hotel – the Hyatt Place Baton Rouge.

                        




On Sunday, we set out for Arkansas. After breakfast, we spent most of the day driving north and west. We entered East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, Concordia, Tensas, Catahoula, Franklin, and Caldwell Parishes. Near the city of Columbia, we had to get off our route to pick up Richland Parish to the northeast. When we came back, we entered Ouachita Parish and stopped for a bite to eat at Taco Bell in the city of Monroe.








After lunch, we continued north on HWY 165, crossing into Morehouse Parish, before turning around and crossing into Union Parish. We then crossed the Arkansas state line, picking up Union County. We continued mostly north, picking up Bradley, Calhoun, Dallas, Cleveland, and Grant Counties. After crossing into Grant County, we turned around and headed straight to our hotel – the Hampton Inn, El Dorado. On the way back, we picked up Ouachita County on HWY 79, and stopped for Subway sandwiches in El Dorado.






On Monday, we began the long drive back to New Orleans. Before we got back into Louisiana, we had to take a diversion off HWY 15 to pick up Columbia County. Following that, we crossed into Louisiana, picking up Claiborne Parish. We then traveled southwest to I-20, picking up Webster and Bienville Parishes. As is usually the case, our time spent on actual interstates was short lived. We exited near Arcadia, headed southeast for quite a while, and picked up Lincoln, Jackson, Winn, and La Salle Parishes. We then drove south into Alexandria, picking up Grant and Rapides Parishes and stopping for lunch at Raising Cane’s.







With our bellies full, we continued south, picking up Evangeline and St. Landry Parishes. We then hit a four-corner area where Evangeline, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Allen Parishes all meet at a point. From there, we went farther south, getting relatively close to the coastline, and picking up Cameron and Vermilion Parishes. We then went into the city of Lafayette, picking up Lafayette, St. Martin, and Iberia Parishes. Staying on HWY 90, we continued east on the last stretch to New Orleans. We made one brief stop in Morgan City for a bathroom break at Walmart, as well as to take a short trip a mile north out of town to cross into a stand-alone area of St. Martin Parish – just on the off chance that this small area becomes its own separate Parish someday. We then finished off our drive back to New Orleans, picking up Assumption, Terrebonne, and Lafourche Parishes along the way. It was pouring rain for the last 20 minutes, as we made our way to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric French Quarter. Though it borders Bourbon Street, our room was a suite that bordered the corners of Dauphine and Iberville. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock CafĂ©, which was accessible from our hotel lobby.














On Tuesday, we had breakfast at Holmes, the hotel restaurant. We then took a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1, the oldest extant cemetery in New Orleans. A memorable scene from Easy Rider was filmed there. We then did a self-guided tour of Bourbon Street and the surrounding area. We checked out of our hotel around 4:00, and then moved a few blocks away to our next hotel, another Hyatt property called the Eliza Jane. We had dinner at their in-house bar, The Press Room. On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed breakfast at Couvant, an in-house restaurant at the Eliza Jane. After breakfast, we walked to Jackson Square, checked out the St. Louis Cathedral, tried beignets at Cafe Du Monde, and walked along the riverfront. We then returned to our hotel, packed, and headed back to the airport for the trip home.





















When it was all said and done, we had picked up 51 new counties and parishes. And we completely finished the state of Louisiana. Our county total now stands at 2,614. So, what’s next? We have a trip to Washington, D.C. planned for next month. So, stay tuned!


 NEW COUNTIES - 51
                  TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2024 - 51
                  ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 2614