# New Orleans photos and Avenue Plaza review



## gstepic (Jul 7, 2014)

My wife and I have always wanted to see New Orleans so we spent 4 nights in the city at the Avenue Plaza after spending 6 nights in Panama City Beach and 4 nights in Destin. We actually flew into New Orleans for our trip. The airport and car rental set up is very efficient. 

We really liked the Avenue Plaza, it had a lot of charm and the staff was very friendly and helpful. It was a little crowded as we had a one bedroom for my wife and I along with my son and his wife and 4 year old. The sofa sleeper was pretty comfortable according to my son. The computer room also had two tvs and plenty of good coffee. My wife and I could let my son and daughter in law sleep while we went down to the computer room/lounge area for coffee. We had a great view from our room. Here are a few photos of the resort and our room -

http://garystepicphotography.zenfolio.com/p781053204

Four nights was not enough time but we got a lot done in those few days. Here is a gallery of photos from all over the city -

http://garystepicphotography.zenfolio.com/p1032104046

We did go on a plantation tour and swamp tour. We saved quite a few bucks by driving to the plantations and to the Honey Island swamp area. Here is a gallery of the swamp tour -

http://garystepicphotography.zenfolio.com/p743256659

We visited the Oak Alley and Laura plantations, they were pretty close together. Here are some photos of the plantations (the last couple were of the plantation where the movie "12 Years as a Slave" was filmed, it was very close to Oak Alley) - 

http://garystepicphotography.zenfolio.com/p973319205

When I have some time I will do a slide show with music and some text giving some narrative. I will also be adding more information to this post as I have time, like some places where we had good meals. So hopefully I do not bore anyone to death with the photos.

Gary


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## lizap (Jul 7, 2014)

I hope your stay was before the horiffic shooting we had on Bourbon St. last week wounding nine people and killing one.  Very few locals venture out in the Quarter anymore at night-just too dangerous...




gstepic said:


> My wife and I have always wanted to see New Orleans so we spent 4 nights in the city at the Avenue Plaza after spending 6 nights in Panama City Beach and 4 nights in Destin. We actually flew into New Orleans for our trip. The airport and car rental set up is very efficient.
> 
> We really liked the Avenue Plaza, it had a lot of charm and the staff was very friendly and helpful. It was a little crowded as we had a one bedroom for my wife and I along with my son and his wife and 4 year old. The sofa sleeper was pretty comfortable according to my son. The computer room also had two tvs and plenty of good coffee. My wife and I could let my son and daughter in law sleep while we went down to the computer room/lounge area for coffee. We had a great view from our room. Here are a few photos of the resort and our room -
> 
> ...


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## gstepic (Jul 7, 2014)

Yes, that was after our trip. We were not impressed with Bourbon Street, I guess it is mainly a red light district, not suitable for families. We walked a few blocks starting from Canal street and had enough of Bourbon street, we then headed to Jackson Square which was not that far away. 

I did read where the shooting was around 2 or three in the morning, and we would never be out that late. We discovered for music Frenchmen Street was the place to go. Our last night we had a blast visiting a couple of clubs and listening to some great jazz music. We also had a great burger at the Port of Call (make sure you have a designated driver if you order their monsoon drink) which we heard was a popular local hangout near Frenchman St.. We did run into a parade of bicyclers that were mostly totally naked, not sure what that was all about. I did get some pics but my wife made me delete them!


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## lizap (Jul 7, 2014)

As everyone knows, N.O. is a really unique place with great culture, wonderful food, and friendly people.  It's a shame the crime is so bad. 




gstepic said:


> Yes, that was after our trip. We were not impressed with Bourbon Street, I guess it is mainly a red light district, not suitable for families. We walked a few blocks starting from Canal street and had enough of Bourbon street, we then headed to Jackson Square which was not that far away.
> 
> I did read where the shooting was around 2 or three in the morning, and we would never be out that late. We discovered for music Frenchmen Street was the place to go. Our last night we had a blast visiting a couple of clubs and listening to some great jazz music. We also had a great burger at the Port of Call (make sure you have a designated driver if you order their monsoon drink) which we heard was a popular local hangout near Frenchman St.. We did run into a parade of bicyclers that were mostly totally naked, not sure what that was all about. I did get some pics but my wife made me delete them!


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## pedro47 (Jul 8, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your pictures.


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## ronparise (Jul 8, 2014)

great stuff, thanks for posting

You put 5 into a one bedroom, If you ask at the desk they will tell you maximum occupancy is 4.  Did you get an ok for 5, or did you just do it.

Did you visit the gym on the second floor,  Its probably the biggest of any Ive seen at a resort

Next trip dont miss the tour of the Ashly house on the property. Its an early 1800's haunted house that Wyndham has restored


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## gstepic (Jul 8, 2014)

The fifth person was a 4 year old, nothing was said to us about having five in the room. I did not check out the exercise room, next time we will. We definitely want to go back to New Orleans as there was much we did not see. I would love to do the riverboat jazz cruise and we never did check out Magazine street. We will do the Ashley house tour on our next visit.

Tons of great places to eat within an easy walking distance. I think New Orleans could be seen without a rental car as it was easy to get around with the streetcars and buses. We did pay the $11 parking fee as we did not feel comfortable leaving the car parked on one of the side streets. We were approached many times by panhandlers and were told to not wander to the north of the resort. Our last night we checked out the jazz clubs on Frenchman St. and took a cab back, which was not very expensive. 
By having our car we did save on the swamp and plantation tours, the prices doubled if you used their transportation (they both were over an hour away by car). We used public transportation to see most of the city.

We fell in love with Destin and New Orleans is only a little more than four hours away so it is easy to combine trips. This is where I am glad my wife has given me permission to search for a CWA contract so we have more points. I can't believe we managed on less than 170000 points a year for so many years.


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## Saintsfanfl (Jul 8, 2014)

gstepic said:


> We were not impressed with Bourbon Street, I guess it is mainly a red light district, not suitable for families.



Bourbon Street has never been suitable for families dating back well over 100 years. The street and the french quarter in general was a place for drinking, gambling, and prostitution. That said it used to be a good historic street but unfortunately it was changed during the 80's and 90's. It is now no longer anything remotely what it used to be. It is now just a trashy tourist street.

Even though Bourbon is the most well known street in the French Quarter it is the one place that can be skipped entirely without missing anything, except for a couple restaurants.


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## Greg G (Jul 8, 2014)

Nice shots Gary.  Really liked the photo of the two guys sleeping on the bench with the Cafe Du Monde carry out bags (enjoying N.O. at a slow  easy pace), and the plantation shots.  Brings back memories.   I always find the architecture of the city's buildings so interesting.  You caught the feel of the city.
Yeah, that top floor of Avenue Plaza really has a great view. 

Greg


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## cotraveller (Jul 10, 2014)

Great pictures.  We must have used the same tour book as you did when deciding where to visit.  We were then in March and went to almost all the same places you did except for the swamp tour.  We replaced that with a side trip to Mississippi since we had never been in that state.

We agree with our neighbors comment about New Orleans.  A great place to visit, we enjoyed our trip and would recommend a visit to most anyone, but not a place we would want to live.  If nothing else, after living in the dry Colorado climate for so many years I'm sure the humidity would quickly get to us.


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## ace2000 (Jul 10, 2014)

Thanks for the pictures.  They make me regret what I missed this year by skipping Jazz Fest.


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## lizap (Jul 10, 2014)

You know its all what you are used to.  Having lived in climates with high humidity all my life, I have trouble with arid climates..




cotraveller said:


> Great pictures.  We must have used the same tour book as you did when deciding where to visit.  We were then in March and went to almost all the same places you did except for the swamp tour.  We replaced that with a side trip to Mississippi since we had never been in that state.
> 
> We agree with our neighbors comment about New Orleans.  A great place to visit, we enjoyed our trip and would recommend a visit to most anyone, but not a place we would want to live.  If nothing else, after living in the dry Colorado climate for so many years I'm sure the humidity would quickly get to us.


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## NKN (Jul 15, 2014)

We were there in the late 90's.  My favorite plantation was Nottoway.   It was also a BnB and you could rent rooms in an ell of the house.  After hours, you could walk through the rooms on your own.  Not sure if they still allow that.  Told DH we should go back with a tape player and waltz in the ballroom.  

Nkn


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## jejones3329 (Jul 16, 2014)

I was in NO in May. As a 50 plus white female , I was out late at night. Gambled at Harrahs a couple of nights till 3 or 4 in morning , then walked most of length of Canal, plus on Bourbon street late at night, no problems. Of course Bourbon street is not for children. I had panhandlers approach but no one got to close and those I chose to not give to were polite. I kept my money in my pocket instead of carrying a purse but never felt frightened. As a psychiatric nurse I dealt with a lot of violent people so tend to be very aware of those around me but felt comfortable. Locals told me there are many under cover police out at night and I noticed a few. Sure there is evidence of lifestyles that are not for me but I would not let one horrible shooting keep me from going where I want to go. No more then one would not send their kids to school because of a school shooting. The only time in NO I had concern was day I was leaving , I had luggage was going to walk to car and stopped in at McDonalds at 10 AM. I started to set luggage to side to order and saw a young man looking at it that had an obvious drugged look in his eyes, I just took ahold of luggage and he turned away. Is something more likely to happen on Bourbon street then other cities at night , probably so as it is busier with a drinking lifestyle but I guess I just choose to assume if one stays aware and can remove themselves if they see a situation arising then they are usually safe. No one is safe anywhere from a crazy or drugged person with a gun.


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## Saintsfanfl (Jul 16, 2014)

jejones3329 said:


> I was in NO in May. As a 50 plus white female , I was out late at night. Gambled at Harrahs a couple of nights till 3 or 4 in morning , then walked most of length of Canal, plus on Bourbon street late at night, no problems. Of course Bourbon street is not for children. I had panhandlers approach but no one got to close and those I chose to not give to were polite. I kept my money in my pocket instead of carrying a purse but never felt frightened. As a psychiatric nurse I dealt with a lot of violent people so tend to be very aware of those around me but felt comfortable. Locals told me there are many under cover police out at night and I noticed a few. Sure there is evidence of lifestyles that are not for me but I would not let one horrible shooting keep me from going where I want to go. No more then one would not send their kids to school because of a school shooting. The only time in NO I had concern was day I was leaving , I had luggage was going to walk to car and stopped in at McDonalds at 10 AM. I started to set luggage to side to order and saw a young man looking at it that had an obvious drugged look in his eyes, I just took ahold of luggage and he turned away. Is something more likely to happen on Bourbon street then other cities at night , probably so as it is busier with a drinking lifestyle but I guess I just choose to assume if one stays aware and can remove themselves if they see a situation arising then they are usually safe. No one is safe anywhere from a crazy or drugged person with a gun.



While you make some decent points, the murder rate in New Orleans is both very real and very high. The national average per year is one murder in every 20,000. New Orleans murder rate per year is one murder per 2,500 people. It's similar to visiting a bad 3rd world country. New Orleans murder rate is the same as Jamaica but much worse than Haiti or the Dominican Republic. Spending a week in New Orleans has about a 1 in 130,000 chance of being murdered during that week vs 1 in over 1 million average anywhere else in the US.

That said, I consider it one of my homes and very near where I grew up. Most of the higher murder rate is due to bad areas in New Orleans that a tourist would never wander through. It's still a dangerous place but awareness is the key.



> till 3 or 4 in morning , then walked most of length of Canal



No offense but this really isn't something anyone should do, especially alone. Awareness is about avoiding putting oneself in an unnecessarily dangerous position. Walking Canal alone at 3-4 in the morning would qualify.


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## ronparise (Jul 16, 2014)

Saintsfanfl said:


> While you make some decent points, the murder rate in New Orleans is both very real and very high. The national average per year is one murder in every 20,000. New Orleans murder rate per year is one murder per 2,500 people. It's similar to visiting a bad 3rd world country. New Orleans murder rate is the same as Jamaica but much worse than Haiti or the Dominican Republic. Spending a week in New Orleans has about a 1 in 130,000 chance of being murdered during that week vs 1 in over 1 million average anywhere else in the US.
> 
> That said, I consider it one of my homes and very near where I grew up. Most of the higher murder rate is due to bad areas in New Orleans that a tourist would never wander through. It's still a dangerous place but awareness is the key.
> 
> ...




Not to minimize the very high numbers, but Id want to dig deeper  before Id stay away from New Orleans....Im betting a high percentage of the victims knew the guy that killed them....drug deals gone bad, or wives killing their husbands (or vice versa) etc


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## Saintsfanfl (Jul 16, 2014)

ronparise said:


> Not to minimize the very high numbers, but Id want to dig deeper  before Id stay away from New Orleans....Im betting a high percentage of the victims knew the guy that killed them....drug deals gone bad, or wives killing their husbands (or vice versa) etc



I completely agree, but that is also true of murder in the rest of the US. 

I don't mean to scare anyone into not going. I go all the time and will be in the French Quarter (not Bourbon Street) with my 5 small kids in December. I am just saying that I wouldn't suggest anyone walk around alone in the middle of the night.

It's a great historical place to visit. Louisiana and MS are very poor states and with poverty usually comes a higher crime rate. Just have to be aware, especially at night.


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## jejones3329 (Jul 17, 2014)

According to this The French Quarter is one of the safer parts of New Orleans , I doubt I saw the roughest areas of NO, saw a lot of panhandlers, etc  but obviously there are more crime ridden areas. Perhaps one reason being there are more police in the French Quarter to make it safer for tourist. French quarter rate less then half that of rest of NO. http://www.areavibes.com/new+orleans-la/french+quarter/crime/


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## Saintsfanfl (Jul 18, 2014)

jejones3329 said:


> According to this The French Quarter is one of the safer parts of New Orleans , I doubt I saw the roughest areas of NO, saw a lot of panhandlers, etc  but obviously there are more crime ridden areas. Perhaps one reason being there are more police in the French Quarter to make it safer for tourist. French quarter rate less then half that of rest of NO. http://www.areavibes.com/new+orleans-la/french+quarter/crime/



This is true. The French Quarter is absolutely one of the safest areas in New Orleans. The main concern is thievery, especially when it is crowded. Besides taking care of personal items in crowds, you want to be careful walking on the outside of the French Quarter area at night where it is dark and less people.


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