So in keeping with my blogs about adventure, I have an American adventure to report about.  This New Years I spent my time ringing in 2013 in the Big Easy, otherwise known as New Orleans.  With four fabulous ladies, we set out to drive 958 miles from Chicago to New Orleans and experience one of the few American cities with amazing culture, food, music and fun.  Driving through Illinois, which is the longest state ever, all the way to Louisiana was no small feat.  Through the entire journey we did not notice much change to the landscape, everywhere we went was the same few fast food chains and I was a bit let down when we hit Louisiana and it was very much like the other 5 states we were in.  That is until we hit the swamp area and realized how different this state was and further into New Orleans we realized how much of a cultural difference there was within the city.  


Whether it was the amazing seafood, the French flair, the amazing music being played on every street corner, the funky voodoo shops, the incredible art work being sold on the street or the amazing architecture of the buildings of the French Quarter, everything made me happy.  It made me realize how much I love cultural differences.  I love being places where things are a bit different than the norm.  Many places in America all are starting to look the same.  With big corporations taking over most of our economy how can anything stay unique.  It was nice and refreshing to find a place that still had diversity and culture.  A place where you can learn from the things around you that are different.  With the growth of big business it makes me worried that some of the culture that makes us different, that makes going to different parts of our own country interesting, will be lost along the way.  Granted I love Target and Starbucks and some of the others, but I also don't want to lose smaller interesting places along the way.  Those places that  make us want to visit them just because they are so different, they are now unique.  


New Orleans was a trip full of dancing in the street, eating the most amazing mufflato sandwich, trying oysters for the first time, laughing a lot, and having crazy amounts of fun.  On the way home we stopped in Nashville and I again was amazed by another city with amazing culture.  From amazing live country music to the best BBQ I have ever had.  It was an experience.  


My Quote for this trip:  "We travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." – Pico Iyer


Check out the pictures:



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