(Continued from Part 2)
We woke up at 6:00am on Sunday. I rolled out of bed at 6:20, climbed into some clothing, and followed my friends downstairs in somewhat of a haze to the hotel restaurant for the breakfast buffet at 6:30. The buffet consisted of the usual: eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and orange juice – actual real orange juice made from oranges, which I was happy about.
We finished with enough time to walk a block over to check out Bourbon Street while it wasn’t crowded. The street itself was… grimy, for lack of a better word. It was just covered with a layer of greasy slime. It was nasty and I slipped all over the place trying to walk. Yes, it was that bad.
We met our bus back at the hotel at 8 and were taken on a brief tour of some of the city while picking up other people before being taken to the swamp. At one point during the bus ride, another passenger asked if we could stop so that she could exit the bus and be sick. It was unknown if she was puking from excessive alcohol consumption the night before or some stomach virus. I told my friends that I was not going to sit behind her on the airboat ride.
McKenzie set this excursion up for us and took care of all the logistics. Kylie took some fantastic pictures of the swamp itself. I snapped a few pictures before we boarded the airboat.
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| (Yup) |
When we had first begun planning this trip, my friends were super excited about an airboat ride. I was not keen on the idea because I assumed it would be dirty, cold, and loud. After thinking about it for a couple months, I decided that it could be adventurous and agreed to it. Of course, I wanted to take a picture that showed my friends’ excitement and my disgruntled-ness.
The ride turned out to be pretty neat. It was very loud as I had expected (even with the headgear) and very cold. It was a chilly day to begin with and the chill went right through my many layers of clothing when the airboat was moving. The cold preoccupied me for most of the tour. If I ever did it again, I would do it in the summer, so that I wouldn’t freeze to death and so that I could see more than a few smallish gators. Captain Ernie, the tour guide, explained why you don’t see many gators in the colder months. I think I’ll spare the biology lesson and just share some pictures…
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| (Some of these trees are really pretty) |
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| (OOOH! A GATOR!) |
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| (Another gator!) |
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| (Not our ship) |
After the swamp tour, we were dropped off near our hotel. During the shuttle bus ride, we decided to have lunch at Royal House, Oyster Bar. It was chilly out and I was frozen to the core from the air boat ride, but they opened the large double doors anyway. So, we asked them to move us as far from the outside as possible. We picked this restaurant because my friends wanted to try gator meat… I didn’t, but agreed to try it for adventure’s sake. Royal House had gator bites, which were tater tot sized breaded gator meat. We counted to three and all tried it at the same time. I did not like it all… there was a tangy taste to it. McKenzie actually spit hers out and almost gagged. I, of course, laughed at her as she apologized. I tried another one with tartar sauce, but that was it. Kylie had a few of the bites. For actual lunch, I had a grilled chicken salad. I will not eat gator meat ever again.
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| (We're just the best!) |
After lunch, we stopped off at Walgreens to grab a few things and then returned to the hotel. I showered and changed and when I came out of the bathroom, I found the lights were off, the TV was on, and my friends were passed out on their beds. So, I packed up my modern man bag and left the tuckered out twins to their midday naps. I stopped off at the Hard Rock Café for the pins and a selfie and wandered down Bourbon Street in search of a bourbon drink. The Booze Bar here fit that requirement and the bartender made a pretty great Manhattan with Makers Mark. I’ve been here for 90 minutes now and just ordered my second drink. This one is in a plastic cup upon my request because I’m caught up on writing and I want to see some more of Bourbon Street before my friends wake up and hunt me down.
We woke up at 6:00am on Sunday. I rolled out of bed at 6:20, climbed into some clothing, and followed my friends downstairs in somewhat of a haze to the hotel restaurant for the breakfast buffet at 6:30. The buffet consisted of the usual: eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and orange juice – actual real orange juice made from oranges, which I was happy about.
McKenzie set this excursion up for us and took care of all the logistics. Kylie took some fantastic pictures of the swamp itself. I snapped a few pictures before we boarded the airboat.
