Mobile was just a stop, we didn’t really plan on doing anything there but sleeping. Emily woke up late, actually very late at 7:50 if you don’t count the 1 hour time difference!

Our breakfast was from Costco, croissant and fruit and we were in the car by 9:00am for probably the shortest drive of the whole trip, just 2 hours. The road to New Orleans brought us beautiful views over swamps, rivers and forests.

After a short while we entered Mississippi, State #11 and this is were we stopped in Gulfport for a Starbucks mug and some shopping. Unfortunately there was no Starbucks mug due to a legal issue, 🙁 But we found a Disney Store outlet and a Tommy Hilfiger which both just stocked up for the Memorial Day sale. Memorial Day is this Monday.

With just an hour drive ahead of us we drove right to our hotel in New Orleans French Quarter. On the last bridge towards NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) it started to rain, or maybe pouring is a better description. Luckily we had Emily with us, still waving her American Flag shouting “STOP IT, STOP THE RAIN!” and just before we reached our hotel the rain almost stopped.

We stay just a block away from Bourbon Street in the Chateau Lemonye, a Holiday Inn Hotel which fits perfectly in the environment. Our room was ready right away and it’s beautiful.

After we arranged our stuff we left for lunch. The rain was reduced to just some drops and we hoped to find a spot in the Oceana Grill just a couple minutes away from our hotel. Walking there we already experienced some of where NOLA is all about, partying on the streets.

At the restaurant we got a table right away. We started with blackened Alligator Tail bites and for our entrees Emily went with the fried fish, mama the Mardi Gras pasta with Shrimp and Louisiana Crawfish and I went with the Fried Seafood platter with fried shrimps, fried Louisiana Crawfish and fried Oysters. Everything’s as delicious and Emily her fish was “berry delicious”.

After lunch it was time for an afternoon nap, when we walked back it rained but we found some umbrellas in a souvenir shop.

While we were sleeping mama researched what we needed to see besides the tips we got from Jeremy.

After the nap we walked towards Jackson Square and saw some very beautiful, typical for the French Quarter, balconies on our way over there.

Since we were close to Cafe Du Monde we wanted to see if there was a spot for us to eat the worlds most famous Beignets and not to forget just dip your finger in the powder sugar. And we were lucky just 40 minutes later we left after sharing 6 beignets and having some drinks.

We were close to the Mississippi and decided to look at some ships and trains. We also booked a lunch on a steamboat over the Mississippi for tomorrow.

From there we slowly walked back to our hotel along Bourbon street.

When we arrived in our hotel we shared some fries and had the final drinks of the day in the hotel bar.

After a long bath for Emily it’s time to go to bed to start tomorrow early!

After our “late” night yesterday we hoped to make it a late morning but Emily decided that 6:55 was the perfect time to start a discussion with Edwin, Bunny, Sofia and Ariel!

We still decided to have a slow start and around 9:30 we left the room to the Club Lounge for a small breakfast. After breakfast we left the hotel to check out the powerless Condo from Alex & Juli which was just 3 minutes away from our hotel.

Even with out power the place was beautiful or to use Emily’s terms: “Berry Beautiful”. Emily had the most fun while she had 5 adults entertaining her and a huge Amazon box large enough to fit her in.

While Alex and Kai left for work I drove the 3 ladies to a Costco, our first time a Costco ever! Yes, we drove almost 1200 Miles/1930 Kilometer for our first Costco visit. We got in on the Teufel’s Costco Card. So far so good…

I would personally have bought a lot more but Daniëlle convinced me that we didn’t need super soakers during our trip.

The fun started at checkout, I wanted to pay but that wasn’t possible as it was Juli’s membership card and her name is not on my credit card. Lucky for us we had Juli with us and she paid with her card! The general thought is that Juli attracts these issues as she left ran into a similar issue before! On the positive side Emily got a American flag from a nice lady in the checkout line.

Next challenge getting of the parking lot! If I would have done the same as the locals we would have been there for at least an hour! But we, maybe it was just me, decided that there was a quicker way out. It only involved breaking 2, maybe 3 rules… First I drove on the left side, since at that side of the road/lane there was no stop sign I figured I did not need to stop and all of that I did at a speed of around 25 Mph/40kmh. Took us 20 seconds!

Almost noon and so we went to Einstein Bros Bagels just across from the Teufel’s! Everyone but Emily ate their bagel but Emily was “All done!” We explained Emily that Juli wasn’t coming with us and for a brief moment she had found the solution: “Mama stay with Alex, Juli go in the Auto”

A couple minutes later she decided mama needed to come too but since Alex can’t be left on his own we brought Juli back to her home. Emily was so sad that she didn’t even want to say bye to Juli.

As soon as we hit the road Emily’s fell a sleep, she slept almost 2 hours! And after she woke up she was waving her brand new flag while talking nonstop for the remaining 3 hours…

Somewhere we also entered State #10, Alabama!

On the I-65 we drove to a terrible rainstorm for about 30 minutes.

As soon as the weather got better we stopped for gas and coffee at the McDonalds. One thing I don’t understand is how they can mess up an order for 2 coffees, an apple juice and 3 cookies. At least Emily got to play in the PlayPlace for the first time, she loved it and did not want to leave but we still had a 2 hour drive ahead of us.

The last 2 hours Daniëlle drove over the most scenic part of today’s route. The next picture is from the Mobile-Tensaw Delta which is the second lagerst in the States.

The Holiday Inn was nice, the restaurant was a bad choice. Let me restate that the restaurant was the worst place I’ve ever order food!!! Undercooked chicken for Emily, sour tasting broccoli, way over cooked salmon! The only things which were eatable were the rice and the Mac’n’Cheese but I guess that’s because it came from a pre-made package!

After dinner we went to a nearby Starbucks for coffee, cookies and a state mug! The starbucks was closing at 9pm, we arrived at 7:30 but there was no food anymore, drinks only! I guess and hope service and food are not the things where Alabama is famous for?!?

Back at the hotel we prepared everything for a smooth morning to make sure that we beat the expected heavy Memorial Day traffic to our next stop, where will it be?