New Orleans and Cajun Country

We head south and overnight in Ridgeland, Mississippi.

We depart this morning for Houma, Louisiana located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We will stop for a visit and buffet lunch at the Houmas House Plantation. The mansion allows visitors to experience the life on a sugarcane plantation in the 1800s. This afternoon, we will enter the Creole world of Louisiana at Laura Plantation. Step beyond the myths of the American South and walk in the foot steps of 4 generations of one Louisiana Creole family, both free and enslaved. Visit this historic sugar farmstead and experience what has been called "the best history tour in the U.S." We will check in our hotel, our home for the next 4 nights in Houma, Louisiana. (B, L)

Following breakfast, we depart for New Orleans for a tour of the city. It is easy getting lost in the rich history and elegant architecture! Witness the natural beauty of Audubon and City Park, the largest collection of mature Live Oak trees. Explore the cobblestone streets and mansions while passing through Faubourgs-French neighborhoods. The tour will leave you informed, and amazed. After our tour we will have a Jazz Brunch Buffet at the Court of Two Sisters. This afternoon we visit the WWII Museum, dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum. We have free time at New Orleans Historic Market which encompasses six blocks on the riverside of the Lower French Quarter. This evening we have dinner at Mulate's Cajun Restaurant with live dance music. (B,L,D)

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel before departing for the International Petroleum Museum. Visit the Only place in the world where the general public can walk aboard the authentic offshore drilling rig. Then off to Avery Island, a mysteriously beautiful place where the pepper fields grow, and the factory hums. We will have a self-guided tour on the history and production of Tabasco Pepper Sauce. We will also visit the exotic Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island - as seen in Southern Living Magazine. Tonight we will have dinner at the home of Cajun Camp Cooking, Landry's Restaurant. (B,D)

Today we will visit the Greenwood Gator Farm where you will see real live alligators at the full-time working alligator farm. See gators of all sizes, from new hatchlings to full grown monsters! After the farm tour, we will journey back to the early days of Louisiana bayou and swamp explorations. Your boat will drift through the waterways. Learn about the Louisiana Wetlands, the inhabitants of the swamp. Unafraid the alligator will be responsive to their boat captain's call, they peek out from underbrush. After your tour, indulge in a delicious "po boy" lunch. (B,L)

After breakfast we travel north to our overnight in Memphis/Southaven. (B)

Top off your tour this morning with an unforgettable journey through the most famous rock'n'roll residence in the world, Graceland. After our visit we will return home. (B)