In New Orleans we stayed with another warmshowers host. He lost his house in Hurricane Katrina and decided to buy a new one 2 blocks away. He still has the empty lot his house was on so he let us set up camp there for a few days and shower an things in his new place. He showed us around the city a bit an took us to some hidden gems, including an artist co-op with a massive tree house that spanned several trees in their back yard. It was really fun to climb around and explore it.
New Orleans is such a vibrant and cool city. The food is amazing ( we know because we ate it all...beignets, muffalettas, jambalaya, poboys, crawfish, etc.) In addition the music is simply everywhere and fantastic. We saw bands jam in tiny clubs on Frenchmas st, live music in city parks and of course many talented musicians at Jazzfest.
Yesterday we rode north through bayous out of the city. It I amazing to see neighborhoods that have been completely abandoned after Katrina. The damage was just so widespread and catastrophic. We even saw a bulldozer taking down a house next to the lot we stayed in.
The highlight of our day was entering yet another state!! Mississippi!! We also hit the Gulf Coast at the end of the day which is part of the Atlantic ocean. So exciting!! We camped on the beach and ate at a cute Jimmy Buffett style restaurant thanks to the sponsorship of Maureen Morrissey thanks to the prompting o her wonderful class ;)