Channeling Audrey

The plan had been to visit Avery Island (where Tabasco Sauce is made!) after a night in the French Quarter.  For whatever reason, we decided to put off that plan and go to one of the historic plantation houses on the River Road.  Last year we visited a few houses in Natchez, MS as well as Oak Alley Plantation, which is just down the road from Houmas House.

These plantation houses are expensive to visit - the tickets cost from $15-$20, and they are all fairly similar in their history and the sort of things you'll see inside.  Really, there's no need to visit more than one at a time.  The house tour at Houmas House was no different...we saw a lot of the same sorts of things we had seen in all of the mansions we had visited last summer (we did have an excellent, well-informed and very funny tour guide though!).  It was the gardens that made the ticket worth the price!

I've always thought that big, exotic gardens are the perfect place for an amateur photographer to get some practice.  The subjects tend to stay fairly still (unless it's windy) and usually the grounds are big enough that you aren't always waiting for someone to walk out of your shot, or trying to take the photo fast before someone walks into it!  I was able to really take my time with a lot of these photos and I have to say I am proud of the results!  I might have gone a little overboard though, so I'll spare your scrolling finger and break them up into a few different posts.

 ^^The hexagon building is home to a little bar.  You can get yourself a mint julep (supposedly invented at Houmas House...hmm) and take it on your tour of the house.^^