We just got back from New Orleans and we had a wonderful time! We stayed at the Maison Dupuy in the French Quarter (highly recommended) and spent almost a week exploring the city. Here are some suggestions:

1. Take a horse carriage ride, a walking tour, or a haunted tour, etc. The Quarter is RICH with history and the guides will entertain you with all kinds of inetersting facts. Definitely worth it.

2. If you plan on visiting the Aquarium and the Zoo on the same day, take a riverboat ride from one to the other (round trip). It's about a 6 mile, 45 min. ride with all kinds of interesting facts about the Mississippi River and New Orleans. It's cheap (look for the booth outside Riverwalk and get a package deal) and it beats fighting traffic and paying for parking. Have a drink or cocktail to cool off. Take the late boat and enjoy a dinner buffet.

3. IMAX Theater is a great way to cool off during a hot day of walking around the Quarter. Plan it out so you can enjoy a little AC during the hottest part of the day while watching a 3-D safari or underwater adventure. Nice chance for real little ones to take a nap.

4. Skip Six Flags. You can find much better ways to enjoy New Olreans than wasting time at Six Flags. They have a long way to go before I would recommend them. Customer service was the worst I've seen. Workers are slow and don't care. Most of the rides are just so-so.

5. Stick with the stuff that is unique to New Olreans... like the D-Day Museum and NOMA (New Olrenas Museum of Art). Kids even enjoy them. City Park (by NOMA) is also fun for the kids. Explore the French Quarter. Walk in every shop that you see. You may not buy anything, but you'll definitley see some interesting stuff.

6. Pay the extra money to eat at authentic New Orleans restaurants instead of Mc Donalds... at least for most of you meals. There's a Bistro or Cafe on every corner that has food that will melt in your mouth. You'll be glad you spent a little extra.

7. Visit Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. It's a lot of fun and lots of weird stuff to laugh about. Strangely, it was one of the most memorable parts of our trip. It's on Decatur, next to the House of Voodoo.

Hope that helps a little if you're planning a trip to NOLA. It was recently proclaimed the #1 Family Destination in America.