We left Sunflower at 8 a.m. destined for the Big Easy, New Orleans.  After a five-hour trip, excited students and chaperones piled out of the bus into Laurel Elementary School, where we met a group of students attending a New Orleans Freedom School.  The two groups exchanged experiences, then engaged in good-natured races and games.  The Sunflower kids then toured Louie Armstrong Park and listened to Father Le Doux tell the history of St. Augustine's church before we settled in for a night with crickets and gators at Bayou Segnette State Park.
    The next day, we braved monstrous grasshoppers, mysterious alligators, and slithery snakes as we picked our way through Jean Lafitte National Park.  From there, we went to learn about slavery and Creole culture at Laura Plantation.  That night was spent roaming the streets of the French Quarter, watching street performers, and eating beignets at the legendary Cafe du Monde.