They're not all winners

Not every travel experience is a good one.  We've had a few duds, mostly due to personal preference.  There was nothing wrong with the places I didn't care for, I just didn't care for them.  If that makes any sense.   I am not a city person.  If I could leave on a two week vacation and never see another person, well, that would just be all right.  I like nature.  Mountains, beaches, deserts.  I'm not big on anything that attracts a lot of people.  Museums, plays, musicals, sporting events, festivals. If it's got a lot of crowds or noise, I'm not interested.   Just my personal preference, but here are a few that I thought sucked:

#4 Yosemite--This one was disappointing.  Yosemite was completely underwhelming.  There is only one road through, and no scenic pull offs, that we could find.  You can't see anything from the road, aside from Half Dome, which we didn't even know was there.  We saw a bunch of cars pulled over, so we pulled over, because there must be something interesting there.  We were pulled off for a few minutes before we even realized it was Half Dome.  If you're a hard core backpacker or hiker, which we are not, Yosemite probably has much more to offer.  You just can't see it from the car.  Vacation time is limited, so we don't have as much time as we'd like to have.  If we'd had a couple of days in Yosemite, I'm sure it would have been better.  Maybe once you get inside the park there is a lot more to see.  And, FYI, there is no ranger station or information inside the park.  I hated that, because I collect magnets from all the places I visit and I didn't get one from Yosemite:(

#3 Gatlinburg, TN--Gatlinburg is popular with a lot of my coworkers, but, for the life of me, I can't figure out why.  That place sucks.  It is sooo touristy.  Cheap souvenir shops everywhere, an amusement park and a whole bunch of other stuff I don't care about.  We went because the Smoky Mountains were on our 100 Places, but naturally the park was closed for maintenance.  So we didn't get to see the Smoky Mountains.  Just Gatlinburg. I left on vacation with a pocket full of souvenir money, and came home with ninety percent of it.  I couldn't even find anything to spend money on. And I can always find stuff to spend money on.  No problem.

#2 Anywhere in Florida--Again, popular with the coworkers.  I'm going to get lynched, but I just plain don't like Florida.  Way too hot.  Way too many people.  The beaches aren't pretty.  I've been to the Keys, Sanibel Island and the Everglades.  Didn't care for any of it, although, the air boat tour of the Everglades was awesome.  I'd do that every day.  Sanibel Island is ridiculously crowded.  Shoulder to shoulder people and bumper to bumper traffic.  It was on the 100 Places, but I'm not entirely sure why.  I think because of the shells, but I'm not putting up with the crowds for a handful of tiny shells.  At the risk of sounding like a snob, Florida might be awesome if you've never been anywhere else. A bold statement but, A) it's my blog and B) I'm a snob.

#1 New Orleans, LA--I hate to be crass, but I feel I must be blunt on this one.  New Orleans is the biggest shit hole I've ever been in.  It's a nightmare beyond description.  When we got there, we took a taxi to our hotel on St Anne St, in the French Quarter.  It looked like a back alley, the likes of which hookers and drug dealers would shy away from.  It was dirty.  Buildings had crumbled onto the sidewalks.  There was exposed wiring everywhere (there are either no building codes, or they're simply not enforced). The taxi lady says all chipper like "Ok, we're here!"  and I remember thinking "We're where?"  There was no hotel, just a door.  (Oddly enough, the hotel was really nice.  It was like that tent in Harry Potter where you walk inside and it's all huge and stuff.  Magic.)  New Orleans is filthy.  There are puddles where there shouldn't be puddles, as it wasn't raining.  Strippers hang out in the streets at two o'clock in the afternoon-on a Thursday.  The homeless are everywhere.  The Café DuMond, which is the most famous restaurant in New Orleans was the second biggest shit hole I've ever been in.  It's dirty and run by a bunch of Vietnamese.  I don't know what I thought the Café DuMond was going to be, but Presidents have eaten there.  It was the first business reopened after Katrina, by order of the governor, I think.  It was not what I thought it was going to be.  We were there three years after Katrina, and it looked much the same as it did immediately after.  I'd be willing to bet it looks the same now.  We took a Katrina tour---most depressing two hours of my life.  I went to bed that night with the worst headache I've ever had.  Money and vacation time are both in short supply and I thought I'd wasted them both.  However, once you get past the initial shock, New Orleans can be fun.  It's unique.  And I think it's the uniqueness that landed New Orleans a spot in the 100 Places book.  We took a swamp tour, which was a lot of fun, and a plantation tour.  Both were well worth it.  I will never forget the street musicians. There was one guy, outside the Café DuMond playing the trombone and I'd be willing to bet everything I own that the day we saw him was the first day he'd picked it up.  He was terrible, he was having fun and he was making bank.  That guy was a genius. He was making more money than me at something he sucked at.