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New Orleans Info Video EWeek 2026

Added Sep 27, 2025 •

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good afternoon parents uh my name is Casey phicen I'm the dean of students and I'm here to talk to you about our enrichment we trip to the Big Easy New Orleans uh this will be the seventh time I've done this trip year in a row uh we take about 20 to uh 22 students um we're there for 5 days we leave Sunday we come back Friday I'll show you the itinerary in a little bit um I think it's a great trip uh it it's pretty expansive um the kids get a lot of introduction to the culture of the city the history of the city um the music of the city and most importantly the food there is a lot of walking involved your kids need to know that before they go um and whether can be inclement um some years is great some years it rains quite a bit so we have to dress and make sure we're prepared for that um to start off with I'd like you to show you the flyer that will be offered um at our enrichment week fair if I can find it there it is and again straight off the straight off the um flyer 1 of the great mixtures greatest mixtures of culture in the world see how it all comes together in the city known as The Big Easy it's been 5 Days 1 of the most visited cities in the world we will tour the world famous French Quarter in the Garden District right through alligator infested swamps of values learn about the famous ghost of New Orleans eat some Cajun and Creole food Crews the great Mississippi tore the upper town universities of Chile and Loyola while strolling down St Charles venue the cost will be 2,800 um 1 of the things that we've had to add in the last couple years is we've had to increase the number of times we use ride sharing and Uber to get to and from locations as the public transportation particularly as you get closer to the weekend becomes very impacted uh next I'd like to show you our itinerary for the week uh we will leave on Sunday these times are not dialed in yet that that's roughly when we'll but that's not exactly what we're going to leave uh we will leave out of SFO I know it's a bit of a headache but that way we get a direct flight it makes life much easier once we are traveling uh once we get to New Orleans we have a torque uh company that's been with us for 6 years um they will have a bus for us pick us up at the airport we stay at the St Charles in uh that is on St Charles Avenue obviously and it is about a halfway between uh Loyola and the French Quarter there's really not much to do for the kids uh in that area there's no swimming pool there's no hot tub there's no weight room it's just pretty pretty pretty basic uh lodging uh but we like the location because it's right next to the street car and it's out of Harm's Way Out of the quarter um I know that New Orleans can have a reputation as being a uh somewhat unsafe City I I will tell you right now uh we are always in highly uh populated areas a lot of tourists um a lot of police uh we do not Veer off uh the beaten so to speak um and we make sure we are stay together as a group we will have to reach chaperon total myself my wife and a third person to be determined students will share a room with 1 other student uh each kid will get their bed um we do not try to put 4 Kids in a room uh that has not worked in the past when we get there uh Sunday night we try to go to uh a mass at a beautiful Jesuit Church uh in the French Quarter uh New Orleans is 1 of the most Catholic cities uh in our country and we try to want to make sure we have a connection between what we do here at St Mary's and the culture of the city we will then have dinner at murals on Jackson Square fabulous dinner um really 1 of the better places to eat if you ever get a chance to go to New Orleans I highly recommend Muriel's Jackson Square Monday morning we'll do a guided City Tour we have a tour guide Darlene Landry she's worked with us for 7 to 8 years uh we have a bus We Tour all through the city um she gives us a lot of historical context um about the Spanish occupation French occupation um we we we go all the way down we go through the flooded areas that were affected by Katrina uh we knock all that out and probably about 3 to 4 hours and then we go uptown have lunch and then the kids and I were going to walk all the way back down St Charles pass Loyola and New Orleans University back to the hotel Monday night we'll see a traditional Jazz show of preservation Jazz hall and then we'll have dinner at the Napoleon House on Monday night Tuesday uh we will go to the World War II museum uh we could probably spend 4 hours there it is a fabulous Museum a great um lesson in the history of World War II we'll be there for a couple hours after that we will walk down to the French Quarter and grab some lunch and then we will do a Hands-On cooking class in the afternoon which will be our dinner for that night we will then go back to our hotel jump on the street car and we go back to this place called The Rock and Bowl which is in Midtown it's the opposite uh direction of the French Quarter uh but calling um you know food and then the best part is they have live bands and dancing last year our kids were salsa dancing um for several hours Wednesday we get on our bus and we go out to the Lafitte State preserve uh and we'll take a guided swamp tour which pretty much is us on a flat boat rolling through the swamps and looking at alligators and a lot of local birds um kids love this part of the tour um depending on the weather if it's warm we'll see a lot of alligators if it's a little colder than a little slower to come out will get a dropped off by the bus on the other side of the French Quarter espanade Avenue have lunch at Port A call best burger in the city will then walk back up to the State Museum of Jackson Square that night we'll have dinner at the Superior Grill which is right next to our hotel and then we'll go back down to Frenchman Street and see a big band show at Snug Harbor on Thursday we'll jump back on the bus and we will go out of the city um out into the country and I mean country um and we will do a plantation tour the Whitney Plantation I encourage you to look it up um it is a very moving experience very educational experience for all who have gone there we come back we have a farewell dinner at 2 Jax restaurant 1 of the oldest restaurants in the city and then we do this kind of silly ghost tour um that evening the last day um we do a jazz lunch cruise on the Mississippi um great music Great Food they'll take us down couple hours on the water we'll then give the kids a couple hours of free time to do shopping and then we'll all walk back to our hotel our bus will pick us up take us back to the airport and we'll fly back in at SFO again these are not the exact times um but they are in the ballpark so again it's a it's a great trip um I really enjoyed it I think the kids enjoy it they do a lot of walking they're very active there's not a lot of downtime we do give them a little free time but not very much we try to keep them as busy as possible so that's it any questions you can always feel free to email me at calm chs.org thank you have a good day

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New Orleans Info Video EWeek 2026

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