Show AND Tell for Safety: New Orleans and the Audubon Aquarium
Updated: Sep 23
A short, easy family weekend in New Orleans, anchored by an afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium, plus exactly how we booked the flight, the hotel, and the car.
There is a thirty-foot tunnel at the Audubon Aquarium where the water closes over your head and a ray glides across the glass like it owns the place. My kids went quiet with wonder.
While we were in New Orleans picking up my daughter from Xavier University, we spent a little time in New Orleans. The city nicknamed "The Big Easy" was easy to do with kids.
Start with the aquarium
The Audubon Aquarium sits right at the foot of Canal Street, and it now shares one building with the Audubon Insectarium, so a single ticket gets you both. Give yourself about three hours. They open at ten and close at five. If you purchase admission to the aquarium, you can bundle admission to the zoo for just $5 additional dollars.
The big three for us were the Gulf of Mexico tank, the walk-through tunnel through the Maya reef, and the shark touch pool, which is thrilling for kids of all ages. I didn't expect to enjoy the insects but the Insectarium side has a butterfly garden with hundreds of free-flying butterflies, and a Bug Appétit counter where the brave ones can taste something with more legs than lunch usually has. My review of that part is that I watched.
How we got there: nonstop on Breeze Airways
As a Delta girl, I am now a huge fan of Breeze airways. The flights were a great price, the plane was clean, and the crew was amazing.
We flew nonstop on Breeze Airways, and it will be hard to get to New Orleans from Orlando any other way. No connection to sprint to, no second chance for a bag to get lost, no negotiations at a gate in a city you did not plan to visit. Book the nonstop. Thank yourself later.
That flight made me feel like it won't be so hard if my daughter decides to head to New Orleans full time as a freshman in a few years. I will just be one hour and fifteen minutes away.
With kids, nonstop is not a luxury. It is a strategy.
Where we stayed: the JW Marriott on Canal Street
When we dropped my daughter off four weeks prior, we stayed in multiple hotels including a Residence Inn in Metairie (we wanted a two bedroom suite), the JW Marriott (we were miserable at the Residence Inn) AND the Ritz Carlton (for a little luxury). Of those three hotels, I was surprised that the JW Marriott on Canal Street won us over as the place we wanted to return to the most.
The hotel was modern with the perfect amount of luxury and it put us within walking distance of the aquarium and at the edge of the French Quarter, which meant fewer car rides, fewer parking struggles, and more just stepping out the door into the city. In New Orleans, walkable is worth more than almost anything else on the brochure.
The rental car: Costco Travel
I always book rental cars through Costco Travel, and I will recommend it to anyone who will listen. The rate came in lower than booking direct every time I compared, with none of the membership-upsell games at the counter. Just a better number for the same car. If you have a Costco membership and you are not booking travel through it, you are missing out on great deals.
The Takeaway:
The Audubon Aquarium was one of the most memorable parts of the trip and I am glad we got to do it as a family. But don't take my word for it. Princeton wants to tell you all about it.
The aquarium was special but what I love the most is hearing Princeton narrate the experience in his own words. That's the skill I care about most — teaching a child to put their own world into their own words. We practice it on the good days, a wildflower farm, an afternoon at the aquarium, so it's ready for the days that matter.
Here's the truth about that skill: it takes years to build. And in all the years your child is still practicing it, it's scary to know that someone else can tell their story for them and it can happen before you're ever in the room.
So while they're still learning, I want you to have the thing that holds the line for them: the notice of non-consent — the letter that makes the school come to you first, before anyone writes down your child's words for them.
Teaching them to tell their own story is the long game. This letter is the net underneath it while they practice. As a thank you for reading, I'll send it to you, free.
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