Downtown Baton Rouge

Back to the good ol’ South.

I managed to stay at a better location this past trip to Baton Rouge. Since I knew I was going to be here for four days, I didn’t want to be trapped in my hotel room near the airport with nothing to do.

   

The Belle of Baton Rouge was a little more expensive per night, but it was well worth it to have so many options within walking distance.

 

We left Wednesday afternoon and landed shortly after 7:30 PM local time at Baton Rouge. It was a nice flight with more familiarization with the Prodigy 1000. I love it. It’s smarter than me and knows what I want before I know!

The line guys and customer service have been exceptional at this FBO. They even drove us all the way to downtown, about eight miles away.

 

It was pretty late by the time we got the hotel. Since I wasn’t too sure about the safety of the area at night, I opted to grab a bite to eat at the hotel café.

The Belle of Baton Rouge was beautiful. Because it is located right next to the Mississippi River, they have a huge steam boat that is used as a casino. Because it isn’t on United States property, they can get away with allowing gambling. Isn’t that crazy?

 

I loved this location. I had everything within walking distance, and lots to explore. I visited the capitol building and even took the elevator to the top for the observation deck. Baton Rouge is a pretty town, and even better from the sky!

 

 

The weather could not have been any nicer for my travels.

I grabbed a quick lunch at a downtown market where I could make-to-order a salad. It was delicious with sun-dried tomatoes, feta, artichoke hearts, and Greek dressing.

 

A scoop of ice cream was also accidentally purchased. How does this always happen to me?!

A great discovery was the local public library just a few blocks from my hotel. Since my wi-fi internet connection was non-existent, and they just happened to run out of ethernet cables every time I asked for one, I spent some time in at the library to use the wi-fi.

 

After all, playing Words with Friends is important when I’m on the road, and I have to keep my sister happy!

I also managed to read an entire book while visiting the library for a few hours over two days. I really love reading but have been too busy to accommodate anything. It was fun to remedy that with a random book selected at the library.

The book was good, except people got chopped up and thrown into a lake. Do I know how to pick ‘em or what?!

 

During my second full day in downtown Baton Rouge, I enjoyed lunch at a classic local stop, the Frostop. I got a chocolate shake with my burger and fries. It was fun to try but won’t be on my list of must-haves next time I’m here.

 

Much time was spent wandering the walking trail along the Mississippi and people-watching downtown. It never ceases to amaze me how different we all are! So fun!

On Saturday, it was time to return home. We loaded up five passengers and headed towards Ogden to drop one off. The wind was gusting 36 knots when we landed there, and it was quite an arm wrestle for El Capitan to get it down. I’m glad it wasn’t my leg to fly!

 

After getting some quick fuel and paying the bill, we were on our way home. Less than an hour and a half later, and we were home.

Getting out of the airplane, we were surprised with a request to have the extra seat installed for our flight in a day. That meant I got to track down an on-call mechanic to have him remove the storage cabinet and install the seat. Such a change would also require a new weight and balance to be completed.

Though we landed around 3:30 PM on Saturday afternoon, I didn’t leave the airport until the switch had been finished around six. I then had a few errands to run on my way home, so I actually didn’t see Hubby until almost 9:00.

He had been attending a family function that I missed for work, and he brought home a few fun family members to finally see our house. It was great to catch up with them, and they didn’t seem to mind my suitcase on the floor from just walking through the door. (Hey, that rhymed.)

It was a great four days on the road. Location is everything, and it was wonderful staying somewhere with so many things to do. I get cabin fever if I can’t get out and walk around town. And I was told the airport isn’t exactly the best part of town to explore fro safety reasons, so I was glad to be in a new spot this time around.

Baton Rouge is nice. I don’t know what I would do here in the humidity of summer, but the weather couldn’t have been nicer for me to see the town on foot for a few days.

And if you need to know where to eat a good salad or scoop of ice cream in the capital of Louisiana, it just so happens that I am privy to such information.

Phoenix – Baton Rouge – Ogden – Phoenix