Audubon Park

"Audubon Park sits on the site of a former sugar plantation—the only plantation in the city that wasn’t subsequently developed for homes or businesses. It’s about 25 minutes via streetcar from downtown, but feels a world apart, with its spreading live oaks hung with Spanish moss and its lagoons that serve as sanctuary—appropriate given the park’s name—to egrets (great, cattle, snowy), herons (green, blue, night), ibises, and the black-bellied whistling ducks. A loop around the paved walkway/bikeway, which boasts a public golf course at its center, runs 1.75 miles; alternatively, trek to Magazine Street for a visit to the Audubon Zoo, then catch a bus downtown along the city’s best shopping thoroughfare."

"Audubon Park, which runs from St. Charles Avenue down to the Mississippi River, is home to the Audubon Zoo and Audubon Aquarium. It’s the green space itself, though, that we like to explore, for its ancient oak trees and awesome playgrounds. There's also Bird Island, a nesting and migratory base for thousands of birds, which sits in the middle of a lagoon, and the Tree of Life, a favorite spot for climbing—unless a wedding is taking place there, of course." - Stirling Kelso