We Rented a Room in a Haunted Mansion

We've talked before about the haunted history of New Orleans...but did you know that you can actually stay in a haunted mansion during your visit?

When we were planning our trip, we were searching through airbnb for a room near downtown New Orleans at an affordable rate. We found a couple of good options, but as soon as we saw the Library Room in the Parks-Bowman mansion, we knew we had to stay there. Both of us are avid readers and this room just seemed too cool to pass up! As a bonus, it's located in the beautiful Garden District which isn't far from the French Quarter and other main New Orleans attractions. We were excited to find this home on a list of top 10 most haunted airbnbs!

The library room is one of three rooms available to rent in this beautiful, unique, home. If you're looking for a ghostly experience, you may want to book a night in The Haunted Bedroom. The story is that a young girl in a yellow dress can be seen wandering at night. She appears to be from the 1890s, and she's been described as having a slight limp. Visitors that do not see her may instead hear her ghostly footsteps during the night.

via airbnb

While we didn't have any paranormal experiences during our stay at the Parks-Bowman Mansion, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would highly recommend this location to anyone considering visiting New Orleans. Visitors will be greeted by the resident dogs, and may even hear the disembodies meows of the evasive house cats. Adrienne and Bill are wonderful, warm, hosts. They were very friendly and provided us with plenty of excellent, local recommendations.

via airbnb

via airbnb

via airbnb

via airbnb

via airbnb

Would you ever stay in a haunted airbnb?

PS: This post is not sponsored - we genuinely enjoyed our stay and wanted to share! Some of the airbnb links, such as the one below, can provide you with a discount to if you'd like to join.
Thinking of booking a trip? Try airbnb for local digs at a lower cost.

Check out the "NOLA" tag for more posts like this! 
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OREGON: The Search for the Wizard's Hat

I'm sure you've all probably seen photos of this iconic rock structure - the wizards hat. Being as I'd seen it all over Flickr, I figured it was a pretty popular spot for photographers in Oregon. On the contrary, we discovered that no one we met had any idea what we were talking about. This strange rock ended up bringing us on quite an adventure.

(source)

With a little research, we discovered that the Wizard's Hat was located on the shore of Bandon, Oregon. With the help of photography communities on Flickr, we were able to find exact coordinates which we plugged into our Google Maps. While the coordinates gave us an idea of where to find the Hat, it did not at all help us find somewhere to park. After a little driving, we were able to find a location a little further down the beach that had parking available.

Upon pulling up to the beach, we looked along the shore but didn't really spot it. We asked the other beach-goers, and no one seemed to know what we were talking about. Apparently it's not as iconic as the internet would make it seem.

We wandered down the beach until we finally found it, among several larger formations.

And so of course, we promptly got to posing in ridiculous poses along side it to celebrate.

The sky was overcast that day, and so the lighting wasn't ideal for the dramatic photographs we had seen throughout the internet. Regardless, we decided to continue exploring the beach and see what else we could find.

We were exploring between a few rock formations, when suddenly the tide started to come in. One moment I was walking along a sandy beach, and the next I found myself waist-deep in the ocean. Josh, upon the wave hitting his ankles, promptly scurried up the nearest rock to safety. Holding my camera over my head, I tried to climb up and dropped my cell phone into the wave in the process. With a little searching (read: splashing around in the water in a blind panic), I was able to find my phone and get out of the water to safety, soaked from the belly down, with my boots full of fresh Pacific Ocean water. We decided to call it a day for coastal wandering.

Lessons learned:
1. The ocean is not to be trusted
2. Samsung Galaxy phones are surprisingly durable
3. Waterproof boots are only waterproof to a certain depth

At the moment, this was terrifying. We had never seen a sneaker wave, and there was no warning. We promptly learned to be more careful while exploring the Pacific Beaches. In the end, the phone recovered, no one was hurt, and it makes a pretty funny memory.

What are some of your funniest travel memories?

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