Louisiana Welcome Center I-10 EB MM1 Rest Area — Attraction in Orange

This Louisiana Welcome Center and rest stop is Great, the front desk staff are nice, friendly & helpful. Pick yourself up a Louisiana map and tariff cards about the local attractions all over the state of Louisiana and explore the charming history, best restaurants and of course the various tours available such as Grayline Cemetery Group/Bus tours, French Quarter tours for those of you who are traveling to New Orleans for the first time. It's a must see take it from me because I'm a native and at one time worked down in the small boutique hotels and each had their own unique history and one, in particular, I worked at what used to be called the St. Louis hotel located off the corner of Bienville Street/Bourbon Streets with a beautiful interior courtyard great for sitting outside lovely ambiance and features a nice inviting French restaurant on site called Louis XIV. I worked as a Frontdesk clerk at both and the sister property one block over on Conti St. was called The Saint Ann Marie Antoinette hotel. This one was a smaller property with only 68 rooms some had views overlooking the courtyard/pool area. Others have a street view. At the time the hotel owners were Mr. & Mrs. Smith and she was a very talented artist, in fact, she painted the largest painting of Marie Antoinette I'd ever seen!! It was from the ceiling to the floor took up the entire wall. Beautiful! Also had restaurant on- site only open for breakfast and the most interesting host named Tyler an African American older gentleman who would wear his black tails suit style jacket with many pins all over it a true conversation and to top off his friendly charming personality he just loved meeting people and inviting them in. This was back in the 90s but luckily for you these 2 properties are still there in the French Quarter the former is now called The Marquis and the other is a think the W hotel & it was completely refurbished and the restaurant area is gone but it's way fancier now as I visited both I had to find out myself if they still existed so I visited my sister & boyfriend and we went to both even had a refreshment in the back bar of Louis XIV restaurant and beyond it a back room very cool a sitting area with beautiful paintings and remnants of Mardi Gras. Check it out both te Louisiana Welcome Center & these hotels in the heart of New Orleans...

Christmas day 1981 I stopped at a Louisiana Rest stop on Interstate 10 West to look at a map. I left my car running. After a quick look at the map, I noticed a old faded red pickup with big fat bumpers and several huge white men a couple wearing denim overalls and no shirts standing in the bed of the truck while two were in the cab. One man in the bed was slapping an axe handle in his hand. The truck was picking up speed entering the rest stop as I calmly got in my car and backed out of the parking space and proceeded to drive away. No one else was there. I was alone with them. I increased my speed as they were attempting to overtake me. I was so fortunate that my car was new and fast. I literally flew out of that rest stop into traffic on Interstate 10 as they were left behind. I thanked God for saving me. I did report this incident later on. I'm still affected by this and never stop anywhere isolated and secluded. Whether you are a man or woman in 2025 and beyond, trust nothing and no one. ALWAYS go to a well lit location where plenty of people are around. Police or fire stations are also a recommendation if you need something. Take care, it is a beautiful world and it's also...

Wow!!!!! This is rest area is breathtaking. When you take the exit to go into the rest area (which they really need to work on. Your given no prior notice that the exit is about to come up) you're given a small sample of the beauty that the rest area holds. First off, kudos to Louisiana. They did a great job on building a very nice, safe, inviting and very family friendly rest area. Like most rest area there is 24 on-site security. Everything is brand new. Not just the building itself but the design is all very modern. Everything was very clean as it always is . The magic happens once you go behind the visitors center. They have a very beautiful lake behind it with a nature trail, numerous Pavillion areas to have outtings with family and friends and beyond the nature trail is a pier overlooking the lake. It's a very great place for anyone to stop and see especially if you have little ones they would really enjoy the scenery just be careful, it is Louisiana and that means alligators (please...