Vacation Recap

We had a very good time on tour trip to New Orleans with Dee and Jason. We tried several new places and went to the Garden District which we had not done before. We still have a few things on our list for next time, but we found a few more favorites to add to our list of MUST DOs. Here is a recap.

We left Dee and Jason's about 8:30 and made the necessary stop at Starbucks before we officially hit the road. Jason drove until we needed to stop for gas the first time, then Bear took over until Baton Rouge. Dee and I kept busy with crosswords, sudoku and Southern Living magazines.

In Baton Rouge, we stopped for lunch close to the LSU campus as The Chimes, which our friends from LSU suggested. The food was very good and they also had beer from 'Round the World. So Jason and Bear had fun sampling a few.

We had a pretty leisurely lunch and then Dee and I took over the front seat with me driving so the boys could nap after their beers. We got stuck in traffic (once we finally figured out how to get back on I-10 East!) as we usually do in Baton Rouge plus it started to rain. We finally go going and then hit traffic AGAIN once we got into New Orleans. Finally, we made it to the hotel, unloaded our bags and took the car to Harrah's to park it at the casino. Then we went to gamble for our 30 minutes so we could get the free parking.

Next we went to walk around the Quarter. We saw a sign for drink specials at the Cat's Meow and decided to go in. It was 3 for 1 beers. So you couldn't get 4, you had to get 3 or 6. So 6 it was. We sat in the outside courtyard while people inside karaoked. There was a wild bunch of older women in there, whoa!

Eventually, after going to Walgreen's for pepcid and energy drinks (I told Dee aren't we with some old men who need that stuff!), we went to dinner at Cafe Maspero. We had to wait in line a little bit but it was well worth it. It wasn't the grandest establishment, but it was good food, really cheap! We ordered the Seafood platter (10.75!) and also each of us had $1 Strawberry Daiquiri. You really can't beat that.

Bear started not to feel good during the meal, we were all guessing it the was possibly the energy drink... We walked down Bourbon scoping things out for the next day and headed back to the hotel.

Thursday morning we slept a little late. We all got going and ready by about 10:30, almost lunch, but we of course wanted to visit Cafe Du Monde. So we headed over there and had beignets and cafe a laut all around. It was so YUMMY! Even better than I remembered. Then we began exploring. We went down to the French Market, which now has a fancy covered pavilion type place with bathrooms and a business office. And we went by The Gazebo Cafe and picked up a few ice cream daiquiris. They are SO good, but very filling.

Next, Bear and Jason had scoped out the oldest bar in America, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. They went in while Dee and I strolled the block and finished our daiquiris.

It was SOooo HOt! And somehow I had lost my pony tail holder at breakfast. We went in the bar to cool off for a while. Luckily, Dee found an extra pony tail holder for me!!! YAY!

We walked around a bit more and eventually stopped at Chartres House Cafe for Bloody Mary's. We also decided to share an appetizer. We had the BEST Crawfish Cake ever. And the drinks were great!

Next, we wanted to go to the Garden District so we went all the way down to walk along the River. We heard what we thought was someone playing a recorder, you know like the one's you get in 5th grade music class? But really loud! It turned out to be a River Boat playing with the steam whistles.

We took the St. Charles Street rail car into the Garden District and went on a walking tour we found online. Jason and Bear were our tour guides. The houses were beautiful, but we were getting so HOT and we had to go to the bathroom and we were getting hungry. While Dee and I were appreciative, we told the boys we had been there done that and they were happy they wouldn't have to bring us back again. We passed a home owned by John Goodman and one owned by Nicholas Cage. The landscaping was beautiful as well as all the homes. Some were under construction and some were for sale. You don't get to go inside any of them so next time we said that we want to pretend we are in the market so we can go inside!!!

We went back to the hotel to rest and shower. Once we were revived, we headed out to have some fun. We had dinner at the Crescent City Brewhouse. It was good food once again. Then we were off to various bars for the rest of the evening.

We discovered the Chart Room bar. They had $1.50 Miller High Life ON TAP. That was very "unique". Cheap beer. But also THAT beer. On Tap. Plus the oddest mix of music ever. Fun, but odd.

Then we went to the Old Absinthe House. The beer there was skunky to say the least. Either skunky, or definitely NOT what I ordered. We were in and out.

Next we went to the Hotel Monteleone and sat in the Carousel Bar. It was actually moving!! Not fast, but still moving. The bartender was staying in one spot and we were going round and round. Very cool!

Then we went to Pat O'Brien's. And as I had told Jason and Dee earlier, it suddenly became a good idea for Bear to drink a Hurricane even though he swore he would not have one ever again. It did take him a while to get it down. We sat in the Piano bar for a long time. It was so much fun!!

Then we all had one more beer on the balcony of the Jazz Emporium.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped Daisy Dukes for breakfast. DO NOT ASK. It was food and we needed it. They were open all night. And yes, the girls dressed accordingly. I remember feeling like I was eating at Mel's Diner in Giddings like we used to do when we had late nights in high school!

Needless to say were not moving too terribly fast on Friday. We all felt fine, but sleeping in felt great. We didn't get going until around 11 so we skipped Cafe Du Monde and went straight to lunch. We had gumbo at Court of Two sisters and then shopped on Royal Street. We found alot of cool art places, and while I love the style of all of the NOLA art, I can't afford it. Maybe one day. We had another snack later that afternoon at The Gazebo and listened to some live music. Then we went back to shopping again. While Bear and Jason finished up looking at some places, Dee and I headed to a bar to sit down for a while. Our legs hurt so bad! And again it was hot so we decided to go back to the hotel and shower and rest up again.

But on our way back, we were finally able to stop at Napoleon House Bar. We had tried several times and it was always closed and we couldn't figure out WHY! So we stopped in and had a drink.

I had their "special drink" made with a liquor they invited called Pimms. It was Pimms, lemonade and 7-up with a cucumber. It was Ok, nothing really special if you ask me, just kinda weird.

Once we all had some energy again, we went to Harrah's to get a free drink we had acquired earlier. Then we went to The House of Blues for their happy hour specials and live music. It was really neat! I had not been before and I will definitely go back. Next, we made a stop at Red Fish Grille so the boys could have oysters. Red Fish is one of our favorites but it is a little pricey. But they had really great, guess what, Red Fish! Then we tried to go to dinner at a place that Aunt D suggested but they were not open anymore and it was only 9! So we ended up at The Original Pierre Maspero's. It was really, really good. Or what I had was. It was Shrimp Remoulade that will never forget!!!

I didn't take any pictures of the third evening or Saturday ... not exactly sure why! I guess I was tired or something...

Saturday we didn't sleep to late. We had to go to the Casino and gamble our 30 minutes to get our car out of the garage for free. It turned out, that we only had to gamble 30 minutes on the day we needed to get it out of the garage and not 30 minutes per day as we originally thought. Then we loaded up and had one last meal at Mother's. Then we had to be on our way back home.

It was a very fun, much needed and much appreciated vacation. And while we did several new things, the great thing is there is always more to do when we go back!