After a long break, I'm back with the rest of New Orleans recap. (Update: I actually wrote this some time ago but am just now getting around to uploading pics due to a bad/slow/unreliable internet connection at home.)
We started Saturday with brunch at The Red Slipper, a cute little cafe just around the corner from our hotel. I love having the Yelp ap on our phones because it's so easy to locate something nearby with good reviews! And this place had a free mimosa if you checked in on Yelp! Score! After breakfast, we spent the rest of the day exploring the French Quarter. We walked through Cafe du Monde but decided against a beignet. I've tried one before, and Luke wasn't interested enough to stand in line/wait for a table. We explored Jackson Square, checked out the Louis Armstrong Jazz Festival ("Satchmo Summer Fest"), and stopped for an afternoon snack of super tasty boiled shrimp. All during our trip, we had our eye out for a ring that we might buy to replace my engagement rings. I bought Luke's ring in New Orleans when I was there on my bachelorette party trip, so we thought it'd be so cool if we could find a little something for me there. Unfortunately, the place had closed down! :( We found a couple of other beautiful sapphire, diamond rings. I've always loved sapphires because it's my birthstone, and the rings are very Princess Diana/Kate Middleton-esque. But we could never pull the trigger. Although they were gorgeous rings, we weren't sure how trust worthy some of the stores were, and because the rings were still quite expensive, we decided not to buy something if we weren't 100 percent sure that's what we wanted. So, I'm still rocking a $25 cz from Target. (Update: This past weekend my Nana loaned me her engagement ring that my Granddad gave to her 60 years ago, so I'm now wearing that ring with pride.)
Saturday night we went to dinner at Broussard's in the French Quarter. We started with the baked Oysters, and they were fabulous. Unfortunately, the rest of the meal wasn't quite as tasty. Nothing was bad, but the appetizer definitely stole the show. After dinner, we went to Frenchmen Street to listen to a little live music, but I got tired pretty quickly (like couldn't hold my eyes open tired), and we left before too long.
Sunday we rented bikes and set off to explore the Garden District. We just rode around most of the day, checking out the cool, old houses and stopping here and there for a drink or snack. Around mid-day, it started pouring down rain while we were on our bikes. I'm not talking a light sprinkle; it was a torrential down pour. When huge, loud, scary, straight to the ground lightning started, we decided to pull over at the next place we saw and take cover. I was a little embarrassed to go in somewhere because I was soaking wet, but the patrons and bartender at the little place we stopped coaxed me in after Luke went in to check it out. We froze our buns off in this little place since they had the AC going while we were soaking wet, but it was a nice place to sit with a drink and let the rain pass. The rainy day bike ride was our favorite part of the trip! At first, I was thinking I don't want to get all wet, but once it happened and I just went with it, it was really fun to ride through the rain. Not to mention we were coming from 40+ days of 100+ heat and extreme drought in Texas, so the rain was quite refreshing. After the storm passed, we got back on our bikes, stopped for a suppertime muffaletta and then called it a pretty early night. The next morning, we were up bright and early for our morning flight back to DFW. All in all, we had an awesome time celebrating our 2 years of marriage! New Orleans is such a cool city with so much to explore, and it's such a quick flight from DFW. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a long weekend getaway!
This past weekend, Luke and I visited New Orleans to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. Luke was in Seattle at the end of last week, so we met up at DFW. He didn't even leave the airport! He landed and made his way from terminal D to terminal A! We only had about 50 minutes between his first landing and our departure to NOLA. Luckily, though, everything worked out just as planned, and he even made it in time for a pre-boarding cerveza at TGI Fridays. The flight there was great. We were at the back of the plane, which I usually don't like, but this time it was kind of nice. It wasn't crowded at all so we could talk and be silly without feeling like you were bothering people around you. The flight attendants also gave us a complimentary glass of wine, beer and cheese/cracker/nut plate. Thanks, AA!
Once we landed, we checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton on Canal Street. It was really nice and within walking distance to everything we wanted to do. And when we checked in, there was an awesome cheese plate waiting for us. There was a card on it for Ms. Jennifer Sarah Gonzalez, but we just ignored that and dug in. After a little snack, we headed to Bourbon. The rest of the night involved several drinks, an awesome Jazz band, a mechanical bull and late night hummus. Basically, it was perfect! Here are a few pics:
There's a funny (at least to us) story to go along with the smallish, nothing special about them drinks in the last picture. While we were hanging out listening to a really cool jazz band, I went to the bar to get us two drinks. I ordered a whiskey coke and a vodka water with a splash of grapefruit. When the bartender asked me what type of liquors I wanted, instead of saying "house" or "well" or whatever you say, I said the first thing that came to my mind. Makers Mark and Grey Goose. (I guess I had alliteration on the brain.) Keeping with the alliteration theme, those two drinks cost us a pretty penny. (Just so you know, Luke and I aren't big liquor drinkers. We typically play it safe with beer and wine, so we definitely didn't have a preference on the liquor. I'm just a goof.) Oh well! What a fun night and awesome start to our trip!
I'm just a tad bit jealous of my husband who flew off on a jet plane to Seattle, trading the 107+ heat for a high of 77 degrees. But I'm glad one of us got to escape the heat, and I guess he's more deserving since he's been driving around in this hot as Hades Texas summer without A/C. (I'm not sure how he does it, and with temps as high as they've been this week, I've honestly been a bit worried about him in that hot car and am glad he got a break from driving for at least part of this week.) And I can't wait to meet up with him this weekend for a 2nd anniversary rendezvous in New Orleans!
We're going to dine. We're going to drink fine wine (but probably not really that fine). We're going to ride bikes. But mostly we're going to celebrate our sweet marriage that has now been alive and well, thriving even, for two full years. Now that's nothing in the whole scheme of things, but every year holds memories to be recounted and milestones to be celebrated, and I can't wait to do just that all weekend long. No dishes to do. No groceries to buy. No workouts to dread. Just the two of us with a change of scenery. Happy (almost) anniversary to us!PS: New Orleans recount to come next week. Hopefully, we'll remember to use the camera so that I can include some fun pics! That always makes my writing a bit better. :)
