Weekend in New Orleans

At the beginning of August Kyle and I went on a trip to New Orleans with David and Jen.

We have been to San Francisco, San Antonio, Austin (part1, part2, part3) and now New Orleans with our best friends.

We considered flying but due to limited time off we decided to save some money (because flights were pricier on days we were free) and leave after work on a Thursday and drive straight there.

We were less than an hour on the road before we broke out Catch Phrase (one of our favorite games)

We stopped at the Jalapeno Tree in Kilgore for dinner. It was pretty good but the service was slow and our waitress seemed frazzled or new.  She brought us our food and stopped and looked around and said 'someone stole your fajitas!' We laughed because she acted like someone had just walked by and grabbed them off the tray.

We got to New Orleans around 2am to check in to our hotel. We got a good deal through Priceline for our hotel so we stayed at the Sheraton on Canal St. However we arrived to find out that parking was $42 a night! And they didn't have any king bed rooms free so we had to get rooms with double beds. Priceline doesn't guarantee the bed :( Same thing happened to us in San Francisco.

We weren't happy but we all went to our rooms and crashed for the night.

The next morning we went to Ruby Slipper for breakfast. It had a 30 minute wait but was worth it!

I got the French toast sticks

Kyle got some kind of eggs benedict with pork

Jen got the Bam Bam Biscuit with a fried green tomato on it

And David got cinnamon swirl pancakes (his wasn't that good)

After we cleaned our plates

It was rainy outside so we headed over to Harrah's to do some gambling.

I did pretty well at first playing cards...Isn't that what they all say? And I won $41 at a slot machine too (sorry for the pic)

Then we decided it was time to hit Bourbon street and we all got drinks. Kyle got a Jester Juice and I got this grenade that was recommended to me.  Boy was it strong! I had to share!

The rain didn't stop us from having fun and luckily it didn't last long

Taking refuge in a bar from the light rain

Jen went to Willie's Chicken (they are everywhere there) and got a custom drink.

And she found her Grandpa to take a picture with. Grandpa is everywhere (see the San Antonio post)

We walked around the French Quarter

Then we stopped for lunch at a place on Bourbon Street called NOLA PoBoys. The jambalaya was sooo good. Spicy but delicious and so was the catfish

We went back and took a nap and hate a late dinner at a bar. Food was okay but nothing worth recommending. To be honest we drank so much during the day that we were all pretty tired that night.

The next morning we tried Daisy Dukes for breakfast. We didn't get there early enough for the $4 breakfast special but it was still reasonable and yummy.

I love pancakes!

Kyle got biscuits and gravy

David's combo plate... Jen had already inhaled her's so no pic

Then back to the hotel before heading to get the truck and do some sightseeing.

We went to one of the old cemeteries (in a shady part of town) This made me think of the movie Double Jeopardy

Then we went down to the Riverwalk, mall area.

Somewhere in here we went gambling and I lost all of my winnings plus some. And Kyle wasn't very lucky either.

At one point I took this pic and sent it to my mom to show Casen.  He always notices when the moon is out during the day and says 'moon out momma.'

Saturday there was a charity 5K and pub crawl called the Red Dress Run.  It was an excuse for EVERYONE to wear a red dress. These were actually some of the milder ones. Men in tutus, both sexes in lingerie, guys in prom dresses, thongs, short skirts and more. It started early in the morning and went all day. It was hilarious to see. But we were all tired of red by the end of the day.

That evening we found a Mexican food place called El Gato Negro. Not that good but we were trying to find a place besides po boys and jambalaya.

After dinner we walked around the French Quarter and Decatur St. Then it was time for dessert at Café Du Monde for beignets

Yummy!

A picture of the French Quarter at night

We attempted drinks at two different places in the French Quarter but they just weren't our scene. We decided we were all pooped and headed back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we packed up to head home. We did detour to Oak Alley Plantation but decided not to take the tour.

Good thing we didn't stop for the tour because we needed to get home. It took us 3 hours longer to get home because there was so much flooding in the Baton Rouge area.

Luckily we finally made it home safely.  And here are some pictures of the boys at my parents while we were gone.

The boys had to pick Ranger up from Petsmart and he was freshly groomed.

Poor Cooper ended up with a bad tummy bug for 2 days so he didn't get to have as much fun as planned at Babi's but they still enjoyed their time. Thankful for family willing to watch the boys so we could get away.