We are trying to start a yearly trip with friends to places that we have never been before. In our inaugural year, we decided on a trip to New Orleans for the Jazz and Heritage Festival. Who might these friends be, you ask? Ed, Maria, Mark and Christa. You should know Ed and Maria by now. :) Mark and Christa are the couple that Tammy and I went to go see get married last year in Florida during
this trip.
I would have to say that the trip was a smashing success, and we can't wait to take another one. Let me recap the events of the weekend...
Tammy and I left late afternoon on Thursday after getting all of details settled on who was watching the kids. Briana enjoyed her weekend at Girl Scout PA training, while Joshua spent the weekend with her aunt and cousins in Glendale.
Of course, the first thing that I accomplished after arriving at the airport was to finish off a most excellent 'Ultimate Margarita' at the airport. I thought it was going to be a small drink, but I was able to fill about 3 glasses with the shaker that was provided with the drink. After a stopover in Las Vegas (where we got to ride a shuttle along the tarmac to a different terminal) we finally arrived in New Orleans around 12:30 in the morning on Friday. Our plane must have been the last plane to arrive that evening, as the airport was pretty barren except for the passengers from our flight. We settled into our cab which we shared with another pair of gals who booked a room at the Westin (oooh). Let me tell you , the cab driver was pretty aggressive - so I had a few white knuckle moments during the ride. You don't expect to feel too safe when you are in a minivan cruising down the freeway at 90 miles an hour, weaving in and out of traffic. We checked into our room at the Baronne Plaza, which is about a block from Canal street and 2 blocks from Bourbon St. An interesting thing though was that when we first got to the room, the TV was on and it looked like the porcelain throne was already used. Everything else in the room looked untouched, so I figured that somebody must have checked into the room and quickly turned around to check out. More on that later...
Bright and early the next morning, we met up with Ed and Maria (they stayed at the same place as we did) and walked over to La Quinta where Mark and Christa were staying. After some conversing, we decided to walk over to Mother's and have some breakfast. They had a very simple menu, basically eggs, grits, meat and some great biscuits and there you go. After eating our meal, and slipping around on the floor, we headed over to the Jean Lafitte National Park French Quarter visitor center for a quick tour down to the Mississippi River. It was an interesting tour (and free!) with a unique tour guide who couldn't open his eyes. He must have had his tour script written on the backs of his eyelids or something. The tour ended in Jackson Square were we took a few pictures then we headed down the road where we picked up some Praline goodies from Evan's candy. We walked over to Cafe Du Monde to catch the start of a little parade being held for the New Orleans Hornets who made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs. Once that was up, we headed over to Central Market, which is the home of the original Muffaletta. After standing in line for a bit, we got our muffalettas (we each ate a quarter of one) and enjoyed the atmosphere. Tammy didn't care for the sandwich really - especially with the olive salad that was generously spread throughout the sandwich. We walked around some more perusing the shops, stopped at Cafe Du Monde for some beignets (french doughuts covered in a generous helping of powdered sugar) and drinks. Eventually, we ended up at Pat O'briens for some Hurricanes. I didn't really care for the flavor (kind of fruit punchy) but they have a bit of alcohol in them, so I didn't really care. After the drinks, we walked down Bourbon St, caught a street car back down to the French Market, walked around more then finally caught another street car to take us back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. For dinner, we had the pleasure of enjoying an evening at Emeril's New Orleans - the first restaurant Emeril Lagasse opened in New Orleans. The service was excellent and the food, while good, wasn't as good as we would have expected it to be. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to change. From there, Tammy, Ed, Maria and I headed down to Bourbon St. to catch some of the action. We didn't drink anymore that night, so it was a pretty tame evening. Tammy did get a Tarot card reading from a lady in Marie Leveau's, but that wasn't as exciting as I would have liked either. :)
Oh! I forgot to mention, when we went back to the hotel to change that is when we found out why the previous tennant to the room left in such a hurry. One of the water pipes in the room was making this terrible whining sound. It never went away and maintenance couldn't do anything about it so we were given a different room with a better view. As another plus, it was a renovated room with all new beds, marble counter tops and a flat screen HDTV!
Saturday was the day we had reserved to spend at the Jazz Festival. Thankfully, the festival didn't start until 11:00 AM, so we were able to sleep in some and take our time in the morning. We purchased our tickets at the Sheraton Hotel and also took a shuttle from the hotel to the fair grounds. It was raining all morning, so we knew we were in for a wet day at the fairgrounds. One of the main goals of being at the festival was to enjoy the food. And boy did we enjoy the food! They have scores of different types of food at the festival, and it was all excellent. From the poboys to the fried plantains we were in heaven. Getting around was a bit of a chore though because of the amount of mud from the rain. Nevertheless, the day was fun with good food, music and beer. After the fest, we headed back to the hotel in the shuttle and proceeded to change, and meet at the bar in the Sheraton to eat some burgers and watch some of the San Antonio/New Orleans playoff game.
On Sunday, we got up early enough to meet up once again for breakfast. We ate at the Coffee Pot, which was very good. Good food, good service and good company. It was a good way to end the trip. We parted ways after breakfast, as Ed, Maria, Christa and Mark all had earlier flights than Tammy and I. After some souvenir shopping and a quick trip down to the Garden District by street car we headed to the airport and jumped on the plane home.
All in all, an excellent trip. We had some discussions about what we are going to do next - I believe Chicago is at the top of the list!
