It was time for another road trip. We’d spent a few months working feverishly on our businesses and were ready for a fun little break. OK, so to tell the truth, we needed the break. Of course, it was going to be a road trip (gotta run the Focus into the ground, yes?). Where to go? We thought about Florida but it was a really long drive with not much payoff. The next best thing was New Orleans … just under 8 hours driving and a whole lotta good stuff going on.
After a little research we decided to stay at the International Hotel. $90 a night seemed too hard to pass up for a boutique hotel footsteps away from the French Quarter. Then it was the question of where to have our anniversary dinner. We decided on Emeril’s Delmonico, a little ways away from the hotel but they had a happy hour from 5-7 which worked for us.
Sunday morning we packed up in a hurry and sped on down I-85. Phew that felt like a long drive! We got in around 7pm and after a quicker unpacking headed towards the French Quarter. The weather was perfect, but we were dogged tired and found a little hideaway spot for our first lovely cajun meal. We decided the partying would have to wait for the next evening and we treaded back to the hotel.
Monday was the day to wander around the French Quarter. We started off our morning at the greasy spoon kitty corner from the hotel (highly recommended by the lady at the front desk). Good thing we did a lot of walking the rest of the day … then lunch was a beignets, hot chocolate, and orange juice from Cafe Du Monde (but of course).
Lunch at Cafe Du Monde
Powdered-sugar-laden beignets
We stopped by the French Market and Liz snapped away with her fun Olympus PEN, but as the rain came and went and came and went we decided early in the afternoon to spend some time in the hotel room with our new best friend, Cable TV. That evening we headed out to Bourbon Street … it was the BIG GAME (Saints v Pats) and we surely didn’t fit in with the crowd sans football jerseys. But we checked out the local seafood at Felix’s and then chilled with our giant cups at a Hurricane bar.
Bourbon Street Bar
Hurricanes in Giant Plastic Cups
Needless to say, we didn’t last long on Bourbon Street and were soon back at our hotel, ready for bed. The next day was our 3-year anniversary and it was icky rain all day. We had a fantabulous breakfast in the Garden District and after some dreary shopping we thought it would be a good idea to head to a mall to kick out some Christmas shopping. Bad idea – the mall was even drearier than the weather. By the time we got back to the hotel we decided we’d had ‘nuf of the rain and got dressed up to eat at Rambla, the hotel’s tapas restaurant. Wonderful decision, especially since my dogs were so tired I could barely walk in my heels.
All Dolled Up for Dinner
The next day was Chris’s birthday. We had a hearty breakfast and then after checking out of the hotel took advantage of the sunshine with a tour of a nearby cemetery (more pictures with multiple cameras this time). Then, back on the road for the loooong drive back. We decided to stop in Montgomery for the burfday dinner and stopped at El Rey Burrito Lounge for local and sustainable burritos. Twice the cost of Willy’s but still purty good. It was a late night back home but we were happily reunited with Ms. Fluffster. Overall a wonderful break and refresher to get us back to work in high gear.
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December 6, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Phillip Nones
Sounds like a whole lotta eating! (But in New Orleans, it’s either that or … getting some sort of social disease.)
My most striking memory of New Orleans was being out early on Ash Wednesday morning, seeing the NOLA businessmen/women hurrying through the doors to early Mass at St. Louis Cathedral while the trash and other “detritus” scattered about from the night-before revelries was being cleaned up by sanitation workers. Seems to me to be symbolism most fitting for this city!