New Orleans - Part 1

We celebrated Cindy's birthday in her favorite city, New Orleans.  Our trip began August 26th and returned home on September 4th.  It included lots of fun excursions - tons of good food and drink - familiar heartwarming locations - an emotional trip to the Lower Ninth Ward - and Tropical Storm Lee.  We can truly say we have fully experienced New Orleans now that I went through a Tropical Storm.  I think we can live without experiencing a hurricane there!

When we flew in, we immediately visited with our friend Christine.  She took us to a wonderful restaurant, Gott Gourmet, where John at a 1 pound hamburger... and was still hungry!  Growing boy?  You be the judge.  She also drove us around some neighborhoods that we hadn't been to before and we enjoyed our first beignets of the trip.  (Those are John's favorite)  Can't believe we forgot to take photos together - AGAIN!  We forgot the last time we visited with she and Michael.  Next time, for sure!

Our first day we ate brunch at one of our favorite restaurants - Court of Two Sisters!

The food goes on.... and on.... and on....

That night we enjoyed a trip to Cafe Du Monde for beignets, and a stroll around St. Louis Cathedral.  It's gorgeous during the day and almost more beautiful at night.

The next day Richard and I walked around the French Quarter and ended up people watching at the French Market.  We enjoyed some Cajun Ice Tea's that were quite tasty and shared an Alligator Sausage Po'Boy.

Later that day John wanted to walk around and find someplace to eat.  We ate at another one of our favorites, The Crescent City Brewhouse.  They are celebrating their 20th Anniversary.  We realized we have been going there practically since they opened.

 And after dinner we strolled along the Moonwalk to enjoy the beautiful Mississippi River.

New Orleans Trip - The End

Our last full day in NOLA was spectacular. The weather was perfect and we had a relaxing and fun filled day planned.

We made reservations for lunch at Commander's Palace. This restaurant is a New Orleans institution. We had never been before - so we were looking forward to a treat!

Our good friends, Tom & Kris, suggested that we make our reservations for the Garden Room. It was really beautiful. Great suggestion! Thanks guys.
The "$.25 Martini Lunch" is supposedly the best kept secret in town. It isn't well advertised - unless you go the website. We had a delicious meal - and a couple of equally delicious martini's. I couldn't believe our bar bill was only $1.00 ! Amazing!

After lunch we took some pictures outside the restaurant - and then headed across the street to the Lafayette Cemetery.

After our visit to the Garden District we headed back into the French Quarter for one last walk and look around the city that we love SO much!

The gorgeous St. Louis Cathedral -

A happy and handsome boy sitting on the steps of Jackson Square.

And a final photo from Pirates Alley.

We have been home for two weeks. We already miss the Crescent City. We're planning our return visit - probably sometime in the summer of 2011. Our hearts are always renewed in the city that we love so much!

New Orleans Adventure - Part Three

We began this day by walking to the Civil War Museum. It was established in 1891 - and Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, had a huge hand in making sure that this memorial was established. This building is the oldest museum in Louisiana.

They don't allow photographs to be taken of the individual exhibits - but they do allow photos from the front door. It's a really beautiful building, filled with wonderful and sentimental memorabilia. I was amazed at how small in stature the men were. Their uniforms looked so small to me. We were able to see Robert E. Lee's mess kit - with his monogrammed silver ware. What a gem.

We made lunch reservations to eat a Muriel's on Jackson Square. It had come highly recommended by three different friends - so we had to try it. Wonderful doesn't come close to describing what a fantastic lunch we had there. We loved the ambiance of the restaurant and the service was impeccable. A real treat - and we highly recommend eating there if you're ever in NOLA.
After lunch we went to the Louisiana State Museum at the Cabildo - on Jackson Square.



What treasure trove this is! Original outfits from the 1800's



A slave collar from the 1840's - this was a very sobering exhibit for me. How sad to think of human beings treated like animals.
The beautiful second floor level where parties were held. The room off this receiving room was where the Louisiana Purchase was transferred.

Quite a bit of memorabilia belonging to Napoleon.

And his death mask. Truly a unique treasure.

And last, but not least, the piano that belonged to Fats Domino. It sat in his home in the Lower Ninth Ward in the flood waters after Hurricane Katrina. I got so sad looking at it. All the feelings of loss washed over me all over again.

One more day to blog. It makes me sad all over again - we love New Orleans so much. There is always such excitement when we are planning and preparing for our trips there. And then the sadness of having to leave sets in. (sad face)

The Crescent City - Part Two

Day four of our trip, to the beautiful city of New Orleans, found us travelling to the Garden District on the historic St. Charles Street Car. It's always an experience to take the street car and enjoy the sights of another section of NOLA.

We walked to a local neighborhood "joint" called Parasol's for their famous roast beef po-boys. Parasol's has been featured on the Food Network as well as several magazines. Their po-boys were fantastic and worth the trip to the Garden District.

We wandered through the "GD" and ooh'd and ahh'd at all of the gorgeous homes. I could SO see myself living in one of these beauty's. I think I would fit right in!

While waiting to catch the streetcar to head back to the condo, we noticed that the trees and a few street lamps still looked like they were celebrating Mardi Gras - we couldn't believe how many beads were draped in the trees! It was really pretty!
Our special dinner at a special restaurant was planned for that night. He doesn't look it in the photo below, but we had one excited 15 year old. We were going to one of Emeril LaGasse's restaurants - Delmonico. We've been to Emeril's two other restaurants in New Orleans - so this trip completed our tour of his establishments. The food was excellent and the restaurant itself was gorgeous, very stately.

It was a great fourth day. Stay tuned for the last two days of our trip in part three!

The Crescent City - Part One

Ah, New Orleans! Our favorite vacation destination. We love going to NOLA. It's a fabulous city and one that we repeatedly visit and anticipate traveling to. We just returned from another GREAT trip to the "city that care forgot".

Upon our arrival we headed to two of our favorite destinations - The Crescent City Brewhouse and Cafe du Monde. The Brewhouse has a great food and really excellent beers. Our favorite is the Red Stallion. So yummy. We had a wonderful meal and then strolled around the French Quarter. We watched some very talented street performers and had beignets at Cafe du Monde.

The next day we enjoyed shopping and strolling through the Quarter. Our favorite brunch spot is Court of Two Sisters. The Jazz Brunch is AMAZING. So much food - we were all SO full and decided not have dinner that night. Of course, by 9pm a certain 15 year old was begging for beignet's again. So, we found ourselves headed back to Cafe du Monde. We had beignets EVERY DAY during our trip. Between those and all the wonderful meals - I was quite surprised that I didn't gain any weight on our eating extravaganza. It's certainly due to the amount of walking that we do while in NOLA.

Day three we rented a car to drive to Avery Island. This is the home of Tabasco sauce. We visited the plant and toured the wonderful Jungle Garden grounds and bird sanctuary. The signs warning us of the dangers of the alligators really cracked us up. I guess there are some not so intelligent people out there that may believe these are "tame" alligators. Too funny!

One of our favorite parts of this day trip was breakfast at a Waffle House. Call us crazy - but we LOVE Waffle House. Good food, affordable price and just plain fun. Sure wish we had a Waffle House in Salem. Of course, then it wouldn't be so special to eat there.

When we returned to New Orleans we made reservations for a late supper at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. This is Chef Paul Prudhomme's restaurant. It was SO good and our waiter suggested the most fabulous chardonnay to go along with our meal. It was Rombauer Carneros 2008 Chardonnay. Really delicious.

So, stay tuned for a posting on the second half of our trip. We had a really wonderful time - but the week flew by all too quickly. I'm still not sure why the work week doesn't seem to go as quickly as a vacation week. Just doesn't seem fair!

Mardi Gras Celebration

Although Fat Tuesday is still a few days away, we celebrated tonight with good friends. As always there was tons of laughter, lots of food and a few beverages too! We had a GREAT evening! The table was set in Mardi Gras colors - purple, green & gold!

We were waiting for our guests to arrive!

John - wearing his shirt that we bought in NOLA on our last trip.

Happy Family - Kerry, Dodi & Alyssa

Rob, Scott & Dodi

The party is over. It was a FABULOUS night!