As I mentioned before, Daniel and I went to New Orleans last week. My mom flew in on Wednesday to stay with the kids, which was exciting - it's been almost a year since we saw her. I had lots of things to get done before we left, but of course I spent most of my time just sitting around chatting with my mom and having fun watching the kids all crowd around her trying to show her every project/picture/lego creation they've made in the last year. Wednesday night we all drove into Austin to eat at Maudie's, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Then we stayed up way too late getting packed, and instead of getting a good night's rest, I spent most of the night worrying about all of the things that I had forgotten to tell my mom about (What if she doesn't know that when Lizzy asks for "boats" in the morning, she really wants "Honey Bunches of Oats"?, and oh, no - I forgot to tell her that when she takes the kids to Taco Bell, Oliver doesn't like onions or red sauce on his burrito, and Lizzy doesn't like onions but she does like red sauce!). You know, really important things like that. I think I actually woke Daniel up after tossing and turning about the Taco Bell issue, but instead of being proud of me for remembering such a crucial thing, he laughed. I guess some people just don't understand the preparation and effort it takes to leave behind four kids.
We all got up super early and headed to the airport, and after a short flight, Daniel and I were in New Orleans by 8:30 Thursday morning. We stayed at the JW Marriott on Canal Street, which was a perfect location. It was right next to the French Quarter, and right down the street from the Mississippi River. There were so many fun places within walking distance, so we did a lot of walking around and exploring the city. The food there is amazing. We soon realized that we'd have to be there for a lot longer than a weekend to experience all of the different kinds of food and restaurants. We did stop at Cafe du Monde for beignets, which I have personally seen mentioned on the food channel, so I know we did something right. One of our favorite places was a little restaurant called "Louisiana Pizza Kitchen" - they had great gourmet pizza, but also authentic dishes like gumbo and red beans with rice that we tried.
This first slideshow has lots of pictures of miscellaneous New Orleans stuff that we saw/did as we walked around the city. There are also a few pictures at the end of the slideshow from after we got back - the kids with Grandma Orva, etc.:
Right at the end of Canal Street, and just a short walk from our hotel, was the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas:
On Saturday we went on a swamp tour. I couldn't believe how many alligators we saw. They were everywhere. Whenever we saw one, the tour guide would stop the boat and we were able to get pretty close (while staying in the boat) to take pictures. Daniel transferred his "grizzly bear-spotting in Yellowstone" skills to the swamp, and got pretty good at finding where alligators/snakes/miscellaneous swamp creatures were hiding:
After the swamp tour, we went on a tour of an old Creole sugar-cane plantation. Our tour guide was actually the owner of the plantation, and he had found lots of journal entries and letters from one of the original ladies who ran the plantation. He and his wife had used all of this information to restore the plantation and surrounding grounds to the way they were way back when. When they would read about something in the journal (a French garden, or a kitchen house out back, for example), they would go out and dig until they found the original foundation. They are still in the process of restoring everything. Anyway, it was so interesting to find out so much about the Creole/plantation lifestyle, as well as the whole restoration process.
The last tour we went on before we came home was a city tour. They drove us all around and showed us interesting parts of the city, and well as showing us all of the areas affected by Katrina, and the rebuilding efforts that are still going on. I remember seeing lots of footage and pictures of Katrina when it happened, but it was so different to actually be there 3 years later and still see all of the abandoned homes with stains from the water lines almost up to the roof, and to talk to people who actually experienced it - our tour guide's house was 8 feet under water, and he had some pretty crazy stories. Some areas of town are still pretty empty and shut-down because people just haven't come back, and lots of the businesses are still all boarded up. In other areas people are trying to rebuild, and it was amazing to see how high up the new houses are. I guess they're not taking any chances. Anyway, there were so many fascinating things to see, but I actually did not get very many pictures on this part of the trip, because we had to stay inside the tour van for most of it, and even though we could see everything clearly, it was hard to get good shots out the windows.
We got back Sunday evening, and we're already missing New Orleans - it was such a fun trip! As much as I love my kids, it was neat to be able to explore the city as a couple and just do what we wanted. Plus, the kids survived just fine while we were gone and loved spending quality time with their grandma. Thanks again, Mom, for making it possible!
