Our NOLA Adventure!

Ok, so mayyybe making my triumphant return to blogging a week before we leave for vacation was not the smartest idea. I really didn't have the time nor the resources to be blogging every single day, but I didn't really feel the need to either. Plus I knew once I got home, I was gonna have a ton of time to blog my little heart out!

Then of course, as these things go, my computer monitor crapped out on me. Now I know what you're all thinking: "But Jo, don't you have a smart phone?" As a matter of fact I do! But have you tried writing a lengthy blog post on a tiny screen and an equally tiny keyboard? Yeah, it sucks. So, apologies for the radio silence, but everything is back in working order and life is less full now so I should back to blogging in no time. My once-fried brain is finally starting to churn out fun ideas again. Now without further ado: A quick(ish) recap of our trip!

Our story began with an immediate offer to fly directly down to NOLA instead of our original connecting flight. We knew this trip was already off to a good start! We stayed at a beautiful little hotel on the border of the Garden District called the Prytania Park Hotel. Our room was small, but unique and full of character! Much better than any downtown hotel chain could offer. We spent our first full day in the city getting acclimated to our neighborhood, and what a neighborhood it was! Gorgeous Greek revival style homes surrounded us at every turn! We even found the former home of one of  my favorite authors, Anne Rice! There was a delicious barbecue restaurant literally steps away from the front door of our hotel and we couldn't have been happier with that!

Once we left the Garden District, it was a bit of a walk to the French Quarter, so we spent most of our days there.  The streetcar we normally would've taken through town was undergoing repairs in preparation for the upcoming insanity that is Super Bowl/ Mardi Gras week in February 2013! We walked EVERYWHERE because of this! Even though our lower extremities were sore and tired by the end of the day we loved every minute of it! All the exercise we got burned off all the calories from the copious amounts of delicious food and drink we were lucky enough to experience. There were pralines, beignets, craw fish, catfish, gumbo, jambalaya, dirty rice, cafe au lait, sweet tea, apple cobbler, king cake, pickle chips (those are a real thing that exist!), and a slew of others! We never left the city hungry at all!!

 

We even made some ghost "friends" on one of our treks! Haunted History Tours never fails to impress when it comes to providing a fun and informative tour experience. If you get a chance to visit the city, by all means check them out! We took a jaunt through the cemetery with our charismatic and fun guide, Charles, through St. Louis Cemetery #1 and later on that same night we were led by the comedic and knowledgeable, Jennifer who guided us through some of the cities, uhm, more colorful history. And by colorful I mean bloody. I was also impressed that one of the tour guides leading the group in front of us, a gentleman by the name of Rene, was still with the company. I took a vampire tour with him about 7 years ago and I still remember it to this day. Well done, Rene! Being the paranormal enthusiast that I am, I was excited to catch some "orbs" in a few of my photos from the ghost tour. I don't know how else to explain them. Have a look for yourself!:

P.S. I'd also like to add that I found it highly amusing how many times I heard the name "Nicholas Cage" mentioned on each tour. Those stories are for another blog entry because this one is wayyy too long already. I'm gonna start wrapping this up, I promise.

"You know, if you keep coming down here and you love it that much, you may end up staying here." said the sweet young lady behind the counter at Fluerty Girl, a cute shop we stopped in while walking down Royal Street. I stopped and I thought about that comment for a minute as she recounted how a friend of hers loved New Orleans so much she cried when she boarded the plane to go home. To be honest, if I didn't have so much and so many people here that I love, I could see myself making the leap down there. This particular trip was so incredible for me. I was visiting one of my favorite cities in the world  and I got to share it with the love of my life. I can't tell you how special that felt to me. I was at peace. Well, except when we were walking through the scummy part of town, but that was such a small margin of our trip! I had my big strong Yeti to protect me and we were hardly bothered.

I remember back in '03, when I went on my first trip to NOLA with two of my good friends and what a trip it was! For a young 20-year-old who hadn't encountered much of the world yet, it was such an eye opening experience. I loved it immediately. The atmosphere, the people, the food, the tumultuos history and the amazing music that permeates the air. I remember thinking that the only other place to fill me with so much wonder and such an overwhelming sense of comfort was Salem. I felt at home. By the end of our trip, I was sad to be leaving but vowed to go back as soon as I could. Enter 2005 and the coming of Hurricaine 

Katrina. 

Watching such an incredible place be battered and broken by such an indestructible force of nature broke my heart. Images of homes flooded up to the roof tops and bodies floating in the water convinced me that I may never get back to New Orleans. It looked like it was over. I remember worrying about some of the people we met down there. They probably didn't remember me but I felt like I knew them. Thats how everyone makes you feel down there. Like you belong.

But then I thought about some things I learned while I was there: This city does not go down. This city and these amazing people keep on fighting. Two city wide fires, countless die-offs from major diseases, and this tiny parcel of swamp called New Orleans continues to thrive and grow and constantly find a reason to celebrate and overcome whatever tragedy befalls them.

If the Goddess wills it, we're planning a return trip to the Big Easy in February 2014. The only reason we aren't going back in 2013 is, well, see above: Mardi Gras + Super Bowl = wayyyy too crazy for Jo. I can't wait to walk down those seemingly familiar streets again. I can't wait to bring people TO this amazing city to experience it with us. 

So until then: Laissez les bon temps rouler, New Orleans! Let the good times roll!