After such a long break from the blog I won’t attempt to provide any recap. Basically we’ve been busy with a growing family and haven’t travelled or raced all that much. However, we just got back from a long weekend vacation, our first with two children and figured it was noteworthy enough to resurrect the blog. So here’s a recap of our New Orleans spring break.
We left Cincinnati Wednesday evening after work and made our way to Louisville to have dinner and visit my parents. The goal here was twofold: 1) Drop off Derby for the weekend & 2) Exhaust the girls so we could drive our first long leg through the night with (hopefully) sleeping children.
By around 11 we figured the girls were thoroughly gassed (thanks to my parents for staying up late with us –and letting me catch a catnap) so we continued southward. All was quiet through Kentucky and Tennessee, but by the time we entered Alabama it started to get weird. The girls were both awake and Susan and I both had not slept any, so we were running on fumes. It was at this time that Lily started having visions of birds in her car seat and struggled to be kept calm for the remainder of the ride…we’re still not sure what happened here.
Just before sunrise we arrived in Montgomery for a few hours of napping (for me) and a visit with Susan’s friend and playdate for the girls. The fact they were capable of playing at this point amazes me.
We continued southward around lunchtime on Thursday. It was here that Lily finally gave in to exhaustion and passed out for the next 5 ½ hours until we arrived in the Big Easy. After such epic travel we were out of sorts, so didn’t plan much for Thursday evening other than getting settled in the rental and stocking the fridge. We did jump right into the Creole food scene by having Jacques-Imo’s for dinner including jambalaya and shrimp and gator cheesecake (must have).
Friday morning I kicked off with a run along the Mississippi River Trail. It’s not scenic, especially when it’s overcast and the river is high. However, it’s a well-groomed path and uninterrupted for miles on end…functional. After clean-up and a leisurely breakfast we walked the 5 or so blocks to St. Charles St and took a ride on the historic St. Charles Trolley toward Canal Street. For $6 we were able to ride trolleys (and buses) all day.
The ride is SLOW (you could walk faster), but is an experience in itself and offers a tour of the variety of neighborhoods across the city. The terminus at Canal Street is tourist central so we quickly ducked into the surprisingly quiet streets of the French Quarter for lunch (apparently the Friday after St. Patrick’s Day is a bit of downtime for revelry). A few blocks later we stumbled upon a tasty looking menu at a restaurant that wasn’t overly crowded. Turns out it was the famous K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen and we just beat the lunch rush but had no idea. The oyster po’ boy and the potato leek soup were particular favorites and by the time we left there was a line snaking throughout the dining room to order.
Other sights from Friday afternoon included Bourbon Street, the French Market, rainy Jackson Square, and the World War II Museum which was very impressive.
The long ride back Uptown on the trolley was shared with local commuters and was standing room only for the first half of the ride. We got a local tip on the way which led us to dinner at a local diner (eat at the counter style), the Camellia Grill only a few blocks from our house.
Saturday started with another run, this time to the more scenic Audubon Park via the Mississippi River Trail in the other direction. Similar to Friday morning, we were slow to get going, but eventually drove downtown to the Riverwalk Outlets to get “brunch” beignets at the less crowded Café du Monde coffee shop housed within.
From there we walked south past the convention center to Mardi Gras World where a number of floats and work-in progress décor items are housed. It was an interesting tour to see a bit on the history of Mardi Gras as well as how the floats are made, but overpriced for what you get in my opinion.
We concluded the downtown activities with a walk back to the Warehouse Arts District for lunch and quick Easter dress shopping for the girls at the outlets before returning home early evening to watch (disappointing) NCAA tourney games. After the break at the house, we walked back out for dinner a few blocks away on Oak Street where a number of Uptown dining establishments are.
Sunday would be our last (half) day in NOLA before making our way back north. We slept in again, because vacation. I took one last quick run, this time down the St. Charles trolley line which I got a kick out of even if it’s a regular occurrence for the locals. Then we cleaned up the rental and checked out around 10am. It was finally a warm and sunny day, so we made our last activity a trip to the north side of town to the City Park to one of the free playgrounds. Storyland looked awesome as we drove by but was crowded and we figured we wouldn’t get our money’s worth considering we were only planning on hanging out for an hour or so.
Early afternoon on Sunday, we departed New Orleans having no idea that The Passion would be taking place in town just after we left. On our way out of town we stopped for southern cuisine (non-Creole) at Ma Momma’s House of Cornbread, Chicken & Waffles. The restaurant is in an unassuming strip center just off the interstate, but was delicious and service was very friendly. My fish and grits was terrific and Lily’s grilled cheese was good enough to get her to thank the waitress for the delicious food. We even got free bags of potato chips for the road!
Our Sunday driving route wasn’t entirely backtracking. We drove through Mississippi instead of Alabama with a stop outside Jackson, MS to visit friends. Mississippi highway driving is significantly more scenic than Alabama highway driving. A long Sunday finally ended just south of Nashville, TN and we finished the journey home (with a lunch stop in Louisville) on Monday. Considering all the driving we put the girls (and ourselves) through the trip was an unquestionable success. Kudos to Susan for picking the location and taking care of much of the logistics…so where to next?
