Louisiana Fun Fun Fun Fun...

We have returned from our grand trip to Louisiana! Now we will commence with the picture sharing, which some of you may find interesting, and others...well you may not. But nonetheless, here, in photo form, are some of the things we did whilst down in the South.

Beginning of the trip, all packed in the car. Here's how we look all cozy after a few hours of driving through Wyoming.

We kept seeing signs for Taco John's. Which surely sounded authentically Mexican.

 

And then there was this huge statue of a buffalo on the top of a hill. We thought it was worth documenting.

We stayed with my best friend Heather and took a little swim on our last day in Alexandria. It was relaxing and so fun to cool off in the pool!

We also visited my father's grave. Can't believe it's been 6 months since the funeral. There is now a headstone up and I really think it looks nice, except for the fact that they didn't actually write out his middle name of Wilburn. Oh well, I love that it says "Families are Forever". 

I had to take a picture of the pretty trees with Spanish Moss that are near his grave. Love how pretty that cemetery is.

I love Heather! She is my best friend from high school. Staying with her for a few days was sublime. That was the largest stint of time I've been able to spend with her for a few years. 

We eventually made it to New Orleans and had a great time eating beignets, hiding under porches through a torrential downpour, then a hail storm, and listening to some good New Orleans Jazz.

 Going to Cafe Du Monde and eating beignets was the first thing we did when we got in to town. Hunter was anxious because of the 2 times he'd been to the Crescent City before, he was never able to eat them. Look how happy he is!

  HUGE pieces of hail! We kept making jokes about the rapture and then not two minutes later, some street musician started playing "Taps" on the trumpet. It was hilarious!

Finally, this shop opened up on the street we were confined to, so we went in and looked around for a half hour or so to get out of the weather. You can see we tried on some hats and Mardi Gras masks during this time. I think the store owner wanted us out of there after a while, but there was nowhere else for us to go!

Once the rain cleared and the sun came back out, we went to Bourbon street and walked along its tawdry steps. Really, it's not that bad. The boys and I laughed as guys tried to get us to come into their "brothels" telling us that we would get free lunch. 

I had to have my picture taken in front of this restaurant. It was featured on an episode of "Kitchen Nightmares". If you haven't ever watched the show, you should Hulu it right now. It's intense and full of drama as restaurants are torn apart because they do not know how to run a business and the food is terrible. Needless to say, it was a really crazy episode featuring Oceana, and even though they did their best to make it better, I was still skeptical to eat there, so we found another restaurant for lunch.

Oh my, let's take a moment to remember the wonderfulness of The Creole Creamery. I just recently discovered it through a friend on facebook and decided that we needed to get ice cream from the shop once we were in the NO. Look at the uniqueness of that menu! They create so many different combinations of flavors, it's unbelievable. I sampled the Goat Cheese and Mission Fig and it really tasted exactly like that! Michael and I got a 6 scoop sampler of Red Velvet Cake, Cookie Monster, Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Jalapeno Cheesecake, Cotton Candy, and Thai Basil Coconut. Amazing! I would definitely recommend going there for some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

And lastly, we took a tour of Myrtles Plantation, proposed to be the most haunted plantation in all of Louisiana. We heard stories about hangings, ears being cut off, children and mother being poisoned, and all sort of superstitious stories. It was fun and worth the $8! I only wish we could have done the mystery tour which happens on Friday and Saturday nights, but I'm afraid our schedule just didn't permit that. Guess we'll just have to save that for another trip down South!

 

We enjoyed ourselves immensely on this trip and I haven't even shared the details about my brother's wedding! More on that to come later. The weather was not too hot, and we loved the thunderstorms that kept rolling in. I'm all for rain when it's warm out. There is just something about Louisiana rainstorms that relaxes me and makes me happy. Mmmmm...I feel all happy just thinking about it. Good times!