New Orleans, day 3

Day 4 found us in the Garden District of New Orleans. We walked through the beautiful neighborhood and admired the big, old houses and fantastic lawns. Megan read us tidbits about many of the homes, while Nicholas manned the map.


Some of the highlights include:

The oldest known home in the Garden District:









The Mannings' home where Peyton grew up:









Notice that this porch has a sky-blue ceiling. This color is believed to deter nesting insects as well as to ward off evil spirits. Many of the houses shared this color.









This one was owned by Anne Rice and was the setting for her Witching Hour novels. The house was know as Rosegate for the rosettes on the fence, but I think they look more like skulls, don't you? Fitting for Anne Rice, I guess....












At the end of the walk, we explored the Lafayette Cemetery. In New Orleans, the graves are above ground because the city is below sea level. The call the cemetery the City of the Dead, and it does look like a little city with its houses all lined up in a row.









Notice the flowers on the grave have a Mardi Gras napkin and beads attached.











Nicholas noticed that this grave stone had slipped and it appeared that the grave was open. I couldn't get anyone to look in though....









After our walking tour, we boarded the St. Charles Streetcar and headed to the end of the line for lunch at the Camellia Grill. Lunch here is a fast-paced diner style affair, with the grill directly behind the counter where everyone sits for lunch. We had to stand in line, but the burgers are fantastic, and both kids had breakfast food for lunch. You can't beat that.











We spent the afternoon exploring the Audubon Zoo. The otters were my favorite, although I enjoyed the rheas also (a relative of the ostrich).












No real cheetahs, unfortunately, but Megan did get to pose with a cool statue.











And Nicholas found this friendly alligator....









and a goat named Murray.

New Orleans day 2

Our second day in New Orleans dawned as beautiful as the first. After breakfast we walked down to the IMAXX theater and watched a 3D movie about dinosaurs. Before heading into the Aquarium, we stopped in at Johnny's for a delicious po-boy. The kids and I all had shrimp po-boys and David had a hamburger. I don't know if they are always this good, but sitting in the sun next to the Mississippi River can only enhance the experience!









Following lunch, we headed into the Aquarium where we saw sharks, stingrays, sea otters, penguins, even an albino alligator.









We rode the ferry across the river to Algiers, mostly for the experience of getting out on the river.
Nicholas proved that Nintendo DS is a universal icebreaker: he noticed a kid playing his DS and in a matter of minutes was huddled over him, watching intently.









And finally dinner, where we had a selection of traditional New Orleans favorites: crawfish pie, shrimp creole, jambalaya, & red beans and rice.








Sharp-eyed readers may notice that Nicholas's hat is subtly different from pictures earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we don't think that the original hat (which, you'll remember we got hustled into by the street vendor) made it back from Algiers. We were on our way back to the ferry to look for it (what else do you do when your 7 year old is crying as if his heart will break?) when ANOTHER street vendor called out "Hats, $5." This stopped us in our tracks because we had paid $10 for the original hat. Were we willing to fork out $5 to avoid walking the rest of the way to the ferry, possibly riding it back across the Mississippi, all for the very SLIM possibility that his hat was still where he left it? You bet we were! And although I'm still not sure that we weren't being completely hustled, BOTH hat vendors claimed to be raising money for a local food program. So if it's a scam, it's a very widespread and organized scam. The end result, though, was a very happy boy, who is NOT allowed to take the hat off his head!

New Orleans, day 1

We arrived in New Orleans around lunch time on Monday. Naturally, we were all hungry, which is a good thing to be in New Orleans. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses are closed on Mondays here. So after trying to go to 3 restaurants, we finally found a Mexican place that was open. It wasn't really my first choice to eat Mexican food for my first meal in the Big Easy, but, Wow! It was fabulous! The kids and I had tacos (fish, chicken, and steak) and David had enchiladas. The only thing ordinary about any of the meals was the Spanish rice. The refried beans were out of this world. Before our food came, Nicholas entertained us with some dancing, and Megan videotaped him. Here they are looking at the video together.
This is my favorite part of family vacations. We all really do enjoy being together, and even the normal picking between brother and sister seems to be minimal. We have laughed at every meal we've had and we really have a good time.

After lunch, we walked around the French Quarter which is really all you need for entertainment here. There are street performers on every corner, artists displaying their wares around Jackson Square, the river to explore, not to mention the beautiful buildings and museums. We saw one guy who was riding a bicycle and he, AND the bicycle, were COMPLETELY silver. Including his skin. Wish I would have gotten a picture of that.... There's an area between Jackson Square and the river where there is often a performance going on. This guy had jazz playing marionettes.












We walked through St. Louis Cathedral, which is the oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States.











We raced around (well, some of us did) the open areas and took photos of statues.









We took a carriage ride, pulled by a mule named Milky Way. We got a mini tour of the French Quarter, where we saw this house which is part Victorian mansion and part castle because the husband and wife couldn't agree on the style.









We saw the last bridge over the Mississippi River.









We saw the hotel where David and I spent our honeymoon over 17 years ago.












We got hustled by a very charming hat salesman, and we found ourselves willingly buying a hat without exactly knowing what had hit us. At least Nicholas has been wearing the hat continuously since the purchase!












And finally, we did what no visit to New Orleans is complete without: we ate beignets at Cafe du Monde. Beignets are squares of fried dough sprinkled with confectioners sugar and served at an open air restaurant adjacent to Jackson Square. The Cafe du Monde is open 24 hours a day except for Christmas Day, so you can get these hot, sweet treats (along with a hot chocolate or a cafe au lait) at any hour of the day or night. Clearly, Nicholas enjoyed his beignet thoroughly, although his Polamalu sweatshirt may never be the same!

On the road to the Big Easy

So after playing 3 softball games yesterday and one this morning, our family packed up the van and headed south. We ate dinner in Hueytown, AL at a BBQ place. We were headed to a Mexican restaurant when we notice the sign for the BBQ. Some years ago, we were given a recommendation on choosing a BBQ restaurant: if the pig on the sign is realistic, pass it by. But if it is anthropomorphic, try it out. In fact, the more human-like the pig, the better. So this guy was about as far from realistic as you can get and still recognize it as a pig. And the BBQ was good, and there was a lot of it!
But the most interesting thing that we noticed as we were leaving the restaurant is that they were a sponsor of the 2009 12U ASA National Championship softball team! Softball follows us everywhere we go..... :)