NOLA

Well, I have made it home safely from New Orleans and roughly a week later, I have fully recovered from the barrage of fried food, sweet concoctions and lack of sleep. What a city though. It was like being on a visual roller coaster; everywhere I turned, there were photo opps and rich, southern culture surrounding me.

Rachel's apartment, where we stayed, is located in a quaint neighborhood within walking distance to a coffee shop (thank god), convenience store, and several restaurants. Upon landing Friday night, we quickly dropped our bags and headed over to the Frenchmen area for some local cuisine (delicious fried mushrooms, gumbo- and of course, beer), followed by a few stops in the area's bars to check out the music scene, before heading back to crash and start fresh Saturday morning.

We spent our first morning strolling Magazine Street eating french pastries and window shopping. After that, it was over to the French Quarter. It was a sunny, fairly warm afternoon, so we sat outside at the Gumbo House for lunch (blackened redfish for me, cheeseburger po'boy for Matt and seafood gumbo for Rachel). The architecture of the French Quarter fascinated me- such vivid colors, ornate rod iron scroll work and huge walk-through windows to the famous balconies.

That night we dined at the pizza place near Rachel's house that served amazing food, as well as a to-die-for Ginger Lemonade cocktail. After that, it was back to the French Quarter to check out Bourbon Street. I don't know if I could have prepared myself for the madness that lives on this street. We grabbed Hurricanes at Pat O'Briens and took them to the street with us as we strolled and people watched, stopping in a few other places to grab a refill and dance to a few tunes. It wasn't long before we had our fill of Bourbon and headed back to the Frenchmen area to finish the night dancing to a fabulous, fun brass band.

Sunday was our last full day in NOLA (as I learned to call it). We slept late, waited nearly an hour for breakfast at The Ruby Slipper (which was totally worth the wait) and then headed to the open air market for some souvenir shopping. Later, we managed to make it to the cemetery just before to dark to see the large, ominous and intricate above ground tombs (we also just barely managed to sneak out as the guard was locking things up for the night). Sunday evening was casual po'boys at Dominilise's before hitting the hay for our early flight out the next day.

All in all, it was a whirlwind adventure like none I have I ever had.