Spring Break Part I: The Big Easy

So this is how it all went down: Spring break week. Kids are excited. We decide to spend a few days in Dallas with my brother's family. (That part of the trip will by my next post titled, "Spring Break Part II: we take our kids to Dallas and all they want to do is go bowling.") The plan was to come back Friday night, but after hearing that it was going to snow over the weekend in OKC, I did NOT want to come back home. We tried to think of somewhere fun to go, but every place we could think of within driving distance was going to be rainy and cold. Then I plugged in New Orleans into the nifty weather forecast site on my phone and it said it would be in the low 70s. Now that sounded perfect. Brian wasn't so thrilled at first to go on an unplanned trip and I had to convince him that it didn't matter that we would end up wearing the same stinky clothes for three days. I also had to convince Kali that we would figure out how to get her book report done that (she thought) was due on Monday morning. (We ended up stopping at a book store in Baton Rouge and purchased the book, stationary, and pencils, and she worked on her report on the car ride home. Then when we were just a couple hours from home she remembered that the report actually wasn't due until Wednesday. She said she earned her uh-dur patch for that one.)

This all happened about 4 p.m. on Friday, and by 5 p.m. we were on our way to Louisiana!

The hotel we stayed in had the strongest shower-head I have ever used. It was quite possibly the best shower I have ever taken. That thing should be illegal. And fyi it is not WT to choose a hotel based on their free continental breakfast. Neither is collecting the little shampoos and soaps for me to use at the gym.

We absolutely loved New Orleans, and even Brian (the stick in the mud) was glad that we went. And once again I forgot to charge my camera batteries so I only got pictures of about half of our trip. My good camera died the first night in Dallas, and my back-up camera died just as we were getting into the real swampy part of the swamp tour. So here is a photo run-down of what I captured:

French Quarter

Bourbon Street

Lots of street performers, fortune tellers, card readers, etc.

Beignets are a yummy french pastry that are like donuts but OH so much yummier!

Shrimp and sausage jambalaya.

Rice with beans is a traditional New Orleans dish.

Other foods that we (ok mostly Brian) tried: crawfish, turtle soup, catfish. I had to ask the server what these little round breaded things were and as the server was explaining them to me she said, "all y'all 'aint from 'round here, are ya?" Oh so that's what hush puppies are! Now I know.

Later in the afternoon we went on a swamp tour. We saw an alligator, some amazing birds, trees, plants, and other swamp life. We saw an animal that looked like a beaver that was actually a big rodent called a nutria. I said they should be called R.O.U.S.S, but nobody on the boat laughed at my witty joke.

The only bad experience I had on the tour was when the really old dude was handing out life jackets to all the kids under 16 years old and tried to give me one. Grrrrrr. Honestly, I was feeling like a grandma that day because I was wearing a button-down cardigan sweater. (As apposed to the rest of the female population in New Orleans, who weren't wearing much of anything.)

All of the homes near the water are built on these tall stilt things. Yes, that is the technical term.

There used to be a home here before Katrina. Katrina carried this home, totally intact,

about one mile up river.

Can you name this bird? Because I forget its name. We also saw a cardinal (awesome!), a blue heron (really awesome!), and a bald eagle.

You can see Mrs. Alligator poking her head out of the water.

It is still too cold out for the alligators to be very social.

If we had had one more day there, I would have visited the cool cemeteries. Maybe photograph the ghost of the famous voodoo queen.

We also missed visiting the famous plantations. Maybe the next time it snows here we'll have to go on another road trip!