What a trip down to New Orleans. We enjoyed a wedding, enjoyed the sun, took in a museum, had some good food to eat, listened to some music, and spent a few hours at the children’s doctors office. It was an adventure and very grateful we had some help while we were there.
The three of us arrived in the New Orleans airport around midnight, Central Time, with my parents already there with the rental car. We had booked a hotel near the airport for the first night because of our late arrival. That all worked out pretty well and we got some good sleep to fuel us for the next several days.
Our first full day in New Orleans was a very much enjoyable day that we were able to take at our leisure and without any other to dos. We kicked off the New Orleans food scene with my best meal of the trip with brunch at Brennan’s in the French Quarter. Eggs benedicts a bunch of different ways, amazing chicory coffee (we found the coffee in New Orleans surprisingly delicious and unique), and rounded out the coined bananas foster flambeed at the table. We left on foot to explore the very first day of the French Quarter Festival’s live music along the riverfront before heading out to check into our Airbnb for the next several nights. Our Airbnb was located in the Garden District, a very walkable neighborhood with some cute shops, cafes, and eateries. We also had a shared pool and a full kitchen. We were visited by Amy and her soon-to-be husband, Eric, at our place for a visit before we set out on foot for dinner at the casual eatery Joey K’s.
For me, Friday and Saturday were exclusively wedding-filled event days and there was not much time that I could spend exploring New Orleans or hanging out with the family. Friday I spent the afternoon at a Bridal Luncheon, hosted by Amy’s godmother, at a very Seattle-like restaurant downtown called Josephine Estelle’s. I got to meet Amy’s female family members and maid of honor for the first time. After lunch I had a short break, getting to take Reese for a dip in the pool real quick (she loves swimming) before both Bryan and I headed out for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was short enough and then we were off to dinner at Mandina’s for tons of food and all of the usual wedding speeches. This was an enjoyable dinner out without Reese and my parents were able to take Reese out to their own dinner, eaten al fresco at Gris Gris.
Saturday was wedding day and that was pretty much all. I was scheduled to start getting ready at Amy’s hotel room starting at 10 am and was there on time. I got my hair done and did my own makeup while we drank mimosas and had lunch. We finally got to see Amy’s dress on around 3 pm and then set out for pictures in a garden near the church. After pictures we waited for the ceremony to begin at 6:30 pm. I was the first bridesmaid to walk down the aisle but it was a very easy ceremony to take part in. The ceremony lasted all of 30 minutes and then the wedding party piled into the party limo to head to the reception at the Civic Theater in downtown. At this point my duties were over and I enjoyed the party with lots to drink, mingling, tastes of gumbo, roast, crawfish mac n cheese, BBQ shrimp and a few passed apps. Bryan and I danced and shared cake and had a good time listening the band and ended the night with the parade out of the venue and sending Amy and Eric off with sparklers.
Now that I was done with my bridesmaid duties I could do a little more exploring of New Orleans with the family. We were going to go to the WWII Museum on Sunday but got a late start and took awhile to find a good lunch place so we pushed that to Monday. We still got a nice walk in the glorious weather and got a good lunch outside on a place called Lula’s patio. We wanted to catch some of the New Orleans live music and decided to hit Frenchmen Street in the French Quarter after the Festival was over. We all headed down Sunday evening and popped into one place for about an hour to hear some jazz and blues before our reservation at the Three Muses was available for some more string jazz music along with small plates and excellent cocktails. Reese was loving it and made a few new friends at the end of the night, including some of the band members.
So Monday we did make it to the WWII Museum, as well as Reese woke up that morning not feeling well. We ended up spending about 5 hours in the museum and still didn’t catch all of the exhibits but of the ones we did catch, we thoroughly enjoyed. Bryan was right…this is an excellent museum and very worth going to. We walked to and from the museum and once we were back home Bryan and I got a thermometer to take Reese’s temperature and decided to take her to the New Orleans after hours children’s clinic to be safe and not sorry, especially with a long flight home the next day. We ended up spending four hours at the less than stellar clinic with a diagnosis of zilch, getting back to the Airbnb after 10 pm. Thankful my parents picked us up dinner of poboys and fried pickles, regardless if the poboys were any good (we all decided they were not the best).
Tuesday was our departure day and it took us the entire morning to get our bags packed and ready to go. We checked out at noon and headed to City Park for a nice walk. Our end goal was to get beignets and cafe au laits at the classic Cafe Du Monde, which has a food truck right in City Park. This was perfection as the beignets were fresh and hot, coated in mounds of powdered sugar and the cafe au laits delivered more of that chicory flavor that I apparently love! Set in a garden setting this was one of the best New Orleans experiences we had on the trip. Sugared up we explored the park a little more; the sculpture park and some of the amazing moss growing on the oak trees. We made our way to the airport, getting lunch together first before my parents dropped us off before returning the car (thank you again parents for doing that for us!).
By Tuesday, I think everyone had enjoyed themselves in New Orleans but were ready to go home. I was anxious about the flight with a sick baby girl but she was so under the weather that she slept the entire time. I don’t even remember what I did to spend my time on the flight but for some reason the 4 hr and 40 minute flight went much quicker than I expected. Our last trip for a while was over and settling back into home life was now upon us….although a bit different with baby girl under the weather. Amy’s wedding was beautiful and well planned and I was grateful for being a part of her special day.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 