I can’t believe I’ve been 30 for over two weeks now and still haven’t blogged about my most fabulous birthday celebration trip!  It was truly a trip of a lifetime.  I think it’s best to split my blogging into two huge entries: one for New Orleans and one for the cruise (aka, “best trip of my life”).

I’ve never been to New Orleans before, or as I call it, “Land of Sugar and Booze.”  On our first day, we walked around the French Quarter and immersed ourselves in all that is NOLA.  First stop?  Cafe du Monde, of course!

 

The best cafe au lait I’ve ever had, and the (in)famous beignets!  If you’ve never been to CDM, the floor is disgusting.  Don’t look down.  

Right around the corner we found Aunt Sally, who was busy making authentic creole pralines, which are basically sugar.  And butter.  And delicious.

They also sold these crazy gay mermaid holiday ornaments.  We found these in other stores also.  Not sure what’s up with the gay mermaid ornaments and how they fit in with NOLA?  But they’re pretty fabulous.

As we walked around, it became very evident that NOLA is a city of street performers.  Some of the best street music I’ve ever heard, and some pretty amazing displays of magic, juggling, and balancing on silly things while throwing sharp knives.

NOLA is also apparently “the place to buy hot sauce.”  And alligator heads?

It’s really a pretty town, and I’m glad we were able to see it in all of it’s holiday glory.  It’s also quite hot there most days of the year, so I was very appreciative of the perfect weather. 

I have a lot of food porn to show you, as I’m sure you expect, but for some reason Larry didn’t want to eat as much as we all did?

We did convince him to join us at Acme Oyster House, where 97% of the menu is fried.  I had the BEST fried oysters ever.  To die for.

Jason, Colleen and I took a little streetcar ride to… actually… I’m not sure.  We got lost.  But the streetcars are nice!

Full day 2: Jason, Colleen, Ellyn and myself took a plantation tour about an hour outside of NOLA, just off the mighty Mississippi River (which is gigantic).  First stop, Oak Alley Plantation.  Totally haunted.  And very pretty!

This lady was our tour guide.  This picture really captures it: she’s in all the garb of the era, but wait, what’s that on the mantle?  A plastic daiquiri cup.  Which she drank while she gave us the tour.  “Ya’ll… this is the dining room.  Ya’ll, they all ate here.  It was hot, ya’ll…”  And so on.

None of this furniture is original to the house.  But you can’t sell a plantation tour unless the house has furniture, right?

This picture is a little creepy.  I took it through a window, and you can see me in the reflection in the mirror.  You can also see, just to the right of me, a ghost.  Legit!  I captured an image of a ghost!  (I’m calling that little green bit and the purple bit a ghost.  Roll with it)

The second plantation we saw was Laura Plantation, which is more of an original creole-style plantation.  A really fascinating story–a couple came over from France to start a sugar plantation.  They built this house, then just before the first harvest, the husband died.  So the wife inherited the whole thing and was allowed to run the business (back when women couldn’t tie their own shoelaces without asking a man’s permission).  And then, when it comes time to pass the business along to the next person in the family, she picks a daughter (not her son!) to run it.  And then she picks a girl, and so on.  Only women ever ran this plantation, which is pretty cool.

This is also cool–a bonfire!  They light it up on Christmas night so that Papa Noel knows where to come.  Apparently the whole town has bonfires.

There were more ghosts at this plantation as well, although I didn’t capture them on film.  We were standing in a bedroom during the tour and the guide told us that this man and woman were totally set on their daughter being the next in line to run the plantation, but she developed acne and they were worried that would ruin their chances.  So they took her to a doctor, who gave her a shot to cure the acne, and she died instantly.  The parents came home and the mother sat in this bedroom and never left the room until she died, like twenty years later.  Can you imagine not leaving a room for twenty years?  And the guilt of your daughter dying because you thought her acne was ruining her business prospects?

We came back after a day of plantations and walked around a bit more.  Not too far from our hotel we stumbled upon the Supreme Court of Louisiana/Court of Appeal Fourth Circuit.  Such lawyer nerds.

Day 3: we visited the National World War II Museum, which is absolutely phenomenal.  If you go, don’t miss the movie.  It’s a “4-D” movie experience, complete with snow that falls on the audience and seats that rumble.

Clark Gable!  Swoon!

On Saturday morning we decided that we really needed to go eat something before we boarded our ship.  Because people starve on cruise ships?!  We visited Mothers, home of the best ham ever.  I completely agree.  I would also add that their biscuits are to die for.

Next… our cruise!