French Quarter! New Orleans, L

 Good morning from New Orleans, LA.  Woke up to a beautiful clear sky.  It was a little chilly this morning but short sleeves in the afternoon made for a perfect day.

We grabbed breakfast at the hotel this morning and headed into the French Quarter.  I tried my best to find a hotel in the French Quarter but the prices doubled over the weekend and they all charged $40 per night to park.  I just couldn't justify the money, so we stayed about 15 minutes away in Metairie, LA and cut the hotel bill in half.   The Football fans started coming out this evening as well so we were seeing a lot of Steelers and Saints fans.

First on the agenda, I booked a tour with

 It is a touring company that caters to kids.  We did one for teens.  They gave a lot of history about New Orleans and how it was founded, we explored the river front, Jackson Square and a little bit of Royal Street.  Kids were ok, I think it might have been a little too much learning for them over break, but I thought it was great.

 I love the feel of New Orleans, the buildings, the vibe, the activity.

 We met our tour guide at the water fountain.

 A little of the maps he showed the kids.

 We watched a cruise ship coming back into port.

 The tracks, the tree and St. Louis cathedral in the background.

 St. Louis Cathedral.

 Statue of Andrew Jackson who was a hero of New Orleans helping to win the battle of 1912.  He said there is a smaller version of this in DC.

 Sitting in Jackson Square.

A little history lesson on chamber pots before indoor plumbing lol.

Next up after the tour we headed to Johnny's PoBoys for lunch.

 Hmm, what to choose.

 Love my peeps!

 Me and my girl!

 The Boys

And most importantly, the food.  Shrimp Poboy, Ham and Cheese Poboy and Chicken tenders and some fries.  Excellent!  Huge portions though and we couldn't eat it all.

 Then a little browsing!

 And a little Chocolate!

 We got to take in a street performance.  So funny, we walked up and I was like, this is the same performance I watched 20 years ago.  And sure enough, as they ended, they said they had been there for over 30 years at the same spot.

 Jumping over the people.

 I will never turn down my little man holding my hand.  Even though he is almost as tall as me!

 Another street performance

Love this girl!

 Inside St. Louis Cathedral.

 Next off to Aunt Sally's Pralines!

Me and my little man. 

 Watching them cut huge pieces of Carmel.

 Love my people.

 We headed down to the French Market.  It has changed a little bit since the last time I was here.  Looks like it was updated !

 Watching pottery making.

 And name drawings.

 And Crepe making.

 Well me may have needed to try one of those crepes for ourselves!  Peanut butter, Nutella, and strawberries.

 Yumm!

 Next up a trolly ride!

 $1.25 to ride the trolly.  There are several lines but we only had time to ride one today.

 Trolly riding!

 And yes, we took the kids down Bourbon Street.  It was still before 5pm so it was not too bad but they got to see a few things. Batman wasn't too sure and Ladybug was like, yeah, let's get out of here.

Pretty!

 And last but not least, a stop at Cafe Du Monde.  When we got there around 9am there was a line down the street. When we stopped for a late afternoon snack there was still the same line so we grabbed them to go.

kids got to watch them making them.

 Yep!  They enjoyed them.

 Sun was setting .

Batman enjoyed it all over! Shorts, hoodie, around the mouth lol. 

 After a quick message to a friend who grew up here, Harbor seafood and oyster Bar was recommended.  It didn't disappoint!

 Shrimp, Hushpuppies, onion rings, and bread.

 Awesome Mozzarella sticks.

 And Seafood Gumbo!

To sum it up... great day!  For the most part, we hit all the highlights that I had on my list to show the kids.  

There is so much to do here and so many restaurants to try but we got poyboys, gumbo and Beignets. We walked the quarter, French market, a little of Canal street and rode the trolley.  So I called the day a success! 

Tomorrow morning we get to sleep in, yea!! And then we will head to Hattiesburg!

Christmas Day 1 - Houston to New Orleans

Day 1 - Christmas vacation.  Kids don't know what we are doing.  There are a couple of reasons for this.
1.  Because we don't really know what we are doing.  We have an idea, it includes New Orleans, Hattiesburg, Jackson and Washington DC.  New York has a couple of days in there, but we decided against it last night which leads us to point #2.
2.  As much as we teach the kids to "roll with the punches" and "go with the flow", they are terrible at handling change!  So because the government is threatening a shutdown and because the weather on the East coast has seen a snow storm and severe flooding in the last couple of weeks, we need to be able to change our plans without whining coming from the backseat.

Whew! As always pulling myself away from day to day life is hard.  Work is sometimes all consuming, Christmas is only a few days away, kids have school and activities, it was finals week, we needed dog food, had to go to the bank and we were all hungry.  This was our morning/afternoon.

We finished work. Picked kids up at school.  Got the car packed and headed to grab something to eat.

Of course chick fil a was requested. I did try but the rest of our little bubble (neighborhood) had the same idea.  After sitting in line to just park, going inside to find a very overwhelming and long line, I headed back outside to wait in my parking space for the drive through line to move so I could get out of the very busy parking lot.  Off to Wendy's we went.

It took us over 30 minutes to grab food and get out of the neighborhood.  The stress was still a little high here lol.  Chris is sick with a really bad sinus infection (which he finally went to the Dr. this morning to get some medicine) so I am driving.  We had a 5-6 hour drive (which actually took us 9 hours).  Traffic out of Houston was crazy.  By the way have I ever told you how much I love WAZE.  It is a life saver sometime!

I kid you not, two hours after Batman ate 6 chicken strips and French fries, he reminded us every 30 minutes for the next 4 hours that he was STARVING.  Stress is still a little high here.

Finally made it out of Houston but traffic was heavy all evening.  I was extremely thankful for the clear weather though and for no accidents since much of the way was 2 lane roads and it was so heavy.

At some point, I took a deep breath and relaxed.....can you feel the tension release. I can't work when I am not at home (at least not as easily), the kids are done with school, the sky is clear and the day is beautiful and I am on vacation in our blue jeep with the family and we are on an adventure.

Two hours in we needed a bathroom break and was also informed that Ladybug didn't eat her lunch because it didn't smell good.  Stopped for bathroom and to grab some nuggets.  We went ahead and filled the tank up with gas and got back on the road again.

Yes we know Batman is hungry but we must travel a little more.  Baton Rouge it is and that's really where this post should begin!

So Chris and I don't like to eat at chains or really anywhere we have ever been before for that matter when we are traveling.  The kids don't always agree with this but like I said, they have to learn to roll with the punches!

 We found this place that I believe was in downtown Baton Rouge.  Elsie's Plate and Pie. Chris likes anything with pie in it so we must try it.  We got off the interstate and traveled to what looked like not such a great part of town.  We found the parking and realized you enter from the back side.

 So this... phones put away, for the most part kids are happy and we had some great food! You won't always get so many food pics from me but after a relatively uneventful day, this was a great ending!

 Crawfish queso!

 Chris and I shared the chicken pot pie.  Had just a little bit of a kick to it but was so delicious and I am not traditionally a chicken pot pie person.

 Kids roasted tomato soup was super yummy.
And not pictured is the salad that came with our chicken pot pie that had a sweet vinaigrette dressing on it that was the best I have tasted.  Also not my typical salad but we all lovedit!

And to finish the meal off, a cherry pie and a chocolate cream pie.
Also, not a cherry pie person but this cherry pie was sooo good and the chocolate cream was great.  I think it was the crust on these pies that made them so good!

So yes, the meal was the highlight of the day and that is totally ok with me.

Another hour drive to the hotel and 9 hours later we are tucked in for the night.

New Orleans tomorrow!