Katie's Big Easy Birthday!

So Katie was born and raised in Louisiana and said she'd never been to New Orleans.  She actually HAS been, but was too young to remember her first trip and her eighth grade field trip to Baton Rouge included like a 20 minute stop in New Orleans but she only remembered that because she had a picture of it.  At any rate, with her birthday at the end of March and the craziness of Mardi Gras season past, I reserved a Bourbon St. balcony room right in the heart of the French Quarter for three nights to celebrate.  I've always wanted to stay in the middle of things and I sure got my wish - it was awesome!  We decorated our balcony (even though at nighttime you couldn't see it or us from the street), took a couple of drinks to our room and people watched every night.  It was great to be able to experience all the action without being in the mix.  We ate SO many great meals in so many great restaurants, went to the Aquarium and movie there for free (their computers were down and they just let us go in-can you believe that?), the World War II Museum, a plantation home/swamp tour and a dinner jazz cruise.  And walk...did we ever WALK!!  Over 15,000 steps on each of the two full days we were there.  I absolutely love every minute I get to spend with my sweet daughter and we always have so much fun.


                   HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE - LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!!

We made up 24 sack lunches for the homeless and could have given out twice as many.

Pulling out of the driveway!

No trip to NOLA would be complete without a stop at Prejean's in Lafayette

The crawfish nachos were amazing!

Superdome - home of the New Orleans Saints

Just checked into our room and these are the doors out to the balcony

Katie checking it out

We saw at least a dozen Second Lines while we were there. Most were weddings but some were just rich kids who hired a jazz band and police escorts and made a party of it!


Second line is a tradition in brass band parades in New Orleans, Louisiana. The "main line" or "first line" is the main section of the parade, or the members of the actual club with the parading permit as well as the brass band. Those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the "second line." 

The room came with ear plugs and we did use them...Bourbon St. NEVER sleeps, but I needed to!!!

There's our balcony! That's before we decorated. We were on the 4th floor - a bit too high to throw the beads we brought.

Always so much going on down here - dance party with the "Easter bunny" in this shot.

Katie didn't like the Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's.  I sure like them!

She did like their food, though.

All ages of performers on Saturdays.

She didn't like the Hand Grenades, either.  I drank this one for her...:)

Enjoying the night view from the balcony

Breakfast at The Court of Two Sisters

Jazz band at The Sisters

This was about a block from our hotel

Walking down Bourbon St.

St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square.  Tom Benson's (owner of the Saints and Pelicans teams) funeral was here the day before.

Pic of Jackson Square while waiting in line at Café Du Monde.

She was a fan!

Aquarium!

My view of Jackson Square from our dinner table at Landry's

She found an alcoholic beverage she actually enjoyed!!

I can ALWAYS find an alcoholic beverage I enjoy!!

Finished this one...

...and got one to go for the balcony!!

Another Second Line...and this wedding had it's reception right across the street from us!

Here are all the people from the wedding on their balcony and the band was down the alley to the right in the big courtyard behind that building.

Lunch before our Plantation/Swamp Tour at Pierre Maspero's.

We were first on the bus and she got to pick our seats. Met some folks from Greensburg, PA on this tour!

At Destrehan Plantation - this tree has got to be original to this place.  It was gorgeous!

Cooking demonstration in the actual detached plantation kitchen

The levee is right behind this tree across the road and the Mississippi River beyond that.

Swamp Tour!

Captain Danny throws marshmallows to these raccoons to make them come out.

A gator and some turtles chillin' on a log. I was surprised they didn't bail when we went by.

There were so many alligators on the banks and swimming in the water! We don't have that many visible in Caddo Lake.

Old fishing/hunting cabin on the shore

Capt. Danny schooling us on how to handle Bruce the alligator.  Bruce is three years old.

Katie's favorite part of her whole birthday trip right here.

The girl behind me is from the Netherlands and she didn't want anything to do with the gator. No, she did not hold it.

I made the Ninja Turtle squad! This actual turtle shell was quite large and heavy.

We rode the Natchez riverboat that looks exactly like this but I didn't get a pic of it so I figured the Creole Queen would do.

She liked this drink, too!  Dinner was fabulous, the band was really nice and the view was unbeatable!

Monday morning Bourbon St. clean-up crew. They power wash the sidewalks, dump all the trash and have street sweeper machines come through and suck up all the trash from the roadway.  They do a really good job keeping things clean down here but there is still a certain smell that will never leave - it's the smell that's been here every time I've come to NOLA.  You just have to experience it.

Monday morning breakfast at Café Beignet. 

WW II Museum

In the Omaha Beach bunker recreation - this gun was giant!

Our dinner stop on the way home between Breaux Bridge and Lafayette

Canebrake beer and the crawfish were perfect!  So were the raw oysters - very fresh...


A wonderful trip with precious memories - thanks, Katie!!  I had a blast!!!