As we planned our week long trip to Atlanta to meet baby Gwen, Dustin and I thought it would be fun to stop in New Orleans for a couple of nights. We left San Antonio Friday morning and finally arrived at our hotel in the French Quarter about 11 hours later (normally it would only be 9 but we hit traffic problems west of Baton Rouge). After sitting in the car for 11 hours we were all ready to get out and stretch our legs for a while! We checked into our hotel on Canal Street and then headed out to find an eating establishment that was unique to New Orleans but not so unique that we (ie the kids) wouldn't enjoy the dinner. Without time to really read reviews and menues online, we settled on the Hard Rock Cafe! :) The kids loved the restaurant - no one had to remind them to lower their voice! And it was okay to get up and dance to the music! Not wanting to expose the kids to too much Friday night French Quarter culture, we ate and headed back to the hotel as quick as we could!
On Saturday, we were up and ready before 8 - planning to walk down to Cafe du Monde for breakfast. It's not had to wake up and dress quickly when you know world famous beignets are waiting! The sky started clouding over on our walk down Decatur, and we fortunately made it to Cafe du Monde and grabbed a table just as it started pouring. Thinking the summer storm would pass quickly, we had selected one of very few remaining tables - and one that was at the edge of the covered patio overlooking Jackson Square. Satisfied that our selection would provide a nice backdrop for our Cafe du Monde experience, we order a plateful of beignets and eagerly awaited their arrival.
We were just about to dig in when the wind picked up and started blowing the rain sideways, immediately soaking everything within several feet of the edge of the covered patio. In desperation we tried to scoot our small table as far from the rain as we could and held up two umbrellas to try to protect our breakfast from becoming a soggy mess. In all the excitement of the moment, Reagan, who's becoming more and more terrified of the storm, starts yelling - in the middle of Cafe du Monde, French Quarter, New Orleans - "It's a hurricane! It's a hurricane!" I quickly put her mind at ease that it was just a simple storm, as I'm grabbing our plate of beignets and retreating to a dryer spot in the restaurant. A nice couple who had just finished their breakfast quickly sweetly offered us their table. By then, Daddy had collected our few drinks and joined us. So here we are... beignets at Cafe du Monde round 2!
Somehow, the beignets survived the storm without a drop of water on them and were as delicious as anticipated!
After finishing breakfast, tracking down Cafe du Monde hats that Peyton had to have, finding a restroom and waiting out the storm, it was finally time to explore Jackson Square and surrounding French Quarter.
Peyton's favorite fountain near the French Market - it looked like water shooting out of fire.
Enjoying the beautiful architecture of the French Quarter.
When the kids had had enough "exploring" for the morning, we went back to the hotel to get in our car and head out for lunch and to our swamp boat tour. On the way to the swamp, we came across a Quiznos... one of Daddy's favorite sandwich places and very hard to find these days!
We arrived at the Jean Lafitte Preserve early enough to explore a bit before boarding the boat.
The swamp tour was awesome! During our 1.5 hours of touring the preserve's canals (man-made) and bayous (naturally occurring) we saw much wildlife including many alligators (most 4-8 feet).
These alligators that life in the preserve have been "trained" to be attracted to the tour boats with marshmellows! The guides will toss out a marshmellow or two as each alligator approaches the boat.
Large fishing bird drying off on a log.
At one point in the tour, our guide took out a small, 3 year old alligator for us to experience even more up close!
When the guide asked for volunteers to hold the alligator, Reagan was the first in line!
Peyton wasn't as enthusiastic about holding the gator, but he was not about to let little sister have an experience he didn't get to have!
We returned to the French Quarter in time for dinner. We chose to eat at a very Cajun restaurant called Huck Finn's. We shared boudin balls, jambalaya, red beans and rice and crawfish etouffee (and cheese fries!). We finished off dinner with a second round of beignets for the day! The kids are definitely in love with beignets! We asked Peyton what he prefers more - Chili's Chocolate Molten Cake or beignets and he insight-fully answered, "They are both delicious but in different ways."
Yes... those are our kids licking the powdered sugar off of the plate! They didn't waist a crumb!
Walking back to our hotel on Canal Street.
On Sunday morning, waiting for the valet to bring our car around. Atlanta here we come!
