This weekend, I went to New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. The differences weren't very noticable in the French Quarter, on Bourbon or the Garden District...but our tour guide on the swamp tour (more on that later) did mention it many times and they were so thankful for the tourists returning.
We were in NOLA for my friend Christy's bday. Trips are so much more fun when you have a group of friends to create the memories with! We arrived late Friday evening and grabbed dinner of traditional New Orleans fare...gumbo, etouffe, etc. Then we hit a couple of bars and snagged a primo spot on one of the balconies over Bourbon Street. We got quite a show up there...and spent a lot of time watching the awful outfits parade by! Camille, Nita and I turned in early...as we had a 7am wake up call to go to the swamp tour the next morning.
We woke up at the crack of dawn (ok, at least for me) and boarded a tour bus and had plenty of entertainment from our guide, Brian. He told jokes, stories and made the trip fly by. We then boarded an airboat and zoomed around the swamp. I was surprised at how pretty the water was and how many flowers were everywhere. It was really much more beautiful than expected. We heard and saw tons of bugs, aligators (that are trained to come snack on marshmallows...they only see black and white, so they're easy to see!) and birds. We ventured from the swamp to the marsh and enjoyed the sunshine-y day!
After the tour, we headed back to town and snacked on pizza...it's abundant on Bourbon Street. Then we met up with the full crew and walked to Harrah's. No one was really feeling their mojo on the machines...so we walked on to the Riverwalk Mall for some retail therapy. While we were there it started to POUR! The weather is like Houston, they get little afternoon showers. Christy really wanted the full group to head to "Tujaques"...a place special to her and her grandpa. They were very, very close. We all got a group photo in front of the bar...I hope it's a special memory for her.
From there, Cara, Nita, Camille, Mindi and I grabbed dinner then went back to the room to get ready for the evening. We met Christy at Pat O'Briens...where we got some great group pics! And we toasted Christy's 30th with a bottle of champagne and a few hurricanes!
A few of us went over to get a delicious infused vodka bloody mary...I was done with sweet fruity drinks! And this hit the spot! We hung out at a place with a great people watching patio, then walked Bourbon for a while. We settled in a spot called Bouron Rocks. They had an emcee that was great! They played lots of fun music and even had a "you got served" style dance competition...how can you beat that!??!?! We headed back to the room for some well deserved sleep after a fun night!
The next morning Camille, Nita and I took the trolley into the Garden District, past the beautiful campus of Loyola University then stopped for lunch before catching our flight back to Houston!
Thanks all for a fun trip and most of all HAPPY 30TH CHRISTY!!!!! :)
Also, I am up to date on www.gaigespages.com with 7 new albums!! :) YEA!
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