As soon as we found the hotel and got checked in we began the onslaught of walking, eating, shopping and drinking that I'll be smiling and laughing about for a few decades. We hit so many great restaurants and pubs and such it would be impossible to recap. After all the beignets and coffee from Cafe Du Monde, Lucky Dogs, beer from the pubs and all the awesome cajun chow from all over the city settled in I think I gained a good 5 lbs. There's just so much great food and drink in this city. The only thing that saved us a bit was all the walking... maybe 10 miles a day I'm guessing between the shops on Canal and the whole French Quarter area as well as walking way down St. Charles.
We also made it out to the aquarium, the zoo, Audubon Park, an NCAA tournament game (Butler upsetting Florida), rode the mule-drawn carriages, took a walking ghost tour, hit the casino, wandered around the French Market for hours with mimosas in hand (and spent money), sang at a piano bar and went to a concert (Apocalyptica at the House of Blues).
It was non-stop almost from start to finish. On the way home we even stopped at the legendary Myrtles Plantation, an antebellum plantation in St. Francisville, La. We didn't get there in time for a ghost tour, but walked around a bit. In addition to being on the national register of historic places and just being a gorgeous place, it's also one of America's most haunted homes. Neat place.
Sadly, it was 74 degrees when we packed the car in NOLA yesterday morning and 44 when we got back to Little Rock. The whole time we were there it was sunny, windy and warm. I got a sun/wind burn and we wore short sleeves most of the time.
Really the beautiful weather just added to the near perfection of the whole thing. But oh well... back to reality. It won't be my last trip to NOLA though.
Next up? Some rest this week then Kenny Chesney's "Goin Coastal" tour on Friday night with Billy Currington and Uncle Kracker in support. That should get the weekend going. Baseball season also gets kicking this week so the Travelers will be playing home games in just a few weeks. We've also got a Vegas trip planned in 5 weeks. When that one is over, the boat should be cleaned up, launched and providing some partyin' fun on the lake.
I've got tickets to not 1 but 2 Keith Urban shows later this Summer... in Jonesboro, AR and Nashville, TN. Edgefest 2011 with Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, Seether, Sevendust, Three Days Grace, Halestorm and others is coming up in April. I've got tickets for the Foo Fighters show here in May with Motorhead and Biffy Clyro. Lastly, Riverfest has announced a fun line-up with Nelly, REO Speedwagon, Barenaked Ladies, Poison, Papa Roach and others for Memorial Weekend.
So sleep when you're dead.
Here's a decent video I found from the House of Blues show I was at on Thursday night:
