New Orleans Day 1

Since we probably won't live this close to New Orleans again, we splurged and visited New Orleans last week for Spencer's last spring break as a student. I must have lived in a little western bubble growing up because I knew nothing about New Orleans until I started researching for our trip. Louisiana was the only state that was once a French colony and New Orleans was the only city where French was the predominant language for over a century. We loved the European feel, the food, the accents, and the jazz music playing constantly. We loved New Orleans!

We left last Tuesday morning and arrived early that afternoon. We had some time to kill before we could check into our hotel so we decided to go to Storyland. The description online said that "Fairytales and fantasy come to life before your eyes in City Park’s Storyland. This charming theme playground is a child’s dream come true filled with 25 larger-than-life storybook sculptures featuring classic fairytale characters."
 


 
 
 
Turns out Storyland was about as epic as an average miniature golfing course. Jack spent most of the time hanging out in a firetruck that I don't think had anything to do with fairytales. At one point Spencer said, "We drove all the way to New Orleans to hang out in a firetruck?" We left shortly after that.
After we checked into our hotel, we walked to a place I had read about called Oceana for dinner. Spencer got the shrimp creole and I got the red beans and rice. We both LOVED our meals. I had no idea rice and beans could have so much flavor!

 
While most tourists partied at Bourbon Street, we spent the evening quietly in the bathroom waiting for Jack to fall asleep. Totally awesome.
FYI, I was sitting on a chair, not the toilet.
 

Fun fact for the day: When I was 12 years old I decided that I was going to marry a tall, nerdy, red head. Another fun fact for the day: Spencer totally had a quarter life crisis this year (or a spiritual awakening as he calls it). One side effect was that he grew out his beard for the first time ever and his facial hair is totally red! I got my tall, nerdy, red head after all.
 
New Orleans Day 2
New Orleans Day 3