Nawlin's!

Teag's boss decided to go back to New Orleans this year for Jazz Fest, and Teag being the sweet husband that he is, asked if I could tag along. So I got to fly down with them and spend five whole days with Teag in the Crescent City. Apparently the Lakeport runway is literally on the lake, so you better be paying attention, or you'll end up in the drink.

We arrived in time for a late lunch, so we both tried some Po'boys. I got fried shrimp in mine, while Teag opted for roast beef. Next we were on our way to walk around the famed French Quarter, with it's myriad of shops, restaurants, and wrought iron balconies. We sort of wandered mistakenly onto Bourbon Street, which after having been there for about two blocks, I said to Teag, "get me out of here." Definitely not our scene. We stopped in Jackson Square, and admired the St. Louis Cathedral.

As well as a statue of Andrew Jackson.

We had kind of a hard time finding a place for dinner that was both reasonable, had food we wanted, and was within walking distance, but we finally ended up at Mother's, a restaurant reviewed on the Travel Channel's show Man vs. Food.

You can see the "Mother's" sign in the back

Despite the fact that we were there at a time we thought was somewhat late, we learned that New Orleans has much more of a nightlife than SLC (shocking, I know!), and that restaurants don't start getting busy until about 8:30. Lucky for us. I opted for the very southern fried chicken and waffles, and Teag had fried chicken with greens, potato salad, and biscuit.

Our hotel room, despite being the Marriott brand that Teag usually chooses, was actually pretty cool, as far as rooms go. It had a lot of exposed brick, and beams, and was ridiculously isolated from any outdoor sounds, or even the sounds from neighboring guests. So in other words, it was amazing.

The next day we spent in it's entirety at the WWII museum, which while the subject matter was somewhat depressing, the exhibits and information were very intriguing and informative. Part of our time was spent watching a 4D movie narrated by Tom Hanks that did a lot to convey both the seriousness and the sacrifices the war demanded. Teag, as you can imagine, was especially thrilled by the large transport plane hanging from the rafters.

Our theme for Girls Camp this year has to do with women of the 40's, so I had to take a picture of myself all "Rosie'd up".

That night, we splurged a little and ate at Emeril's restaurant. We tried some duck wings, which are honestly much larger than chicken wings, but probably have about the same amount of meat. We both ordered barbecue salmon for our entree and I had to take a picture of it first, because it was quite pretty.

The next day we wandered some more, stopping for beignets at Cafe Dumonde, then making our way on foot to St. Louis Cemetery #1. Before we got there, we passed another "Saint Louis" and his trumpet. :)

The cemetery is such an iconic place, and has sort of an odd vibe. It was rather warm, and full sunshine while we were visiting, which I was grateful for. I wouldn't want to be there at night.

It's amazing to see the differences between the individual crypts. Some people must have established legacies, or have family to tend theirs, while others are so decrepit, you wonder how much longer before there won't be anything covering them at all. I took this next photo to give an idea of that; the tomb on the left is made of marble, and obviously well cared for, the inscription legible and identifiable, while the one on the right looks ragged and crumbling, no names to be found, and exposed brick starting to weather with the elements. Plenty of them looked much worse.

Neither Teag or I were sure if there used to be a grave here or not. The statue itself was both striking and a little sad, with an arm missing and an open book of scripture placed at its feet.

Most of the tombs are no taller than six or seven feet, but there were probably a dozen or so very large tombs, dedicated to certain nationalities, religions, or in some cases, were shabby above-ground versions of paupers graves. The ones put up by the different countries were usually more adorned, and much more well cared for.

That day for lunch, we tried some more southern favorites. I tried gumbo, while Teag went with some red beans and rice. At that point, I think we were both starting to come to the realization that southern food really isn't our favorite. The food was never bad, it just wasn't something I'd go out of my way to get.

That night, we'd purchased tickets to go on a steamboat river cruise, aboard the Natchez. We'd paid to eat dinner on board as well.

The sun was high in the sky when we boarded, but we were treated to a very lovely sunset as we departed the dock.

Teag managed to capture this picture of the St. Louis Cathedral as we pulled away.

We steamed down the Mississippi, listening to live Jazz music and eating fried fish, creamed spinach, and bread pudding, among other things. Doesn't get more southern than that!

The next day was Sunday, so we decided to find the closest LDS chapel and attend their services. This time we took a bus and a trolley car instead of walking, as the distance was somewhat prohibitive. We found the church without any trouble, and actually met a few other visitors who were attending as well. The chapel itself was tiny; only five benches. They opened up the overflow, and by the time the meeting started, there was a decent sized group of people. It was one of those experiences where I'm so glad we went, and it did Teag and I a lot of good to get out of the city of vice for an hour and be able to hear some sweet testimonies born, and feel the spirit. It was a lovely opportunity to hear from a different sort of saint. After the meeting, we changed our clothes and hit the very busy Ruby Slipper for brunch. It was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. Feeling both tired and done with exploring New Orleans, we spend Sunday watching movies and relaxing. I took a nap. It was wonderful. We ate some expensive, and not too impressive burgers for dinner, and then after we got back to our hotel, ate some sweet potato pie that we'd bought from Mother's earlier. Having done that I think we hit almost all the southern food cues we could.

New Orleans was fun, five days alone with Teag was awesome, and getting to have a new adventure was fantastic. We had fabulous relatives who agreed to watch our kids, and who took excellent care of them. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and though the Big Easy isn't some place I'd like to visit regularly, it does have its charms.