Trip to "Nawlins"

Trip to New Orleans
In February Rob and I went on a trip to New Orleans. This was my first trip to New Orleans but definitely not my last. Rob and I just fell in love with the city and it's rich culture. We went to New Orleans because Rob is a member of AAJ (American Association for Justice) and they had their Winter Convention there. He goes to these conventions twice a year where he networks with other attorneys across the country and goes to meetings where he earns CLE credits. Rob works with his Dad who is also an Attorney, and his parents attended this convention as well - however they came a few days later than us.

Well Rob and I flew in late on a Thursday evening. We checked into our hotel and decided to walk somewhere to find dinner at 10:00 at night. We had no idea where we were and it was dark so we started heading to the well lit main street right by our hotel - hoping something would be open. We were surprised to see that it was Canal street, which is the street that everything seems to stem from in New Orleans. We could see a group of young African-American boys out dancing and playing Jazz music in the street. It was great! We hadn't even been in New Orleans for 30 minutes and here we were listening to live Jazz music in the street! We walked over to where they were playing and we realized we were on Bourbon Street - the street made famous by Mardi Gras. It is also known as the French Quarter. Louisiana was established by the French - and was named after Louie IV. The French built beautiful buildings all along Bourbon street back in the 1700s and they began celebrating the French Holiday - Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street.

Well so going back to that first night..... Here we were on Bourbon street trying to find something to eat. The street was packed with people drinking, smoking, dancing... and of course people throwing beads off of balconies. I will never forget the extremely strong and unique smells I smelt that night. I have no idea what those smells were but they were disgusting. Well we quickly found a philly cheese steak place and ate dinner. A Jazz game was on inside the restaurant, it was funny sitting on Bourbon street watching a game being played back home. After eating we walked back to our hotel - and I seemed to smell every single weird smell on the way home just in reverse order. Well when we got back to the hotel we crashed - we both had big days ahead of us the next day.

Friday... Rob signed up to do a Habitat for Humanity project - building a home in one of the worst hit areas of Hurricane Katrina. He had a great experience. First they took the group on a bus tour of the levee that broke and the devastated areas of the hurricane. Rob was fascinated by the tour and how so many areas still look like they have been untouched since the Hurricane. He took a bunch of pictures of what he saw. I was amazed at his pictures. It is kinda eerie looking at drive ways and porch steps that are standing alone with no houses attached to them. There is still spray paint all over the houses which rescuers sprayed to mark if they had been to the house and if there were any people inside. Crazy! Rob spent the rest of the day hammering nails into the walls of a house they were building. He was sooooo exhausted by the end of the day.

I had a much more relaxing day! I went on a Tour of the old Oak Alley Slave Plantation. My tour bus picked me up right outside my hotel and we drove about an hour outside of New Orleans to Mississippi Rd. where there once was more than 4 operating slave plantations. There were all sorts of slave plantations in Louisiana but the one that I visited was a sugar cane plantation. At one time over 120 slaves lived there. There are gorgeous Oak trees that were planted there 300 years ago and they go in 2 straight lines from the Mississippi River to the entrance of the Mansion. That is how the plantation got it's name "Oak Alley." I was able to walk around the beautiful mansion and admire the amazing trees all around. I imagined there being 20 slave cabins all around - but they are no longer standing because they were so cheaply built. The tour inside the mansion was neat because I learned all about the social life at the time and the family that lived there. Much of the furniture in the mansion is original and was built by the slaves. It was incredible. I will never forget the most beautiful hand carved cradle that was built by a slave. It was just amazing! I just love history, art, architecture.... Needless to say I was amazed. I loved the bus ride back because I just got to sit for an entire hour with the sun shining down on me - nothing I had to do. It was quiet and peaceful. I finished reading a book that I started on the plane called, "The Time-Starved Family." I went to Deseret Book to find a specific book to bring with me on the trip. Well they did not have the book I wanted so I "settled" for the time starved family because I am always trying to find ways to simplify my life. Well I swear the book was exactly what I needed to read. I loved the ideas it gave me to focus my attention on my family and the activities that are most important. It was a great book for me, I want to re-read it.

That night Rob and I walked around the city and ate at "Bubba Gumps." I think Rob ordered shrimp at every restaurant we ate at. He ordered fried shrimp and I ordered a burger they were both yummy.

Saturday.... we woke up and headed out for a Swamp Tour! It was just as adventurous and disgusting as I had hoped for. We decided to go cheap and not go on an air boat and we were grateful for the decision when we saw how completely green and disgusting the water was. We were told that you would most likely get wet on an air boat and so we were really glad not to be on an air boat! We had never been to a swamp before. We saw lots of turtles and alligators! It was awesome! Rob even got to hold a baby alligator - I didn't really feel like holding it - but I touched it and it was really soft. I held the head of a dead alligator. I don't know why that seemed less disgusting than an alive alligator. It was really fun!

That afternoon we walked around Jackson Square which is a must see for anyone visiting New Orleans. It is right up against the Mississippi River. Jackson Square is known for a few things, it is named for the famous statue of Andrew Jackson on a horse - which is symbolic of the victory of the "Battle of New Orleans." The statue is right in front of a beautiful Catholic Cathedral that was built by the French when New Orleans was first settled - and is one of the original buildings in the city. Jackson Square is also a place where local artists come and sell their art work. I loved walking around and looking at all the colorful artwork. Everywhere you go in Jackson Square there is live Jazz music. We ate lunch outside at a restaurant listening to an amazing Jazz Band. I loved when they sang, "My Girl" I love that song!

Saturday night we went to the opening social for the AAJ Convention. The food was great! It was a real New Orleans type buffet dinner and it was there that I tried a muffeleta sandwich. Mufeletta sandwiches are as unique to New Orleans as Beignets. They have pastrami and green olives on them. Following that was a party hosted by the New Lawyers Division upstairs at a club on Bourbon Street. We were a little hesitant to head back to Bourbon St. but we knew we would be going to a private party upstairs instead of wandering around aimlessly on that crazy street like the first night. Little did we know that Mardi Gras has started that day! The first Mardi Gras parade was earlier that day and the street was packed full of people celebrating. Had I done any research about New Orleans I would have known that we came during Mardi Gras season - but for all I knew Mardi Gras was in the middle of October. Mardi Gras is actually celebrated for about 3 weeks and the last 2 weeks are the craziest so we were not there during the craziest part. Nevertheless the street was packed with craziness and we were glad to be upstairs and off the main street. The people that hosted the party had boxes of Mardi Gras beads that they handed out and I think I got something like 15 necklaces. I was not very proud to be wearing them though because beads are typically thrown down to women who will flash the men on the balconies - so they are not symbolic of anything "virtuous, lovely, of good report or praiseworthy." I don't think Rob quite understood the symbolism behind the beads and he kept giving me more beads to put on. Funny guy. Well we did not stay there long. We headed back to our hotel and met up with Rob's parents who flew in that night.

Sunday morning was fun. Typically we go to Church Sunday mornings while we are on vacation. However, that day was the AAJ Auxiliary breakfast. My mother-in-law has been a member of the Auxiliary for years and is the President of the Auxiliary this year. The Auxiliary is made up of some of the spouses of the Attorneys that attend the Conventions each year. They basically plan a bunch of family friendly activities for the families to do during the conventions. There is always an Auxiliary breakfast and so I went that morning with my mother-in-law. It was a lot of fun. The head chef of the Sheraton hotel came and talked to us and gave us a demonstration on how to make crepes. Then we had a buffet type breakfast with the yummiest crepes I have ever had. They had a bunch of fruit and a cream cheese sauce in them. I wish I had the recipe for the sauce! Then an author came and spoke to us about her book which is a collaboration of stories about her life. It was really fascinating and it made me want to write down some of my own stories. Loved it!

That afternoon I went with my Mother and Father-in-law to the New Orleans Museum of Art! It is always a highlight of mine when I get to go to an art museum while on vacation. I was impressed by diverse variety of art that was on exhibit at the museum. They had a bunch of great American art and surrealist art. There was a large section of impressionist art/European Art. They had a traveling exhibition of glass art which was like nothing I had ever seen before. Lastly they had an amazing collection of Asian, African, and Indian American Art. It is definitely a museum worth going to if you are ever in New Orleans! I had to buy the Museum's book which told about all of the art work on display. I hope to get some time to read it soon!

That night my in-laws treated us to dinner and we went to "Emeril's" the restaurant owned by the one and only Emeril Lagossi of the Food Network channel. The Food network is absolutely my favorite channel and so I was in heaven. The food was so stink'n good! I don't think I have ever had better service in my life. There were 4 servers that came out and set down all of our plates and the exact same moment - wow! Rob of course ordered shrimp and I ordered Ribs - yummy! The best part was dessert - we had a banana cream pie and it was to die for.

I was going home Monday night and there was one very important thing I had not done yet. I still had not eaten a famous Beignet from Cafe Du Monde. So Monday morning Rob, and Elaine and I headed up to Jackson Square to the famous Cafe Du Monde. We ordered a basket of Beignets and some hot chocolate. I had heard so much hype about the beignets that I was sure I would be let down. But on the contrary - they were more delicious than I could have imagined. The hot chocolate was delicious too. What I wouldn't give to be back there eating a beignet right now. We ate them outside and right next to our table was a street Jazz singer with a "Jesus" hat on. Out of the blue he starts belting out "How Great Thou Art" at the top of his lungs pointing to the sky the whole time. That just so happens to be my favorite hymn. Well he had an amazing voice and I have never heard that song sung with so much emotion before. I was trying to hold back the tears in my eyes the whole time. It was wonderful.

The last thing I had to do before I went home was go shopping along Riverwalk. My mother-in-law went with me, she is always up for shopping. We walked the entire mall and then we walked back to the Sheraton where the Convention was taking place. I met up with Rob for a meeting in which we were fed lunch and were able to listen to a speaker - and to be honest with you I was so tired from walking all around that I don't even remember who the speaker was. After that Rob helped me pack my bags and I was off to the airport. When I left Rob felt abandoned because he was used to being there with me and he still had 2 days before he was to come home. But I was so excited to see my boys who I missed terribly. They were well taken care of by their aunt Melissa, my parents, Holly and Rhett, Chris and Joanna and Emily and Derron. We couldn't believe all the fun things they got to do while we were gone - I don't think they missed us at all. We now owe some major babysitting hours but we look forward to it! We are so lucky to have such great family! It was such a wonderful trip and it was so great to just have Rob all to myself. Life with him is full of adventure and I can't wait for the next time I get to go on a trip with him!

I just have to share some of the photos Rob and I took of New Orleans. It is such a fun city for picture taking. We just love this unique city!