New Orleans: Part 1

Hello blogging friends, when last we left off I had written about graduating nursing school. You could say a lot has happened since that time, and so prepare yourself for a series of back to back posts!

Let's start with the beginning of June. I found myself flying to New Orleans, Louisiana to visit my lifelong best friend Shelby, and her husband Scott.

It has been a great dream of mine since forever ago to visit the south - and more specifically the bayou. At long last I have fulfilled that dream!

I was picked up from the airport and immediately greeted with several cheap purple and green beaded necklaces being draped around my neck. Then I was promptly driven to the French Quarter. I could not have dreamed up a more perfectly cliche beginning to my trip!

The St. Louis Cathedral is what is pictured above. The inside is so beautiful with long aisles of wooden pews and hand painted ceilings.

Me, Shelby and Scott!

My first time laying eyes upon the Mississippi! Of course there was a glowing riverboat gliding along, the faint tune of jazz music playing in the background (or perhaps the music was just in my head, either way this scene just needed jazz music).

I'm not gonna lie, the pictures I took of the French Quarter are pretty minimal. Which is so sad because while it is a very touristy part of town, the architecture is amazing! Love, love, love the look of all the buildings! On day 2 Shelby and I rode the trolley cars into town (side note, those trolley car drivers, they don't give a crap if you're sitting down or holding onto a bar before they start full speed ahead, I was seriously just waiting for some old person trying to clamber down the aisle to fall flat on their face as the trolley lurched speedily forward after every stop).

Cafe Du Monde is definitely the most well known place to get beignets in the French Quarter, but as we were wandering down the street we came across Cafe Beignet and decided to get our beignets there instead. Which was a great move, because they were so delicious.And while yes, I am a Disneyland loyalist, the Mickey Mouse beignets are just not as good as New Orleans beignets. Sorry Walt.

For some reason my vision of New Orleans including seeing a lot of pirates. Sadly modern day piracy isn't quite the same as it was back in the good old days. However, I did get to stop by Lafitte's blacksmith shop, which is believed to have been used by the Lafitte pirate brothers some 250 years ago. Why is old stuff so cool?

This photo captures one of my top 5 favorite things about New Orleans! The gas lamps!!! Ahh they are so magical!! So many homes and businesses have these lanterns hanging out front, and the best is when it is dark outside and you watch the light flicker and dance across the ceiling of the porch. I would really like to adopt this tradition and bring it to Utah. Or at least adopt it for my own home.

Later that evening Scott drove us out to a blueberry farm where we handpicked our very own blueberries. I didn't realize blueberries could taste so darn good until I'd tried one that had just barely been picked.

Day 3 Shelby took me to the New Orleans Museum of Art, and hopefully no one judges me when I say that was the first art museum I've ever been too. The museum is located next to a lovely park that we wandered through until the sticky 90 degree heat got the better of us.

OK my other top favorite thing about New Orleans are all the breathtakingly beautiful trees! So many huge trees draped in spanish moss. The photo doesn't do it justice. Just take my word for it that they are incredible.

Here's one picture documenting the beautiful homes, and this isn't even the coolest one. Aren't those floor length windows and storm shutters just dreamy? And each home is unique. It's not like the cookie-cutter neighborhoods of Utah suburbia.

We ate dessert and this hip little joint called Sucre. I got bread pudding and it was AMAZING. They heated it up so it was warm and wow.... seriously it'll be listed among those foods I've had that I will never be able to forget. It was that good.

Thus concludes part 1 of my trip documentation. Stay tuned for more.