After a little bit of researching from everyone, from things to do, places to eat, what to see, where to stay, etc., I decided to write up a rough itinerary, and it gave us a great mix of some structured activities and guidance as well as some spontaneity of places to go while we were there (I'd like to think everyone was happy with how it turned out, too)!
As the trip came closer and closer, my anxiety grew a ton from leaving the kiddos, as this was only the second time ever I had left Nolan and the very first time leaving Acelyn, who is already extremely attached to me while I'm home... so to say I was nervous was an understatement. I knew Jason would be able to handle them, but my Mama guilt just didn't quit. And although my anxiety peaked it's head throughout the trip here and there, I can say that I am so glad that I stuck with it and really enjoyed my time to the fullest, because time with these girls is so rare, especially with all of us together at once, in a place none of us had explored before!
I was lucky to have a flight over with Stacey and Whitney, so they calmed my nerves and we had some drinks to kick off our celebratory weekend. Our flight arrived later in Nola, around 8PM, and we met up with our friend Melissa at the airport, and Alexis, who was already dining on beignets and taking to the streets, since her flight came in a bit earlier than ours.
We grabbed a quick dinner out and decided to check out The Carousel Bar inside the Hotel Monteleone. The rotating bar, that is literally decorated like a carousel (so cute!) is famous in the city, and was super busy for a Thursday night, but we grabbed some drinks, jumped on the seats and took a (extremely slow) spin around, while we listened to some live music for a bit. We made for an earlier evening since we knew our next day would be packed, so we grabbed some necessities at CVS and headed back to the hotel for some sleep.
The next morning, we hit up the tourist-y spots and started with window shopping around the French Quarter and Jackson Square. We were instantly thrown into the Nola vibe with jazz in the streets and the amazing buildings and architecture, balconies and narrow avenues. We grabbed some brunch at Muriel's, a restaurant that was a former mansion and is rumored to be haunted, so after our eats we toured the place and enjoyed the views from the balconies upstairs.
Next up, we checked out Jackson Square Park and had fun with Stacey's selfie stick (like, all weekend), and then visited St. Louis Cathedral, which was beautiful inside and out.
We walked around some more and came across VooDoo Authentica, a voodoo shop that seemed decently legit and less gimmicky than others, and had a lot of "real deal" kind of crazy inside, like herbs and aromatherapy, plus many alters set up throughout the store. They had a lot of information to read about voodoo posted throughout the store also, so it was nice to be able to gather some information and learn it's not all about poking dolls with pins to gather revenge!
Right down the street, we stopped for a drink at one of the coolest bars we've ever been in- Lafitte's Blacksmith Shoppe. It was built in the 1720s and is the oldest structured building in New Orleans, as well as the oldest bar in the US. (It just got electricity within the last 2 years... what!?) They serve the VooDoo Daiquiri, which we all had to taste, but only two of us pulled the trigger and ordered one. We spent a decent amount of time here, catching up and finally meeting up with Erin, as her flight came in earlier that afternoon.
Now that we had Erin in tow, we made our first visit to Cafe du Monde (notice how I said first... yes, we visited multiple times), and indulged ourselves on beignets on beignets on beignets. These. were. amazing. They were everything I imagined and more, which is saying a lot, because I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time in my life!
We did some souvenir shopping along Peters Street, and tried to catch the French Market before it closed, but we were too late and bummed. We decided we should make our way back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before our dinner reservations, and on our walk back, we totally got hustled by a local (but also totally looked him up and hopefully our money went to the charity it was supposed to).
Dinner was at Mr. B's Bistro, and we had decided in our planning stages to splurge on a "fancy" dinner night, which was a great decision! Even better, Bobbie finally flew into town, so our crew was complete! After enjoying our meals and convo, we headed to Bourbon Street...
Which was craaaaaazy. We were prepared for it to be a little nuts, because, Bourbon Street... but this was a whole 'nother level of crazy, with a mass chaos of people (both sane and insane), blasting music from each bar we walked by, street performers (or really people just asking for money by doing random things), snakes, dogs, and lots of gross stuff in the streets and dripping from the balconies above (water, alcohol, pee, throw up... not even sure?!) Our first stop was, fittingly, HUGE ASS BEERS. Yep, sounded good. We took to the streets with our selfie stick, got photobombed, and wandered to take in the sights and sounds of the chaos.
We bar hopped all night and really had an amazing time, dancing our hearts out at each place and getting back into our groove of all being together again (like time never, ever changed from college ten years ago)!
Our night ended with some greasy pizza, which seemed appropriate, and then it was off to the hotel at 3AM to get ready for another busy day!
The next morning, we had reservations for a Drag Brunch at The Country Club. The building was gorgeous and the wallpaper inside had us all swooning.
We had a yummy brunch, and just in time after we finished up our meal, the music cranked and the show started. The queens danced around and lip synced mostly, which made for basically an amazing sing-a-long dance party for everyone. It was so fun! There were three different "drag queens" who changed outfits throughout the show and performed, and we loved it.
After the show, we sat on the porch and enjoyed the shade and southern breeze while we waited for our "chauffeur" to take us for a 45 minute drive to the bayou, for our scheduled airboat and swamp tour. We met our driver when he offered to take us to the hotel from the airport our first night in (after we looked up his limo/tour business and traced our every move on Google Maps), and although we were 100% cautious and a bit weary about this guy when we first met him, he ended up being an amazing asset to our trip as our own personal tour guide and driver. As a local, he told us history and gave us great recommendations on places to see and go, plus his Escalade fit all of us vs. taking two Ubers on a long drive to the swampland. When we arrived, we jokingly offered for him to join us on the airboat and because there wasn't much around for him to do for two hours, he agreed and came! So, if you're wondering who the random guy is in all of our boat pictures... that's Johnny, our driver!
The airboat and gator tour might have been one of my favorite things we did with our time in Nola. It was hot, but riding out on the water felt so nice, especially when we would pick up speed and get soaked from the jumps and turns the boat operator (captain?) performed. I was amazed at how many different channels of the bayou there were, and for being a "swamp", it really was gorgeous and much prettier in person than in all of our pictures!
After taking some spins around, we made our way deeper into the channels, where we had our encounter with the gators. Not one... not two... but eight! EIGHT gators! The airboats obviously feed them to gather them around for the tour, and sure enough, as soon as our boat turned off, we saw them begin to swim towards us. Not seconds later, our captain threw some marshmallows out and they gobbled them up as quick as they could!
Thinking that was the coolest part of the tour, we were shocked when the captain got down arms deep in the water, tapped a gator on the head and PULLED HIM INTO THE BOAT. He held him up for everyone to see, and actually moved around the boat for everyone to touch while explaining lots of interesting facts about alligators and their surroundings. It was amazing! Seconds later, as he is walking back towards the back of the boat, in the row in front of us, homeboy ACCIDENTALLY DROPPED THE GATOR IN THE BOAT!! This was not a drill... this was not a joke... he legit made the mistake of letting the gator twist out of his hands, dropped him, and the thing was loose for a solid ten seconds on the floor of our boat. I've never seen so many people jump up onto seats like (literally) their life depended on it, and after things cooled down for a minute, the captain threw his ass back in the water, stat. WHOA.
When that excitement died down, we continued on our tour and travelled some through some more bayou channels, where the Spanish moss hanging over the water was so gorgeous, and the wildlife around was so cool to see. Turtles, blue herons, eagles, and cranes were all common sightings, and when we pulled off again for another stop, the next guest to meet was a tiny baby alligator he had in a cooler! Al, as he is named, is one year old and is considered a "rescue" gator, so his chance of survival greatly increases by being taken care of in captivity, until he's old enough to survive on his own. We were able to pass him around and take all the pictures with him, and this little guy stole all of our hearts!
Saying goodbye to Al ended our time on the water, and we made our way back to the dock, taking in the sights and splashes of the water one last time on our ride back. It started to sprinkle as we headed in, and it couldn't have made for a perfect ending to a great activity!
On the drive back to the city, we asked our driver to take us to a drive thru daiquiri bar (because it's legal!), which he so kindly agreed, so we loaded up on daiquiris and made our way back to the River Walk, stopping for another round of Cafe du Monde beignets, then walked along the Mississippi River. Some of us wanted to try some oysters, and while they checked that out, the non-seafood lovers decided to wander, where we discovered a Fried Chicken Festival happening. After we people watched, we met up with the others, caught some more architecture sights and headed back to the hotel to freshen up and gear up for another dinner and night out.
Cochon was our dinner outing for the evening, where we all tried fried alligator (ironic, since we were just loving on them earlier in the day), and ate the local favs. We FaceTimed with Ashley (she was supposed to be on the trip, but had to cancel last minute due to work), took a picture with her in it, and we missed her tons! Luckily, she got to taste dessert as we phone-fed her some cake.
After dinner, we headed to Frenchmen Street, which is a much more low-key version of Bourbon Street, and strives on live music and jazz clubs. Our plan for the night was to keep it simple, relax and listen to some local jazz scenes, and make it an earlier night. Well, we started off great, listening to some live shows, finding brass bands in the street (one of my favorite parts!), and stumbling upon the cutest little art market.
But our calm night turned into hip-hop, booze flowing one, with sure enough, lots more dancing, keeping us out until 3AM again... so our plan for a relaxing evening didn't quite pan out. Did we have fun? Ab-so-lute-ly. We stayed at one club/bar most of the night because their music was by far, the best, and danced so much that my thighs are still a little sore a week later.
The next morning, we all got some much needed rest and slept in laaaaaate. We packed our things and ventured out to brunch in the Lower Garden District, where we had some delicious food at Coquette. Since we had a slow morning, we didn't have much time, so we hit a must-see stop on our list at the Lafayette Cemetery #1, which was eerily beautiful with the tombs above ground and so, so old. We gathered for one last group picture, as half of us were heading back to the airport, while the other half stuck around for some more sightseeing until their later flights.
I was so, so happy to come home and see my babies, as I missed them terribly while I was gone! I think it was safe to say they missed me, too, even though they had a blast with Dad taking care of them for the weekend!
It was such a great refresher to be with these girls again, and the fact that we could all get together and make it happen is rare and treasured, for sure. I loved spending time with them (as always), and our friendship is the absolute best. Despite the miles, time and life changes between us, we always manage to pick up right where we left off.
Here's to our "first" annual girls' trip, and, if we hold each other to it, hopefully can make it happen much more often! Thanks for the amazing memories, ladies! #gatordrop.
We walked around some more and came across VooDoo Authentica, a voodoo shop that seemed decently legit and less gimmicky than others, and had a lot of "real deal" kind of crazy inside, like herbs and aromatherapy, plus many alters set up throughout the store. They had a lot of information to read about voodoo posted throughout the store also, so it was nice to be able to gather some information and learn it's not all about poking dolls with pins to gather revenge!
Right down the street, we stopped for a drink at one of the coolest bars we've ever been in- Lafitte's Blacksmith Shoppe. It was built in the 1720s and is the oldest structured building in New Orleans, as well as the oldest bar in the US. (It just got electricity within the last 2 years... what!?) They serve the VooDoo Daiquiri, which we all had to taste, but only two of us pulled the trigger and ordered one. We spent a decent amount of time here, catching up and finally meeting up with Erin, as her flight came in earlier that afternoon.
Now that we had Erin in tow, we made our first visit to Cafe du Monde (notice how I said first... yes, we visited multiple times), and indulged ourselves on beignets on beignets on beignets. These. were. amazing. They were everything I imagined and more, which is saying a lot, because I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time in my life!
We did some souvenir shopping along Peters Street, and tried to catch the French Market before it closed, but we were too late and bummed. We decided we should make our way back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before our dinner reservations, and on our walk back, we totally got hustled by a local (but also totally looked him up and hopefully our money went to the charity it was supposed to).
Dinner was at Mr. B's Bistro, and we had decided in our planning stages to splurge on a "fancy" dinner night, which was a great decision! Even better, Bobbie finally flew into town, so our crew was complete! After enjoying our meals and convo, we headed to Bourbon Street...
We bar hopped all night and really had an amazing time, dancing our hearts out at each place and getting back into our groove of all being together again (like time never, ever changed from college ten years ago)!
Our night ended with some greasy pizza, which seemed appropriate, and then it was off to the hotel at 3AM to get ready for another busy day!
The next morning, we had reservations for a Drag Brunch at The Country Club. The building was gorgeous and the wallpaper inside had us all swooning.
We had a yummy brunch, and just in time after we finished up our meal, the music cranked and the show started. The queens danced around and lip synced mostly, which made for basically an amazing sing-a-long dance party for everyone. It was so fun! There were three different "drag queens" who changed outfits throughout the show and performed, and we loved it.
After the show, we sat on the porch and enjoyed the shade and southern breeze while we waited for our "chauffeur" to take us for a 45 minute drive to the bayou, for our scheduled airboat and swamp tour. We met our driver when he offered to take us to the hotel from the airport our first night in (after we looked up his limo/tour business and traced our every move on Google Maps), and although we were 100% cautious and a bit weary about this guy when we first met him, he ended up being an amazing asset to our trip as our own personal tour guide and driver. As a local, he told us history and gave us great recommendations on places to see and go, plus his Escalade fit all of us vs. taking two Ubers on a long drive to the swampland. When we arrived, we jokingly offered for him to join us on the airboat and because there wasn't much around for him to do for two hours, he agreed and came! So, if you're wondering who the random guy is in all of our boat pictures... that's Johnny, our driver!
The airboat and gator tour might have been one of my favorite things we did with our time in Nola. It was hot, but riding out on the water felt so nice, especially when we would pick up speed and get soaked from the jumps and turns the boat operator (captain?) performed. I was amazed at how many different channels of the bayou there were, and for being a "swamp", it really was gorgeous and much prettier in person than in all of our pictures!
After taking some spins around, we made our way deeper into the channels, where we had our encounter with the gators. Not one... not two... but eight! EIGHT gators! The airboats obviously feed them to gather them around for the tour, and sure enough, as soon as our boat turned off, we saw them begin to swim towards us. Not seconds later, our captain threw some marshmallows out and they gobbled them up as quick as they could!
Thinking that was the coolest part of the tour, we were shocked when the captain got down arms deep in the water, tapped a gator on the head and PULLED HIM INTO THE BOAT. He held him up for everyone to see, and actually moved around the boat for everyone to touch while explaining lots of interesting facts about alligators and their surroundings. It was amazing! Seconds later, as he is walking back towards the back of the boat, in the row in front of us, homeboy ACCIDENTALLY DROPPED THE GATOR IN THE BOAT!! This was not a drill... this was not a joke... he legit made the mistake of letting the gator twist out of his hands, dropped him, and the thing was loose for a solid ten seconds on the floor of our boat. I've never seen so many people jump up onto seats like (literally) their life depended on it, and after things cooled down for a minute, the captain threw his ass back in the water, stat. WHOA.
When that excitement died down, we continued on our tour and travelled some through some more bayou channels, where the Spanish moss hanging over the water was so gorgeous, and the wildlife around was so cool to see. Turtles, blue herons, eagles, and cranes were all common sightings, and when we pulled off again for another stop, the next guest to meet was a tiny baby alligator he had in a cooler! Al, as he is named, is one year old and is considered a "rescue" gator, so his chance of survival greatly increases by being taken care of in captivity, until he's old enough to survive on his own. We were able to pass him around and take all the pictures with him, and this little guy stole all of our hearts!
Saying goodbye to Al ended our time on the water, and we made our way back to the dock, taking in the sights and splashes of the water one last time on our ride back. It started to sprinkle as we headed in, and it couldn't have made for a perfect ending to a great activity!
On the drive back to the city, we asked our driver to take us to a drive thru daiquiri bar (because it's legal!), which he so kindly agreed, so we loaded up on daiquiris and made our way back to the River Walk, stopping for another round of Cafe du Monde beignets, then walked along the Mississippi River. Some of us wanted to try some oysters, and while they checked that out, the non-seafood lovers decided to wander, where we discovered a Fried Chicken Festival happening. After we people watched, we met up with the others, caught some more architecture sights and headed back to the hotel to freshen up and gear up for another dinner and night out.
After dinner, we headed to Frenchmen Street, which is a much more low-key version of Bourbon Street, and strives on live music and jazz clubs. Our plan for the night was to keep it simple, relax and listen to some local jazz scenes, and make it an earlier night. Well, we started off great, listening to some live shows, finding brass bands in the street (one of my favorite parts!), and stumbling upon the cutest little art market.
But our calm night turned into hip-hop, booze flowing one, with sure enough, lots more dancing, keeping us out until 3AM again... so our plan for a relaxing evening didn't quite pan out. Did we have fun? Ab-so-lute-ly. We stayed at one club/bar most of the night because their music was by far, the best, and danced so much that my thighs are still a little sore a week later.
The next morning, we all got some much needed rest and slept in laaaaaate. We packed our things and ventured out to brunch in the Lower Garden District, where we had some delicious food at Coquette. Since we had a slow morning, we didn't have much time, so we hit a must-see stop on our list at the Lafayette Cemetery #1, which was eerily beautiful with the tombs above ground and so, so old. We gathered for one last group picture, as half of us were heading back to the airport, while the other half stuck around for some more sightseeing until their later flights.
I was so, so happy to come home and see my babies, as I missed them terribly while I was gone! I think it was safe to say they missed me, too, even though they had a blast with Dad taking care of them for the weekend!
It was such a great refresher to be with these girls again, and the fact that we could all get together and make it happen is rare and treasured, for sure. I loved spending time with them (as always), and our friendship is the absolute best. Despite the miles, time and life changes between us, we always manage to pick up right where we left off.
Here's to our "first" annual girls' trip, and, if we hold each other to it, hopefully can make it happen much more often! Thanks for the amazing memories, ladies! #gatordrop.
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