Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The Browning's do NOLA and ATX July 17-23, 2017

It was that time of year again where Mr. B and I take our anniversary trip. This year we decided to sweat it out in the heat and humidity of NOLA, and then finish it off with the heat of ATX to visit his family. We had an 11:25 am flight out Monday morning. We thought we'd be able to check in to our Air BNB early, but that was not the case. We ended up carrying around our luggage for 2 hours in the French Quarter. We had an awesome Uber driver who had plenty of recommendations of where to go and what to do while in town. We had our driver drop us off at Cafe Du Monde so Mr. B could have his first beignet experience. I should've got pictures, but I thought video was much more appropriate for this occasion. He loved those pastries so much that we ate them every morning at Cafe Du Monde, then again Monday and Wednesday night at Cafe Beignet!

He also needed some chocolate milk to wash it all down!

This was our first picture on our trip. It also serves as our annual anniversary selfie for the year! This picture proudly hangs in a special frame in our room until our next anniversary.

After our beignets, we walked around by the Mississippi River in Jackson Square while trying to avoid the weirdos who expected us to pay them $20 to shine Mr. B's Vans.....how bout no! Once we got checked into our room, we decided to walk back to Jackson Square so we could enjoy it without our luggage. We took a walk along the river front and scoped out the mall that was there.












We then walked along Canal Street where all the pretty palm trees were and I showed Mr. B the inside of the cool casino there on Canal. It was pretty neat to walk through it since we don't see a lot of casinos where we live.



We decided to go eat at Dragos for dinner that night. It is located inside the Hilton Riverside Hotel. Our Uber driver mentioned the char-grilled oysters, so we gave those a try. Let me tell you....I wanted to take a bath in that garlic Parmesan butter sauce!!! Oh yeah, the oysters were surprisingly good, too. We also had fried alligator tail and lobster mac n' cheese with the oysters. The food was great, but the service was terrible. I'm sure I could find oysters just as good elsewhere with better service. I'll remember that next time!



#shouldagotadozen
#weatethesaucewithaspoon

We loved the location of our room. Bourbon Street was literally right around the corner. It was perfect for walking everywhere we wanted to go. We could be anywhere in the Quarter or Jackson Square. When we wanted a break, we could just come back to the room. When we wanted a late night beignet run, Cafe Beignet was like 2 minutes away. We took advantage of that Monday and Wednesday night. There was also a live Jazz band playing at the cafe each night.




#caughtcheatingonthediet
#sorrynotsorry


Tuesday we explored Jackson Square a little more and checked out the shops. We also hit up the French Market where I bought the cutest baby gift for Misty......
I had to introduce Mr. B to the Muffuletta sandwich from Central Grocery. Good thing, too, since it started pouring right as we walked in. We got to wait out the rain while we enjoyed a sandwich, Coke, and Zapps chips! We took a nice long break after lunch back at our room. Then we took a walk to Mother's Restaurant so Mr. B could have his craw fish ettouffe that he's been salivating over since we planned this trip. I went to Mother's last time I was in NOLA, and LOVED it! I had the seafood platter while he chowed down on the ettouffe! After dinner, we came back to our room to chill before heading out to Preservation Hall for our late night live Jazz performance. This was another spot I hit up during my last visit, so I had to bring Mr. B! They let us take pictures before the performance started, so Mr. B grabbed some great shots. After the performance, we were hungry again. So we hit up one of the many pizza places on Bourbon Street before heading back to our room. We were out late that night!

lunch vibes....


fried oysters and shrimp....yes, please

FINALLY!!!

One of our many breaks

waiting outside Preservation Hall with the rest of the night owls







sweating while we wait for the band...#noac

Wednesday we took a closer walk down in Jackson Square to check out the church. Since we slept in, we got there late enough to be able to go inside since mass wasn't in progress. We walked around the square some more and got more pictures. We even hid a painted rock for Mr. B's mom (which someone found a couple of days later). We took the long walk to Frenchman's Street to grab some pralines. I was testing out my opinion from my last visit to see if the Southern Candy Makers really did have better pralines than the Praline Connection on Frenchman Street......I was right the first time. And yes, I tried both again this time. I was disappointed since I walked so far for them. That evening, we got on the St. Charles Line street car and took it all the way to the end where we stopped at the Camellia Grill (another place I went last time) so I could show Mr. B a cool burger joint. Again, we were lucky because it started to downpour when we boarded the street car. It rained the whole ride to the restaurant, but stopped just in time for us to get off. Mr. B loves burgers, so I knew this would be a huge win for him. He also loves pecan pie, so we had to get a piece of pie while we were there....especially since they grill it on the grill before serving it up. We ended our night back at Cafe Beignet for one last basket of beignets since we were leaving the next morning.


Didn't go inside, but took this for Mr. B's mom who was curious to see if it was still there




It was so cool to see that this was found a couple of days later when posted on Facebook




this picture made the NOLA picture frame that I bought


















Thursday morning we grabbed some Starbucks before calling back our same Uber driver to take us back to the airport. Shout out to the NOLA airport....from the time we walked into the airport to the time we sat down at our gate, it took 15 minutes. That's got to be some sort of record for someone who was checking bags and going through security. When we arrived back home we had to repack to get ready to head to ATX the next morning to visit Mr. B's family and get some nephew snuggles. We had a fun weekend just relaxing and loving on 2 cute little boys. I also got my Phil's Ice House burger and Amy's Ice Cream before coming home. I can't go to ATX without having that in my life. 





I got Owen snuggles at every chance I was given. What? You need someone to put him to bed! I'm on it. He needs a nap? I got you! Then there was adorable group selfie before we left Sunday. I've got my A #1 dude who made me an aunt first, my sweet baby, and my handsome hubby. I'm such a lucky girl! It was such a great week to eat and play! On average, we probably walked 6-8 miles each day in NOLA! Hopefully that will counter all the calories I consumed #doubtful
 I'm sad summer is coming to an end.......





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