Since we had an invitation to visit the PMQ Pizza Magazine headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi...and it would only take us a little way off our route.....we decided to stop in and take them up on their offer of a free tour.
They were approximately 1 hour south of Memphis so our GPS was programmed in that direction. We were welcomed there and ended up spending about an hour meeting everyone and being photographed, videotaped, and engaged in a lively discussion about the pizza industry.
(note to self: make sure you don't wear glasses on top of your head during pictures. Or even wear them clipped to your shirt like an old lady)
It was time to get back on the road again, but as we began our journey home.....Paul made the brilliant suggestion to stop in New Orleans before we headed home. It really wasn't going to be very much out of our way......and since I wasn't ready to go back home yet either.....we said "GO FOR IT"!! I do have to report that he really had to twist my arm for me to go along with that discussion. I think he twisted for about .000001 seconds!
Our plan had been to stop again in Jackson, Mississippi and eat at another pizza shop.....but we weren't quite hungry yet and decided to save our appetite for some good old Cajun food. Gumbo, Muffalettas, Po'Boys, and Red Beans and Rice were the topic of discussion as we travelled South down that Mississippi highway.
Paul made good use of his free time (since he had the luxury of being the passenger at this particular time) and was scouring the internet for a hotel in New Orleans. This would be our 4th trip to New Orleans and each visit we had stayed in one of the towns outside the city. This time we decided we were going to find an awesome authentic New Orleans hotel in the Quarter. And what a great job he did finding the perfect place to stay!
We pulled into New Orleans about 7:30pm and headed straight for the hotel. We didn't want to waste any time getting to enjoy all there is to love about Bourbon Street. We pulled up in front of the hotel and were so incredibly excited to see this fabulous old hotel right in the heart of the French Quarter.
Our room was in a tiny alcove facing the courtyard. The handles were about 2 1/2 feet above the ground and we had shutters that we could close and latch shut when we were in for the night (they are the black shutters on each side of the door). It was incredibly awesome!
You can see Paul in the window of the doorway to our room (slightly left of the fountain).....or was it a ghost? We laughed as we were going out for the evening, as we kept seeing the ghost tours gathering near the hotel. We are happy to report that we never spotted any......but then again we were so tired when we finally went to bed we didn't notice.
Because there is no real parking in New Orleans except for valuable street parking which is extremely difficult to get......we paid $26 extra to park in a tiny (so tiny that it only fit about 10 cars) little lot a half block down the street in a courtyard behind some buildings. I have no idea why Paul took this picture, but now we have the proof of how small the lot was. You can see our little travel mobile on the left.
It was definitely different.
After getting settled into the room......well more like throwing the suitcases in the room, freshening up a little, and making sure we had enough money.......we headed the 1 block walk to Bourbon Street!
The first thing we needed was FOOD! We hadn't eaten since breakfast and had been saving our appetites for southern food. Ha Ha....we found this place.....but didn't eat there and instead found a place to devour a Muffaletta and a Sausage Po'Boy. Our bellies were nice and full once again and it was time to find the best place was for music that evening.
I must confess that New Orleans is truly one of my favorite places to visit. I LOVE the French Quarter with the buildings, the small streets, and just the feel of the area. There is nowhere else like it. Bourbon Street can be a little raunchy in places but it is so much fun to walk up and down the street and hear amazing music coming from so many places. It's so much fun to hear a great song, run in, dance a couple, and then move on down to the next place. There is always so much going on.
Not only that.....there is always extremely interesting people on the street and very creative ideas on how you con a tourist out of a buck or two. This genius got Paul to perform a duet with him of Come Together right in the middle of Bourbon Street. I was laughing so hard.....it was difficult to snap the pictures!
I was supposed to be shooting a video of this, but screwed up.
Now we only have the still pictures of this hilarious memory!
We finally called it a night and headed back to the hotel. We randomly walked down this one street towards the hotel and saw this amazing sight! This gave me a peaceful feeling and I just had to have another picture of it.
It was a late night and we had to get up reasonably early to start the 6 hour drive back to Houston and back to our real life. Before we left I snapped a few more pictures of the area surrounding our hotel as a lasting reminder of this great city!
I even got a snapshot of this great looking tourist outside the hotel!
The drive home was spent talking and recapping our 2013 Road Trip. We both had to admit it was probably one of the best trips we had ever taken. The weather was perfect, there was so much to do, and we really enjoyed just hanging out with each other and getting away from our real life. As is always the case, we left another city with lots of things to come back and do in the future.
We stopped in Lafayette, Louisiana for one more bite of Louisiana cooking and Paul found us a Creole place that had lots of rave reviews. We weren't too sure when we pulled up in front of the Creole Lunch House:
And the inside wasn't exactly a 4-star restaurant
But the service was fast
And the food was SO delicious. Paul got the Red Beans and Rice and the Stuffed Bread (stuffed with sausage, rice, jalapenos, cheese) and I got the Cabbage, Pork Stew, and Baked Beans.
With our tummies nice and full.....we hit I-10 West and finished the rest of our long journey towards home base. We pulled into our driveway about 6pm and were thankful for all the love, fun, friendship, and safe passage we had experienced the last 5 1/2 days!
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