We love New Orleans....Day 2

Well after those horrifying pictures from yesterday......it's time to look at some happy photos.

Day 2 in New Orleans......our first ENTIRE WHOLE day to spend doing whatever we wanted.

Well one thing we wanted was to sleep in a little and take our time.  No problem, we didn't have any schedule to follow.

However, once we got Paul's coffee made and take our showers.....we were off to see the city!

Our first stop was going to be the French Market again.  We had ordered a little gift for someone who lives in Albuquerque (she shall be unnamed at this time) and we had to stop by and pick it up.  While we were there, it started pouring.  I mean really pouring.  Since we were in a covered place at the time, we just wandered around and wasted some time.  We were thirsty and needed a drink.  There was an awesome smoothie/juice store and we ordered up one of the best smoothies we've ever, ever had.  It had pineapple, coconut and banana.  We enjoyed our "breakfast" as the rain fell and finished it just as the rain stopped.

And then we were off.........headed to the World War II Museum (by foot).

We first visited this museum 5 or 6 years ago and decided it was one of the best museums we had ever been to.  We were excited to visit it again.  We were surprised at how much the place had changed since the last time we visited.  We have visited many, many, many museums from all over the place, and this one still remains as one of my favorites.

 On our journey, we passed by a restaurant that had a jazz trio playing outside.  What a wonderful experience listening to jazz as you hike around the quarter. 

 Our journey to the museum also took us by Jackson Square.  I guess we haven't seen it much from this angle, but I just had to stop and take a picture.  What a magnificent sight!

After about a 30 minute walk to the museum......we finally made it.  Thank goodness.....it was a little hot and humid.  I didn't take many pictures in the museum, but snapped a few of the aircraft in the 4 story hangar.  It was a little freaky being so high up on glass walkways......especially for a person that is a little tiny bit fearful of heights.

 Snapped a quick pic of the New Orleans skyline from the top of the hangar

 This photo is either blurry or I was weaving from being dizzy......too high for me!

 The changes they have made to this museum are incredible.  It's even better than it was when we first visited all those years ago.

And of course, there always has to be one blooper photo......so here you go.

When we left the museum it was almost 5pm and we hadn't had anything to eat since the smoothie.....so as we walked back towards the French Quarter, we were on the search for lunch/dinner.  We walked and walked and walked and eventually ended up at this place a block from our apartment. 

What a good choice.  While you waited for your food, you were served red potatoes boiled in seafood boil and served with butter.  Not sure if we were really, really hungry.........but these were the best darn potatoes we had ever had (pay attention......you'll be hearing more about this later).

We filled our bellies up and walked back to the apartment for the rejuvenation nap to get us through the evening. 

A couple hours of sleep and we were out on Bourbon Street for a night of partying!  Dinner happened about 11pm at night and guess what we had.........

Not sure if it was because we had enjoyed a few beers or because this pizza was delicious, but this slice of pizza was delicious.

Another late night of beer, bands, and a heck of a good time.  Good night New Orleans!

I don't have time for this

We finally took a couple of days (a couple of weeks ago) and started converting the extra room into our dream exercise room.  Unfortunately, you have to really mess up your whole house to clean up one room.  There was so much stuff accumulated in this room (PZ stuff of course).  We have thrown away or given away so much stuff out of here, but while the carpets get cleaned and the furniture gets moved around in there......things have been stacking up outside that room.  I can't wait until we can start moving stuff back in there again.

Here's some shocking and revealing pictures of the mess we've been living with for the last 2 weeks.  It's really hard to keep up with already too busy job and all the extra stuff that needs to get done around here.

 PZ stuff......PZ stuff.......PZ stuff

 and yes......here is some more accumulation

 Bikes and ladders in the living room......doesn't everyone keep them there?

 This room was so packed when we first started......we have really made a dent in it.  Next step is to shampoo the carpet on the right side of the room so that we can begin setting everything up.  Painting and new flooring is just going to have to wait for awhile.....just getting the room put back together is a big enough task.

This little beauty will also help.  We went and bought this today to use as a printer stand and a place to store office supplies in my office.  I seriously can't wait until this project is finished.

But then again........there's 148 more projects that are lined up to get started on!

Last minute deals

We found the opportunity to eek out one more mini vacation before school starts.  The original plan was to go to somewhere in the United States to visit a pizza shop and watch how they handle a busy dinner rush.  We wanted to get other ideas for our "possible" new location.  We got invitations to Colorado, Florida, and Connecticut.  Checked last minute air fares and couldn't really find great flights to those places without paying an arm and a leg.

So, we did the next best thing......played the old "let's see what places United has the cheap last minute tickets for" and the place that excited us the most was New Orleans for $160 each!!!  Yay.....we love New Orleans and hadn't been there for awhile.

Booked an apartment rental through Airbnb and what an awesome place it was.  40 steps away from Bourbon Street in a refurbished warehouse with a rooftop pool.  This place was amazing and was newly renovated.  Everything in the apartment was brand new and it was so quiet and so clean.  We loved being so close to everything!

45 minute flight from Houston and a 30 minute cab ride from the airport......we were ready to party!

But first, we had to take a tour of our living quarters for the next 4 days........

 The pool was on the rooftop (4th floor).  We were hoping for the opportunity to get to use it, since the weather forecast called for rain every single day.........boo.

After taking our apartment tour and dropping off our luggage.....we were going to begin our search for lunch.  We were craving good old New Orleans food.

It just so happened that it was Red Dress Run in New Orleans on the Saturday we got there.  It was a fun run to benefit a cancer foundation and the WHOLE ENTIRE city was filled with people wearing red dresses (men included).  It actually made the people watching a whole lot more interesting that day.

It also made the whole city a lot more crowded

We ended up at Mena's Restaurant where we satisfied our craving with a Muffaletta and Red Beans and Rice.   It was DELICIOUS!

We decided to head towards the French Market because there is always extremely interesting things to see over there.  On the way, we finally got to see the famous Chess Master who plays near the French Market.  Every single time we go to New Orleans, Paul always wants to see if he's there playing.

 He happened to be playing someone else, but we had to stop and watch them play for awhile and get a picture.

We wandered the French Market and walked across the street to take the quick tour of the old U.S. Mint that was housed in New Orleans.  It was FREE!

We headed back towards our apartment with no destination or plan in mind and as we walked by Mr. Chess Master, he was not playing a game.....so Paul paid his $5 and finally crossed off this bucket list item.

 They played, and they played........

and they played.....and they played.......

 They played for 2 1/2 hours.  The Chess Master didn't want to call it a draw, but then after 30 minutes realized it was the only thing to do......so they TIED.  Yay.....super proud of my husband!

We decided to head back to the hotel and relax a little, take a swim, and get ready for the night of partying we knew was ahead of us.   Hey......we were in New Orleans!

 So we took a bag of iced beers with us and enjoyed the water, the company, and the view!

 Who knows what I was saying here???????

 This is seriously the most relaxing fun we've had in MONTHS. 

 Loved this time together so much!

 Selfie time with my handsome husband!

 We are on the freakin rooftop of an apartment building in New Orleans swimming

and drinking beer.......LIFE IS GOOD!

 This was our artistic shot......lol.

After a short nap.....it was time to head out and find our favorite bands for the evening.  Didn't take long and we pretty much gravitated between a couple of places.  We know where to find our favorite beer vendor  (they don't have skunky nasty beer) and we enjoyed our evening out watching a bunch of drunk people act like idiots.

Dinner was at Willie's......they seriously have the BEST fried chicken ever.  There's at least 3 locations on Bourbon Street, so they are easy to find.  They have a secret sauce called Boom Boom Sauce and it is so delicious on seafood, French fries, chicken or whatever.  Tonight we decided to share a seafood platter and the catfish on it was insanely good.  It also had fried shrimp and oysters.

After a couple more beers and a few more strolls up and down Bourbon St......we decided to call it a night since it was getting to be where the crazies outnumbered the normal people.

We needed a good night's sleep!

.........and now the rest of St. Louis

We decided we'd seen enough of St. Louis from 630 ft., it was now time to go and see some more for ourselves. 

Here's a couple of pictures we snapped on our way back to the Courthouse from the Arch.

And here's those blooper shots you've been waiting for:

We did a short tour and learned the history of this courthouse.   This was an original stand where a judge held court.

My photographer didn't do a very good job with this photo

Not only did I learn about this courthouse and the famous case that was tried here, I learned the story of these two people who had the historic case here.  The Dred Scott case, which was a slave suing his slave owner for his freedom.  I really learned a lot about this case and the horrible things that this man endured to try and get his freedom.

It was a really incredibly hot, hot, hot day here in St. Louis, so the plan was to eat lunch in the Italian section of town called the Hill.  I thought I had taken a picture, but apparently I hadn't....so I borrowed this one off the internet of the neighborhood.

 The streets were filled with quaint old houses, Italian grocery stores, and Italian restaurants. 

 

We found this one and feasted on Deep Fried Ravioli and a baked pasta dish and delicious Italian salad.  With our stomachs full.....we headed back to the car.

The skies were beginning to really get black and we still had another hotel to check into.  We had decided to stay at a hotel near the airport the last night to minimize how early we had to get up the next day (still had to get up at 7am YUCK).

As we headed towards the hotel.....here's what the sky looked like:

Just as we walked into the front door of the hotel......that storm hit with a fury.  It seriously felt like there was going to be a tornado.  Our room was on the 8th floor overlooking the airport runway and this is what it looked like outside. 

The airport closed down for about an hour until the storm blew through.  Paul slept through it and I planned what we were going to be doing next.

Paul got up about 5 and we still had about 2 hours until our next adventure was going to start.  We had previously bought tickets for a band show at a local bar and that was going to start at 7pm.  In the meantime, we found another casino and it was only a couple of miles up the road from us.  Onto the casino!

We only had 1 hour to spend at the casino......so didn't give us any time to lose money, and in fact we walked out of there with a little.  It was time to drive downtown to the Old Rock House.

Nice little bar in a quiet little neighborhood. 

These girls were the headliner and they were pretty good.  We had no idea who they were before we came, and I was greatly surprised by them.  Not exactly the typical music we usually listen to, but very different, creative and fresh.  Interesting fact:  they are all sisters!

We feasted on appetizers and drank some beers and listened to some great music.

It was our last night in St. Louis.  It was our last night on vacation.

We finished this trip in style.