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!