new orleans

New Orleans Fun

by Kacey on 10/11/2010

One last vacation review. New Orleans! Love that town. Well, for short visits. The food, the French Quarter, the food. My sister and brother-in-law met us there a quick 3 day vacation.

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The weather was absolutely perfect. We stayed at the Monteleone, our favorite place to stay in New Orleans. A gorgeous boutique hotel in the French Quarter. Great customer service. They have a fabulous rotating bar off the lobby. Very fun. We had bragged about the bar to my sister and stopped there first thing on our way out to eat the first night. Unfortunately we had the ONLY cranky bartender we have ever had there. He didn’t wait on us forever, never talked to us. Kind of just threw our drinks down. Nice. So we left after one drink and headed out to the quarter.

As an aside, ’cause you know there is always one. The other nights we were there, the bar tenders were fantastic, fun and kept up with the crowd. Also, ask for Lucille if you eat at their breakfast buffet, she was great.

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(view out our window of the river. Such fun to watch the boats go around that bend in the river!)

As another aside, you know why the Hotel Monteleone rocks? The last time I mentioned them in a blog post, they commented on the post. Yep, they are on the ball and I heart to stay there!

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So we headed out for Cafe Maspero’s for a quick bite to eat. Order a Muffaletto there, I’m just sayin’ Trust me.Then walked around the Quarter and ended up at Pat O’Briens out in the courtyard. Fun times.

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We introduced them to Community Coffee (while on our way to beignets at Cafe Du Monde .)

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(I told you my sister doesn’t like to have her photo taken!)

We went to the French Market, but it was pretty deserted this time of year on a weekday.
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We also ate at Mr. B’s Bistro. Fabulous. We’ve eaten there before and loved it. Still love it. We also tried the Palace Cafe on Canal for the first time. Which could have been so good, but wasn’t. We still had fun, but some of our food wasn’t warm-like the crab cheesecake appetizer and the bread- and they didn’t have enough wait staff. We did have fun looking out on Canal Street and just enjoying laughing with my sister and her dh.

Okay, I think that concludes my reviews of all the places we went to on this vacation. Now, if I could only get used to real life again.

Saving New Orleans – One Drink at a Time

by Kacey on 9/27/2010

We did our best to help the local New Orleans economy. My sister and brother-in-law met us in New Orleans for a few days of ~~drinking and eating way too much~~ rest and relaxation . Note to self, next time plan the New Orleans part of the vacation first, then go on and do the relaxing on the beach. I’m just sayin’

We did our best to sample all the best New Orleans had to offer…

drinking-new-orleans We started out at Cafe Maspero’s for the best muffalattas in the Quarter. Seriously. Okay, I take that back, FIRST we grabbed a drink at the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone where we were staying. It’s an older boutique hotel. I like it. Small rooms, but a gorgeous lobby, cool decorations, and fabulous service.

Back to the drinking. My sister (who hates to be photographed) decided we needed “bunny ears” on our our drinking photos. Hey, I was up for it. May I just insert here…it sure is nice to have a fairly decent camera on my iphone. Fun and easy to catch the action without carting around my big old camera. (which I did, and will share “real” photos later).

We wandered from dinner to a walk on the riverfront then onto Pat O’Briens. Just because.

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Just in case you were wondering, we might have had drinks during the day too. Like out at Landry’s on Lake Pontchartrain. Great view. Well, then there was the rooftop poolside bar at the Hotel Monteleone. Ask for Zachary the bartender there. I’m just sayin’

drinking-new-orleans3 Drinks and dinner at the Palace Cafe on Canal Street. (you can skip that. So underwhelmed. Needs better management. Some of our food was lukewarm at best. We had a great time anyway.) Then, wait, did we go to Pat O’Brien’s AGAIN? Mybad.

We also went out to the Abita Pub (love and adore Abita Beer) and had lunch and a flight sample of their beer. Okay, TWO flight samples of their beer. I found a new beer I love. Instead of just the plain Abita Amber, I now love their Purple Haze Beer too.

Oh, and let me just say, if you give my sister enough alcohol, you get to take her picture, complete with bunny ears…that she gave herself…

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Oh, and lest you think we only drank in New Orleans…we did manage to get beignets a couple of times.

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I think I need a vacation from my vacation… :crazy:

I Heart New Orleans

by Kacey on 3/1/2010

or Nawlins, depending on who’s talkin’ We drove down to New Orleans to catch a cruise from the New Orleans port. It’s about a 10 1/2 hour drive for us. Very doable since you know how SuperGuy and I love road trips.

I love New Orleans. It’s such a mix of the old and the new.

Struggling to recover from Katrina.

Ah, Cafe Du Monde beignets. They’re not just for breakfast anymore!! (ask me how I know…no, don’t! Especially don’t ask me how many I had to eat while in New Orleans a mere two days…)

Quaint street lights around the French Quarter.

Trolley cars running from the Quarter to the Garden District. (No, I was not trying to kill SuperGuy here…the trolley had already passed us.) Note the jacket AND sweater. It was a bit chilly that day.

You have to be careful of the killer crayfish though! (or do you think that’s a lobster? Nah, a crayfish.)

My favorite hotel, the Monteleone. (which we didn’t stay at this time because I couldn’t find a deal for it and it’s $$$. We stayed at The Iberville Suites, which were very nice.) We did manage to hit the bar at the Monteleone for martinis though. They have a rotating, circular bar where you look out on the street. Very nice.