New Orleans in June

OK. So I'm still tired, but at least I can remember my name today. The trip to New Orleans was SO FUN. Monday night I stayed the night at Ariel's apartment since it was closer to New Orleans. I know it was only 30 minutes closer, but that makes all the difference when you are driving six hours each way! Ariel just moved into a new apartment so it was neat to hang out there. For dinner we walked to a nearby sandwich shop on the Gulf. I was the first to drive Tuesday morning, so I didn't stay up late.

We began our journey at about 8:30am. Ariel and I had a pretty good time just getting there. We made it into town about half an hour before our dad and brother's train got in - and that's only because the train was early. My dad is such a goofy man. He wore all black and a silver vest, to help us all get into the mood of Mardis Gras/New Orleans. Ariel and Alex had never been to New Orleans before, so the first thing we did was walk around the French Quarter. We walked down Bourbon Street and even went into a voodoo shop. We got lucky when my dad asked for a psychic reading and there was a thirty minute wait. I did not want to do that! I'm not much of a believer...

My dad, my brother Alex and my sister Ariel

For dinner we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. We had a few drinks and the food was great. We all had seafood. Our server was a little weird. She kept asking my dad if he would adopt her. Not sure what was going on there.

I couldn't leave town without having a Hurricane!

On the walk over to Cafe du Monde, there was a mini parade going through Jackson Park. We followed it until it stopped, only to find out that it was a fake Mardis Gras parade for some picture that was being filmed. There was a sign that said it was "tentatively entitled Mardis Gras" and by standing in that street we were agreeing to be extras in the film. Ha! Keep your eye out for the film. No idea how big it is, or even who the actors might be, but you might see my family and I in the background! There was this creepy Joker guy that was following the people who were watching the parade. He even flicked my dad off with his giant gloved hands when he took a picture.

We took a couple minutes to grab beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde. Delicious sugary, doughy goodness. My dad thought it would be a good idea to blow the powdered sugar across the table. We were all already covered in it.

After dessert we started the trip back to Texas. We had a great time in just a few short hours. Thankfully, Ariel drove home, so I was able to nap for a little while. We stopped to drop off Ariel, which is why it took us longer than expected to get back to my house. I didn't lay down for my "pre-work nap" until 4 in the morning! It's going to take me a few days to recover from that. But hooray for family!