New Orleans Part 3

On Monday morning, Ben didn't necessarily HAVE to be anywhere until around 11, so we hit the streets and headed to Café Du Monde. When we got there, the line was super long, but we were seated within about 5 minutes of getting there. Neither of us had ever had a beignet, and we were pleasantly surprised. Ben said it tasted like a funnel cake, but I would say they were MUCH better than a funnel cake. They were so much thicker and I loved every single bite!!

Can you tell we're tired? Oh, and it was super humid, so I didn't even try with the hair!

 

After breakfast, we snagged an uber back to the hotel and then walked together to the convention center where I grabbed Starbucks and Ben headed to his conference. I then took off for the day and walked miles and miles and miles. I admired all the fun houses as I walked. I am OBSESSED with the houses in the south. I love the look of the plantation homes. Hopefully, I'll have one myself one day!

 

 

I headed towards the Garden District where I meandered down the streets and ended up at the shops on Magazine Street. I loved browsing the shops there! I found some really cute shops, but unfortunately left empty handed. I tried on an awesome dress at Grandmother's Buttons, but I needed a size down. I was super sad!

 

 

After shopping for a while, I thought I would make my way to Bourbon Street and see if I could find any other cute shops and possibly grab a souvenir for Henley. That was a trek!! It started raining and was super humid, so I was a sweaty mess when I got to Bourbon. You can imagine how pleasant that was with the mix of nasty that Bourbon Street already has to offer!

I found a cute onesie that said "Trouble 1" on it for Henley, but that was about it. I looked for something for all my nieces and nephews, but sadly, most of the souvenirs were a bit inappropriate for kids ranging from 1-7 in age. Oh well! I did find a super cute shop that I had actually stopped in at another location the day before called Forever New Orleans. They had the cutest stuff and I ended up grabbing a photo print of Café Du Monde to add to the new house.

I scheduled a massage for 3:30 when I woke up that morning, so I thought I might as well start making my way back to the hotel. I walked a little further and realized that I was pretty close to Central Grocery where everyone told me to stop for a muffaletta. Since it was about 2:30 at this point and I had been walking forever, I thought it might be smart to grab one. Plus, getting one with Ben was out of the question since he doesn't like olives.

 

 

 

I was not aware that these babies were so big! I ordered a half and this is what I got. I ate a half of the half on my walk back to the hotel and thoroughly enjoyed it! Now...my walk back to the hotel was a bit of an adventure. I knew where I was when I went into Central Grocery, but I turned the wrong way when I walked out. My hint that I was headed in the wrong direction was the group of homeless people gathered in the middle of a median. I knew I hadn't been there before. So, I turned around and made my way, about half a mile, back to Central Grocery. I had about 2 miles to walk back to the hotel then, and I can't tell you how ready I was to get there. I was hot and sweaty and my feet were absolutely dying. I'm not sure I've ever walked so fast!

 

 

I got back with only about 20 minutes to spare before my massage, so I changed and headed up to the "spa." Now, let me say again, that our hotel was amazing and the workout facilities were beyond wonderful. BUT...there wasn't exactly a spa. I changed in the woman's locker room which apparently high school girls use before volleyball practice as well, and walked down the hall to a chair outside a very small room. Thankfully, the massage was great! Well, I can honestly say that I would have paid her to rub my feet alone for an hour, so I wasn't a tough critic. Anyway, the spa experience wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but the massage was perfectly fine.

 

Ben wasn't supposed to get done with his meetings until 7:00, so I was perfectly content to rest in the room until I needed to get ready for dinner. I enjoyed watching E! on the Red Carpet while I laid in bed and then panted my nails. Around 6:00, Ben walked in and said he couldn't take anymore of sitting, so they left and were ready to go out to dinner. C'mon! When will he learn that a girl needs fair warning to get ready?!

 

Thankfully, I get ready pretty darn fast when we are out of town because I don't have to think about what to wear, so about 20-30 minutes later, we were headed out the door to meet people for dinner. The place we had originally talked about going was pretty packed, so a few of us started talking about a new place. I suggested Café Adelaide because I had read such good things, and because Ben and I couldn't make it to Commander's Palace for brunch, but Café Adelaide was one of their restaurants. It did not disappoint!

 

 

 

Y'all...I wish I would have ordered about 10 of these Shrimp & Tasso Corndogs that we got as appetizers. They were beyond delicious!!

 

 





 

 

After all of my indulgences in New Orleans, I was ready for a salad. My salad was delicious, but you don't want a picture of that, so I took pictures of the other delicious meals. Ben ordered shrimp and grits that were amazing with truffle fries on the side for us all. I think I started eating the truffle fries with a spoon to make sure I got all the crumbs!

 

 

Dinner was a hit in my book! The wine was good, the food was good and the company was beyond good! Our group headed back to our hotel again and chatted for a little while, but we were all pretty tired and knew we had a full day of traveling ahead of us, so we headed to bed early (again, 11 is not early in my book, but it is New Orleans early!).

 

We couldn't leave New Orleans without a delicious breakfast. After sleeping in, packing up and getting in the car, we headed to Blue Dot Donuts. It was on our way out of town (not downtown), and one of my friends suggested it. Again, it did not disappoint. Now, keep in mind that I had not had a donut since about my freshman year in high school until Henley's 1st birthday. I could NOT get enough of these! I clearly don't know how to order after my break from donuts, but thankfully Ben does! I got a donut that I wasn't overly impressed about, but Ben got the maple bacon donut and a cinnamon roll. Holy Yum!! I also got some donut holes that were fabulous!

 

 

After donuts, we were on the road to see our little girl! I was so ready to snuggle her! It was a long ride home, but we had so much fun in New Orleans. It definitely did not disappoint! I hope we get to go back again!