Our trip to New Orleans was not long enough! Our day of travel started at 4:30am. It’s a 12 hour drive from our house to NOLA. Originally, our plan was to fly, but airfare was expensive and Huck had a chance to look at a few claims in the panhandle along the way. He figured we could save $600+ in travel expenses and cover the cost of the trip at the same time. And by driving, we would be able to stay with my Grandmother, who lives in the panhandle, on the way back.
Honestly, the ride wasn’t that bad. From Jupiter to Pensacola sucked! It was flat nothingness. That was about 8 hours of our trip. From there Huck looked at his claims, which broke the ride up a good bit. I-10 from Pensacola to NO was a nice ride. It follows along the coast and goes over a bunch of bridges that provide nice views. We even seen a shark attacking something. We both agreed it wasn’t a dolphin, so it had to be a shark.
We were both really crabby by the time we arrived in NO. We were at the “don’t talk to me” point of the ride. We held off on eating until we arrived. After a few hiccups checking into our hotel, we finally made it to Bourbon Street around 9:30pm NOLA times. We already knew where we were going for dinner before we arrived, and thanks to the Google Map app {The walking distance option is great for traveling. You don’t look like a tourist looking for directions on your phone!} we already had the restaurant pulled up and went straight there for food.
We decided to have dinner at Desire Oyster Bar and Restaurant. I read a good review from Iowa Girl Eats about the restaurant, and it was really close to our hotel. We wasted no time ordering.
Huck ordered the Creole Trio. It came with Gumbo, Seafood Jambalaya, and Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Sausage.
I ordered the Crawfish Etouffe.
Everything was great, and we cleaned our plates in recorded time. It was almost embarrassing how quickly we consumed our food. Considering we had breakfast at 11am Florida time, dinner was long overdue!
Once we finished, we walked to Crescent City Brewhouse. Of course, we had to check out the local craft beer places.
I ordered the Red Stallion. Huck ordered the Pale Ale. Both okay beer. We wanted to make a trip to Abita, but never made it that far.
We stopped by Café Du Monde, but we didn’t have any cash, and I was really full from dinner. We walked around for a while before calling it a night.
Thursday, we were up bright and early. We were in New Orleans for a class Huck was attending. I registered for the class too since we were there. The first day was a quick review of the estimating software adjusters use, and a practice test. If you passed the practice test, you could take the test the following day. I haven’t used the estimating software in a while, and was a little nervous I wouldn’t pass the test. I did some research before and found out it has a low pass rate, which was repeated several times during the class. I was so nervous I wasn’t going to pass!
Once we finished the practices test, we were released for lunch. Right across the street, from the conference, was a Popeye’s. Of course, my spicy fried chicken loving husband wanted to stop.
I’m not going to lie, I like their Fried Chicken, too!
Once we returned, our practices test were graded. I missed a few questions because of stupid calculation errors but was given the OK to sit for the test the next day. We went over practices questions for about an hour longer and were released for the day.
Huck and I dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed out to explore/eat and drink more.
I love Huck’s GoPro!!
We tried Café du Monde again, this time with cash, but the line was too long. Even the express line wrapped around to the front of the building.
I didn’t feel like waiting either, so we carried on.
We walked past Evangeline and noticed they were doing a beer and food pairing for happy hour. For $15, we sampled three different kinds of sausage: Boudin, Smoked Sausage, and Andouille that were paired with 3 different Saint Arnold beers. We received a 10 oz sample of each beer. It was a deal!
The Boudin was our favorite along with the Black Kolsch, surprisingly. I’m not usually a fan of Kolsch beers but this one was good.
The sausage was served with a mustard sauce over a potato pancake.
After our meat and beer dinner, we met up with some people from the class. We spent a few hours talking with them, before Huck and I separated from the group. Our first stop Café de Monde, again.
10pm is the perfect time for Beignets and Coffee. The place wasn’t very busy. We were seated and served right away. Much better than waiting in line.
I was a little disappointed with the beignets. I went to NO with my parent in 2006 and remember them being lighter. These were very eggy. Huck compared them to French Toast. They were still really good, and the coffee was a great pick-me-up, too.
On our way back to the hotel, we passed The Gumbo Shop. I wasn’t really hungry but knew I wouldn’t get good gumbo again for a long time. We went in and ordered two bowls of Gumbo. One Seafood. One Chicken and Sausage. Both equally good.
It was cold in NOLA by the way {like 55 degrees and windy cold!}, and all we brought were summer stuff. Poor Huck had to wear his dress khaki because we didn’t pack him any pants.
We walked around Bourbon Street for a while before heading back to the hotel. Our hotel was only one block from Bourbon Street off of Canal Street. Perfect location.
I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow that night. It was a long day full of great food and good beer!
I’ll be back with a recap from our last day in New Orleans, and the trip to my Grandparents, Friday or Saturday. Then I’ll post some recipes. I have a bunch to share :)
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