Cold in the hot and dirty south

New Orleans was amazing. My ever-faithful UH crazed hubby, Scott, vowed to follow his team wherever they went. So it was off to New Orleans for the Sugarbowl. Now, I thought Louisiana was so far south that it would be nice and toasty and it was, as long, as you didn't leave the warm confines of a thick down blanket in the comfort of your heated hotel room. Don't let the sun shining in the first picture fool you, it warmed up the daylight hours to a measly 34 degrees.

We stayed in the hotel with my parents-in-law(who were intent on using every minute of every day and would keep us out well past our bedtime) and Mike(the ghetto hawaiian boy who used the hotel bathroom handtowel as a scarf for the whole trip) who shared our suite with us. He insists that Scott was snoring so loudly the first night that the people next door to our hotel room were knocking on the walls. I wouldn't know, I was off in lala land. We also met up with friends from church, the McWilliam men and Mikey for the game and pre-game festivities.

I was very adventurous, I did try a taste of: Beignets(french doughnuts that are like malasadas without powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar), gumbo, jumbalaya with alligator sausage, and etoufee(tastes like portuguese bean stew). I was very proud of myself. I even tried an oyster...but, I was right, I still don't like oysters.

We went to see two plantations, one a working plantation called Laura Plantation. It was not as extravagant, it was more a working businessmen. But because of the unique law in new orleans at the time because of the french influence, it was run by women for over 70 years. The women who led the tour had a southern accent, spoke french, and talked about the "americans" as if they were still a new thing in New Orleans. It was great. Reminded me a lot of home. It was sad to see the slave houses in the back but it definitely made history seem a lot more real and present. the original owner had 27 slaves and she had a list of them, their qualities and their prices...such as " so and so works in the field and is hard-working." We had to laugh at one description, it said that "So-and-so is a lunatic." I wonder if that was just personal bias.

The next plantation we went to was called Oak alley and that one had majestic magnolia trees and sprawling lawns that are what you imagine when you imagine Tara. The tour guides were these young teenage girls in ridiculous hoop skirts. Scott snapped a picture before the tour guide admonished him that pictures weren't allowed inside the house.

We ended our trip with a visit to the Audobon Aquarium which I was told of by two Orleans girls on the airplane. It was absolutely amazing. I got to touch stingrays and a baby nurse shark. Mike and Scott keep telling everyone that they touched a shark...they just leave out the two first words. And I saw two sea otters, jellyfish, an albino alligator...oh, the list is endless. They had to kick us out of there....literally, out the side door/employee's exit.

Photo 1: Walking down Bourbon Street in the late afternoon.

Photo 2: The porch at Laura plantation in Louisiana
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