NOLA getaway!

Inside Abita Brewing Company



And here we are!  Abita Brewing Company!

This past August we took a HOT trip to New Orleans.  I mean, it was HOT.  But it was fun.  Jay was in charge of the accommodations and I must say that he outdid himself.  We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton and I don't ever want to stay anywhere else (but I will, but I don't want to).  Anyway, before telling all of those tales, I have to start at the beginning which was Abita Springs, LA.  Jay and I stayed at a hotel in Covington to break up the Friday afternoon drive and also so that we could go to the Abita Springs beer tour that Winnie and I went on last year. 

Its blurry, but you get the gest.

Sampling the wares.

It is really a great tour and it's FREE.  And it's incredible how such a little company can produce such a volume of a product that they do.  AND the brewery is highly energy efficient with very little waste produced.  Too cool.



So, on to New Orleans!  The room was b-e-a-utiful at the Ritz. And the Club Level had fresh food out all day and most of the night.  I wanted to stay in the hotel.  Jay MADE me leave eventually, but the first night we ate at one of Emeril's restaurants downtown...we were not impressed.  Honestly, we were both disappointed in the food, service and atmosphere--but we are glad that we had the experience!  We went back to the club level at the Ritz and played chess, checkers, cards and laughed until it was time for bed.  We even glanced outside our window and across the street we saw a window open with a couple getting ready for bed--it was almost awkward, i mean if they had known it would have been awkward.

Our room!

Chess game...

Deuces.

Lounging...



Club. Level.

Breakfast spread

Some of the breakfast items...

We woke up, had a delicious breakfast and headed to the Aquarium of the Americas.  Both of us have been there when we were younger.  It was totally different to experience it as an adult, and I mean different in a good way.

My awesome hair before we walked in the rain.

Jay in the tunnel!



You could pay a $1.00 for a popsicle stick with bird seed on it to feed the birds.  For some reason, Jay wanted to hold the popsicle stick with his mouth.... "I tawt I taw a putty tat?

I think that the birds were the most fun interactive activity at the aquarium...go figure. :)

New Orleans Mint

After the aquarium we walked around the market and shopped a little bit.  We randomly took tours of places like the New Orleans Mint and Preservation Hall.

The concierge at the hotel recommended a very interesting restaurant called Stella! for dinner that night.  It was a great recommendation, but I don't think that we will be back any time soon...

The fan provided for the tour. It was a much needed accessory.

We followed dinner up with an informative, loosely fact-based "ghost tour" of the French Quarters that left us with goosebumps!  We learned all kinds of spooky things about vampires, ghosts and murdurous families...I. was. terrified.  I had to get Jay up to go to the restroom with me every time I got up in the middle of the night. :)

Our last morning before checking out of our hotel, we used a Groupon I had bought for a segway tour!! I am a huge fan of the segway, but this was my first time and so I just KNEW I was probably going to bleed from the knees or the face at some point....but I did not.  I survived, thrived and loved it!  It did tickle me seeing Jay's tall, manly self with a bicycle helmet on standing on a machine that when in motion makes the sound "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".

LOVED the segway tour.  We did have one accident with a couple on our tour.  The man and his 13 year old son were super cocky and obnoxious.  They kept "zooming" around the rest of us and weren't paying attention to the tourguide, so midway through the tour the man had messed with the governor on his machine and it just stopped and he fell.  He had a skinned elbow, but his wife and son thought it was serious enough that he needed an ambulance.  It was ridiculous.  But the tour was so much fun that we overlooked that incident. :)

 

What better way to end a trip to New Orleans, than a stop at Middendorf's for lunch in Manshac!

Yes, we wore matching t-shirts.  And yes it was Sunday Funday. :)