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. :)



August Birthdays!

Is it acceptable to blog almost SIX MONTHS late?? I hope so. :)

Well,  August birthdays are a big thing on both sides of our families.  This year (2012), Mrs. Margaret planned and decorated for a joint birthday party for Tracy and Jay.  Jay's theme was outdoors and Tracy's side of the party was all decorated in honor of her 40 years of birthdays!

The cakes were from That Special Touch in Pearl.  Delicious and beautiful!
 

 

We had a wonderful meal and took some great pictures.  Mrs. Margaret even provided funny glasses for the occasion--which I always appreciate!  And she managed the impossible: surprise!

 

The decor.

The Surprise!

 

The birthday folks.

Tracy, Mrs. Margaret, Jay and Mr. Doug

Jay, Ashley and Tracy

Sweet pic!

Jay and Stuart

 

Jay's actual birthday, August 20th, was on a Monday so I took off and we took a field trip to Monticello where my dad works.  Dad also has an August birthday (August 22nd he turned 70!!) and so we took mini cupcakes to his office to share. 

Getting ready to blow out candles...

Too impatient to take a picture!

 We took our time coming back from Monticello and stopped at several shops and stores and had a blast.

Happy birthday my Jay!

 

 We ended up at the MS Museum of Natural History where we saw this two headed snake that I thought was worth including in this post.  Interesting/creepy.



Sister Trip 2012

Being 13 years younger than my sister has had its advantages over the years.  She was always a great advice giver, a constant companion, and a phone call away...unless it was 2:00 in the morning and she was asleep. ;)  Our relationship has changed very little as we grew older.  The greatest change has been the fact that we are now adults and when we talk about taking trips or doing fun things we can just do them!  As crazy as it seems to me, this summer we took our FIRST EVER planned sister trip and it was long overdue. 

Winnie is chief/queen of crazy ideas.  It is never a surprise to get a phone call at 8:00 at night to tell me that we are headed to the casino, get ready.  Or, hey, let's go get a puppy...llama....peacock...etc.  Or, a fishing trip at night due to a bet with her husband that we can catch more fish than him because our bobbers light up so the fish can see them--that adventure wound up with Winnie IN the pond while Jamie and I laughed histerically.  So when Winn called me and said that there was a town-wide garage sale where people ride around in buggies buying things ridiculously cheap and that we had to go to, I was not surprised.  I googled and found out that it existed and even though I was skeptical, I thought it would be a great reason to get away.  That next Friday afternoon, we headed for Abita Springs, Louisiana.  This also happened to be the last Friday of the largest lottery in LA history.  We immediately bought tickets knowing that we were both going to win.  We travelled to Covington, LA where we had a hotel at the Country Inn & Suites which we will definitely return to, then we headed to Manshac for dinner at Middendorfs....deeeelicious.  We both got seafood platters even though the waitress advised against it. (I mean, she had no idea how hungry we were at that point.)  After the delicious meal we ordered their banana's foster bread pudding to go and scooted back to our hotel to try and catch the lotto numbers on the tv or net.  We found the right website that had a countdown to the number drawing and at the exact moment that the numbers were to be revealed, the screen refreshed and then WOULD NOT LOAD.  Thankfully we were hysterical and delirious enough to think that it was funny, but we ran to the room to try and catch it on the television.  The numbers were no where to be found.  I mean, we were just in disbelief.  So that night we went to bed knowing that it would be okay in the morning because one of our tickets had just won millions of dollars.

Here we are in our Middendorf's tshirts trying to get a good self-taken picture:



This was the best final product...we were so tired!

The next morning we made a breakfast stop at Chik-fil-a and then we were at the garage sale by 5:30 am.  It was awesome.  It really is a whole town that comes together for a yearly garage sale.  People are riding around in their buggies and carrying strollers just so that they can put their purchases in them!  We walked around and made several fun purchases like an antique metal watering can for $8.00 and some giant welded bird planters, a wooden chandelier, two old huge ceiling tiles and an 1800s wooden twin headboard/footboard.

Bird plant stands...this is not the final product, but you can see what they look like!

1800s bed that I am getting Jay to make benches out of!

It didn't take us long to pick out the good stuff at the garage sale and decide that it was getting too crowded.  We headed back to the hotel for some napping and extra shopping.  On our way home, Winn just happened to spot the Abita Springs Brewery! I had not made the connection of course, so I was pleasantly surprised and we HAD to make a trip back to the brewery before we left.  We took their early tour--which was completely free.  It was an awesome tour.  They even brew root beer and keep it on tap!

Us in the brewery...I had to wear booties b/c I had worn flip flops

Sissy enjoying her root beer!

After the beer tour, we tried to google and find a good place to eat dinner, but all that we could think about were the huge shrimp from Middendorfs...so back to Middendorfs we went.  It was a beautiful day and we so enjoyed being able to stop where we wanted and when we wanted...we totally piddled.  And our piddling then led us to a SWAMP TOUR.  Cajun Pride.  We both have always wanted to do one, but had never gotten around to it.  It was loong.  But very interesting and entertaining.  Sissy says that I have a good alligator eye. I always spotted them before she did. :)

Crazy tour guide feeding these alligators.

Alligator.  This one is about 8 years old.

Sissy with a two year old alligator!

At the end of the tour, when the boat was on its way back to drop us off, the tour guide pulled out this 2 year old alligator and said we could pass it around and take pictures with it!  Winn turned to me immediately and said, "Amy, I don't think we are qualified to hold an alligator"  and I agreed.  It scared the begeezes out of us.  Like, five year old kids were holding it and me and Winn just held our breath.  Thankfully his mouth was taped shut, because I've seen Crocodile Dundee.

We relunctlantly started our trip back to Meadville, aka reality.  We sang in the car the whole time.  We giggled and talked about everything in our lives.  It was the perfect sister trip...even if we didn't win the lottery.

Valentine's Week 2012

Because of our lifestyle,  Jay is hardly ever home for all of the holidays.  I think that he was home for our very first Valentine's Day together, and then the next one was 2012.

This Valentine's was one of the best ever.  On the actual Valentine's Day (a Tuesday) I had to work.  So that night, I came home to roses.  We played RockBand on the WII and we cooked out.    Thankfully, Jay was understanding of the situation that I was in and so he didn't plan anything too intense...

Happy Valentine's Day root canal!!

Yes, for Valentine's Day, I got a root canal.  I think it was at this point that I realized that I am an adult. 

Jay's girls wishing him a happy VDay

Jay rehooking up the Wii. :)

My lesson from this Valentine's Day was that I will NEVER touch the wiring behind this television.  Ever. :)

Better late than never--Jay's VDay present was this lovely bouquet that arrived only two days late:

But we ate it allllll.

Also, on Valentine's Week, we had dinner with my BFF Amanda Frusha at BRAVO.  It was mine and Jay's first meal there..and it was good...but the drinks were better.  I think that after the three bottles of wine we had a birthday cake martini and two key lime martinis.... :) 

<3 this girl.

Memphis Continued...

It's time to play catch up!  After the Memphis Zoo, we went to a place that I have heard of all my life called Coletta's.  Coletta's is an Italian restaurant that my parents ate at on their trips to Memphis (one of their destinations for fun because it was not too far from Ole Miss).  If I had to guess, I would say that Coletta's right now looks like Coletta's looked over 50 years ago.  It is still owned by the same family, and when I asked my dad to describe it, he said word for word what it looked like.  From the red and white checked table clothes to the bowls that our salads came in.  Coletta's was one of Elvis' favorite restaurants also.  According to their website and menu they are famous for creating the BBQ pizza..so that's what Jay ordered.  Everything was really good, but the connection to the past that we felt was even better.

We checked in to the Peabody (where we spent the first night of our honeymoon), and then had some fab massages that were well needed after the zoo trip!  That night we tried out Texas de Brazil for our first time and we decided that one time was enough at that restaurant.  I have never seen Jay turn away food!  :)  Our horse and buggy ride helped to settle our full stomachs!
The next morning, Jay and I made a planned trip to the Gibson guitar factory.  I suggest to anyone--guitar lover, musician or not--to take this tour.  WOW.  The tour takes you through the makings of a semi-hollow bodied guitar from the very beginning all the way to the paint job and tuning at the end.  We had to wear goggles: 

The air has to stay at a certain humidity that is good for the wood (good for the wood haha) so there are misters everywhere and there is sawdust flying through the air the entire time.  It was one of the most interesting tours that I have ever been on for anything because we were about ten feet away from the workers and had no barriers between us and them.  We were so impressed with the whole thing that we decided that for Jay's anniversary present, he needed a new Gipson...

This one will do. :)  It's silver.   And it sounds AMAZING when he plays it.

Our next stop was the Rock and Soul Museum (ran by the Smithsonian Institute) across the street and it was not as interesting, to say the least.  Not recommended. SO we headed to phase two of our trip--NASHVILLE!

There is just so much to tell!  First of all, our hotel was so impressive.  The Hermitage is right in the middle of everything, historic, faaaannnccy. :)  Everyone knew our names as we entered and they constantly addressed us as Mr. and Mrs. Jordan.  Our room was one of the greatest rooms ever.  Marble bathroom, two person shower, mini bar, sitting area...I could have stayed there for a very long time. 

Getting ready for our anniversary dinner

Anniversary dessert!

Lobby of the Hermitage

Our anniversary dinner was in the hotel's restaurant which serves fresh foods from the Chef's garden/farm.  I loved the sweet vidalia onion soup so much that Jay ordered it for room service the second night!

On our first actual day in Nashville, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame...which was super cool.  The only thing NOT super cool was the fact that it was apparently "free day" for kids.  We went through rather quickly.  However, we were able to stand in line for autographs and pictures with the Oak Ridge Boys which was a total suprise to us! 

Due to the way that the shirt I wore that day made me look awful, I am refusing to post the pic of US with the Oak Ridge Boys. :)  But here they are.

Next on the agenda was the Ryman Auditorium--the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.  The day that we went, they were removing the original wooden stage in order to replace it so no pictures were allowed.  It was definitely a tour that was worth it. To be there where all of those music legends performed was an incredible experience.

Lastly, my wonderful husband bought us tickets to the Grand Ole Opry at Opryland!  We arrived early to check out the Gaylord Opryland and we were impressed.  The hotel/shopping/restaurant area was all enclosed with a "river" running through it.  It just has to be seen in person to be appreciated.  The Opryhouse was built to resemble and almost replicate the Ryman Auditorium. We were so glad that we had toured the Ryman earlier in the day so that we could compare.  The seats are just long curved pews.  There are no arm rests to seperate you from your neighbor.  There are no seat cushions to make your butt not go to sleep.  But there IS alot of togetherness and respect and appreciation in that place.  It really takes you back to when people would bring their lunch/dinner and their kids and gather around for the fun and entertainment.  I guess that Jay and I just didn't know alot about the Grand Ole Opry.  I didn't realize that it's still a radio show.  I didn't realize that it is live on the air.  So imagine my surprise when after the first act, a man at the corner of the stage with a deep voice begins "A big thanks goes to our sponsors tonight, especially Dollar General Stores.  Save money. Save time.  Thanks also to Bass Pro Shops for...." I mean, I looked at Jay like WHAT in the WORLD is going on??  You got used to it though.  On commercial breaks, I would go fetch us another drink and some popcorn.  We saw Little Big Town, Diamond Rio and a couple of others that I have forgotten...I wish that there were more places like the Grand Ole Opry.  I can't wait to go again.

That finally concludes most of our Memphis/Nashville Anniversary Trip.  Here are just a couple more highlighting pics:

Jay eating ribs at the Rendevous in Memphis

Jay enjoying his complimentary robe after a bath.

Part of the lobby in the Hermitage during the day

Last note: My wonderful anniversary present just so happened to be the most beautiful pair of diamond earrings that I have ever seen...from my favorite jewelry store.  Thank you, my Jay, for always treating me like a princess.

They are perfect for me. Just like YOU.