The Big Easy

After four days in Birmingham, I left at 9 am Sunday morning for New Orleans, Louisiana.  I drove through Louisiana on a college trip from Alabama to Mexico, but had never been to New Orleans before.  On the 5+ hour drive, I crossed two new state lines - Mississippi and Louisiana.  I was able to keep my "welcome to" sign photography up, but I have to admit it is getting tricky.  As you can see, some of the photos are turning out better than others.

                    

                          Welcome to Louisiana!

Welcome to Mississippi!

I arrived in French Quarter at about 2:30 pm and spent a few hours checking out the scene.  I had some delicious beignets and chicory coffee at the famous Cafe' Du Monde on Decatur street.  It was a super hot afternoon, about 95 degrees fahrenheit, so I didn't last long walking around.  I spent a total of about two hours at the cafe', taking photos and popping in and out of fun art galleries and shops.  I am terribly addicted to buying souvenirs, but was amazingly able to restrain myself and drove away from the French Quarter with only the things I brought for my trip, photos on my camera and memories.  Yay for frugality and the lack of desire for cheesy memorabilia!

Sugary goodness in the form of beignets and
chicory coffee at Cafe' Du Monde.

With the statue of Old Hickory
(President Andrew Jackson)
at Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

When I was done baking in the hot sun of southern Louisiana in May, I headed north of Lake Pontchartrain to Hammond to visit my cousin Cindy and her family.  They fed me a delicious dinner of blackened fish, potatoes and asparagus.  Cindy's husband Sean owns a restaurant, so the food was amazing!  It was great to spend time with their boys Seth and Brody, and to meet their new addition - 9-month old Zeke.  I will miss seeing them on our annual family beach trip to Amelia Island in July, so it was great to catch up this week.  Zeke was too little to share with me too much about his life and Seth was pretty worn out from a day of baseball, but I learned a lot about Brody and what he has been up to in school and on his baseball team.  It was a short, but very nice visit and great second stop on my BIG TRIP!

With my second cousin Cindy and her youngest son Zeke.
The older boys were still asleep and Sean was busy preparing
for their Memorial Day craw fish boil, but they were in the picture in spirit.