Road Trip USA Part 3: New Orleans

By day 4 we finally made it out of Texas and into the great state of Louisiana! Luckily we left rather early in the morning (as per drill sergeant husband who had us on the road at 0500 central time) so we got to see the very beautiful sunrise over Texas. I have driven through Texas several times but mostly though the northern part of the state where you feel like it WILL. NEVER. END. Thankfully, south central and eastern Texas is actually quit pretty and we had about 10 NPR RadioLabs to keep us entertained. By the time we needed to stop for gas we were already in Louisiana. It was FANTASTIC.

Honey, we aint in California no mo...

Finally a big city! And what was even better, it was THE big city we where we were going to stop for the day, New Orleans baby!

Because we only had one evening in New Orleans we were very serious tourists about the whole thing. As soon as we settled into our hotel, washed the road off of us and kissed the baby goodbye we headed out for the French Quarter for dinner.

Not only was it great to get out of the car, but we also got into town early enough to cruise down Bourbon Street and through the French Quarter. Jonathon and I have both been to NOLA several times but never together and only with our wild college friends. It is a very different city when you are a) sober b) not a newcomer c) seeking romance.

One of the prettier areas of the French Quarter if you are not looking for naked chicks or cheap drinks is Jackson Square. There are a lot of artists, fortune tellers, musicians and of course other tourists who are more than willing to take your picture.

The architecture and hanging flower boxes are so very French Quarter NOLA.

We heard the Cafe Amelie was delicious and romantic so we were sold. We got there a bit early though so we did a gate photo shoot while we waited...

Once inside we weren't disappointed, there is an interior restaurant as well but we chose to sit outside in the courtyard. It was such a beautiful night to sit out under the setting sun, enjoy some delicious Southern food and to get off our feet after wandering through the streets and back alleyways of the French Quarter.

Newlyweds!

For dessert there is no where better than Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans so we took a short walk over for hot cocoa and warm sweet beignets.

While we were enjoying our sweet treats we heard the LOUDEST booming thunder and all of a sudden the sky opened up and it started dumping rain. We enjoyed our cocoa in the rain for a while, wondering if it was going to let up, but soon realized we were going to be getting wet one way or another. Jonathon attempted to haill a cab for about 5 minutes but we were competing with every tourist in the city for one so we ended up buying a sweet marde gras umbrella and taking a very wet, lightening-filled walk back to our hotel. It was tres romantique!