A few months ago, we were told that we'd have to pick our car up in New Orleans, since it couldn't be shipped to Florida, for some reason. On Friday, we got a call saying that our car *might* be coming in that day and we could pick it up if we got there before 4:30pm, when they closed for the weekend. We packed up in about 10 minutes and jumped in the car for the 5.5 hour car ride. The whole way there (through crazy thunderstorms and blinding rain), we prayed that the car would be there when we arrived and that we would make it on time.
We got there with three minutes to spare and were able to pick up our car-- a little piece of home.
And then we got to spend the night in New Orleans, a first for both of us. We got a fabulous hotel on hotwire.com and stayed right downtown, within walking distance of the French Quarter. I don't have any pictures from Friday night, but it was a pretty magical night, as we slogged through the pouring rain, ate at a fabulous brewery and enjoyed crawfish ettouffé and a shrimp po'boy. We skipped through puddles and headed to Cafe du Monde, where we people -watched and savored beignets and hot chocolate.
We spent Saturday morning wandering around the French Quarter, checking out the gorgeous architecture, colorful buildings and soaking up a bit of the New Orleans history. We ate breakfast at The Camellia Grille where we made fast friends with our server, Ricky, and soon the whole cafe knew our due date, baby name and moving woes. Those Southerners are friendly people!
We were excited to start a new tradition for our kiddos when we picked up a children's book at a local souvenir shop. We plan on writing about our trip in the front cover and picking up more books as we travel around the world together. I can't wait to have shelves of children's books filled with tales and memories of our travels.
I'm sure we didn't hit a fraction of the sites to see in New Orleans, but it was a pretty wonderful whirlwind trip and great to get away from the stress of the move. We are in our apartment now, but still waiting on our stuff. Three more nights of sleeping on the floor...
lindsay