Our Unfiltered Life: New Orleans, LA

I had a thought...when I have nothing really to write about I figured sometimes it might be good to go back and share with you all the places we've been. In a household with not one, but two artists we are never wanting for an excuse to take pictures or go somewhere so we can take pictures...LOTS of pictures. Seriously, I think we took over 300 pictures on this trip. On this occasion Mitch and I had not had a "kidless" vacation in what honestly seemed like forever. We both decided that the parameters of this said vacation had to have two things. The first was it had to be kidless and second it had to be drivable, preferably twelve hours or less. NOLA won out!

I'm going to take you on a journey to NOLA thru our eyes. Hope you enjoy the show.

I figured this was a good sign when we found this in a gas station on the way down.

We can all use a little Good Ju Ju!

We stayed at the International House Hotel. THIS was inside the elevator.

This little lighting ensemble was in the VERY posh bar in the hotel.

Along with these fabulous fellas.

Now we stayed at the International House Hotel like maybe a block or two outside of the French Quarter. The best thing I could say about the hotel was that it was a definitely plus to walk into one of the NICEST smelling hotels I've ever had the pleasure of stayed. After touring some of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, if you've ever been there you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. 0.o The bar was overpriced, but when you roll into a strange town at 11pm from being in a car all day long you can understand that all I wanted was a night cap and to find our bed and find it quick.

This was me still the next morning!

The next morning we decided to go directly into the French Quarter and be the tourists that swarm the streets in high season! Plus I figured if we ever wanted to do another visit down here we might as well figure out the lay of the land and do all the "touristy" stuff first before we really dove down deep and found the sights and sounds of New Orleans that only the natives know all too well.

We found this guy RIGHT off the bat and he was STELLAR!

And we had NO idea that Jackson Square was CRAWLING with artists!

Seriously my favorite spot in Jackson Square.

Under my favorite tree.

Can't go anywhere near Jackson Square and not see St. Louis Cathedral

And my instant friend Morghan Brookens here in her element

If I had MONEY these would be mine already. Morghan did these and I still want them so bad! She really is SO talented AND super sweet to boot!

The guy who does these too is super talented as well!

I love that there are so many artists that surround the square.

I don't know about you, but this is the corner I live at constantly!

So after our romp around Jackson Square we decided to go to check out the infamous Bourbon Street.

Let's just say that I really didn't take a lot of pictures on Bourbon Street and I was kind of shocked to see mother's with young children in strollers on that street. We were propositioned by ladies of the night on that street too. 0.o I know a sisters got to make a living and it's one of the oldest professions, but in broad daylight was a whole nother sight to see. I did make Mitch stop into some bar in the middle somewhere to listen to some serious KICK ASS music. Wish I would have remembered the bar, but the people inside were definitely unforgettable. Then it was off to St. Louis Cemetery #1! We did go into Marie Laveau's shop to check out what all the fuss was about.

If you don't know who Marie Laveau was click here: Marie Laveau

If you'd like to visit her shop online click here: The shop

And you gotta DRINK while you're in NOLA and roaming Bourbon Street!

Seriously these two knew how to have a good time!

Then it was time for our Cemetery tour with Travis. This is Travis.

Homer Adolph Plessy...

Homer Plessy's Biography

And you can see that these mausoleums are very close together AND above ground

Cemeteries in NOLA

Just found some of these just fascinating

Nicholas Cage's place of entombment. 0.o The rectangle below is marked with overly lipsticked kiss marks.
Stay Classy ladies!

As Travis said, "We don't judge down here, bless her heart."

What would NOLA be without a parade of some kind!?!?!?

You can't go to NOLA and not find Voodoo dolls!

Or HOT Sauce!

Or Cafe Du Monde
Cafe Du Monde

The famous terraces of NOLA. This one had bubbles coming from it. :)

Then it was back to Jackson Square to check out some more sights and grab some killer Cajun food!

This is Jo and he's amazing! He made this costume all by hand!

After our long first day of just taking in all the sights and sounds of New Orleans we decided that we were going to go be nerdy the next day and visit the World War II museum and let me tell you it definitely did not disappoint! There were sections that the images were just too much for me to bare, but here are some and definitely NOT all of the photos we took inside the two museums worth of information! Here is the link if you'd like to check out the site: http://nationalww2museum.org/

We walked and ran into this great mural

This was part of the D Day exhibit

Mitch has a total fascination with planes. NOT even kidding!

Old Sepia tone photos really capture the moment.

Breaks my heart...

My adventure gear. This is ALL this girl needs!

I was waiting for Mitch outside the museum. I didn't see him.

Then it was off to the river's edge to take a nice stroll near the river we both know so well. So we took the trolley back since it was quite a hike to the museum! I won't lie...I should have worn better shoes.

I took this one. I love the colors and his face.

I also took this one too. I love the warmth of the light.

On the riverfront; she's really beautiful!

This is how Mitch sees me a lot of the time. I won't lie.

It really was a nice day for a walk by the river.

The Mighty Mississippi!

Here are some other random shots that I took during our stroll around the city, the square and the quarter. There is so much to see and so many beautiful things to experience if you just open your eyes!

This was in a window display

The colors were just so vibrant!

I couldn't NOT get a picture of this!

For the love of all things Ancient Egypt!

NOLA Flower!

This was across the street from our hotel

And this one too...LOL!

It's true...I CAN actually draw!

This was absolutely impressive!

WOW!

With that last one said after two days of getting a kid free vacation it was time to leave and drive the ten long hours back to home! We could have spent more time, but...wasting a day to drive there and back, it cuts any vacation short. BUT, without the grandparents watching our littles we wouldn't have been able to go in the first place so a big thank you to the grandparents for watching the minions!

THANK YOU!