Texas - 2024 - Day 5 - New Orleans - Oct 3, 2024

 Today we started the day at Couvant Restaurant for a wonderful breakfast.  T continued on his "liquid" diet trend and order an Acai bowl. The adults were excited for the croque madame (no Lola), but MBMell and DD had these in Paris, and always have them when they were on the menu.  MBMell was supposed to eat a lighter breakfast today, but that failed when she saw this on the menu.

We all enjoyed our food a lot, but the service was a little slow. But we had a relaxing day with only a few things planned so we weren't in a huge rush.

Next up we walked to the french quarter to try out a Mule Ride.  We should have started off the trip with this instead of ending it, as the tour guide provided recommending things to do and places to come back to see on the tour.  The couple on the carriage was very excited that we would fill it so we didn't have to wait for more people before going on our 30 minute tour.  We went around the french quarter, where the tour guide pointed out the different architecture, different types of homes, the first pharmacy in america, and the famous preservation hall (that was under construction but they are getting ready to reopen it).  We went past lots of neat balconies, houses and even the Cornstalk hotel - where the fence was iron corn stalks.  We found out they use Mules instead of horses, as they can handle the heat much better than a horse.

Next stop was for the Famous beignets.  This is why MBMell was supposed to eat a smaller breakfast as this was one of the things on her list she wanted to do.  We got take out, and sat at Jackson Square across the street from the cafe, where some tried the delicious treat except for Lola of course, and B wouldn't have one either.  They were hot, and covered in icing sugar.  AA also tried the coffee that had chicory, that they said was used as a filler to use less coffee.  AA said it was ok, but a little different tasting.

Once done with the treat we headed on the other side of Jackson Square to The Presbytere Louisiana State Museum.  T wanted to learn about Hurricane Katrina, and we knew B would enjoy the costumes of the Mardi Gras section.  It was a small museum but the kids enjoyed their "sides" and maybe a little cross over too. The costumes of the parades on display were very elaberate and couldn't imagine holding all that jewlery, fabric and feathers on your head and back.  After about 1.5 hours we were completed, and headed for lunch.  We were hoping to set inside the cathedral that was right inside, but unable as mass was going on, and we didn't want to wait for it to be over.

For lunch we went back to the first breakfast place we went to Coterie Nola.  We has a great time the first time so we wanted to try it for lunch. The guys were excited to try the flights of beer and MBMell had a Hurricane, which had a little alcohol in it, and she felt it.  MBMell and DD shared a Po Boy, Lola had jambalaya, AA and B enjoyed their salads, while T had the "taste of new orleans" which was spicier than he would have liked. 

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to do the activity B has been hoping we would be able to do before we left, go to the pool.  We could see it out the window of our room.  It was small and it was cold, but the kids really enjoyed it.  AA and DD also went in but they said it was cold. MBMell and Lola sat beside the pool.  The clouds were getting dark and the forecast said it was going to rain, but it was holding off while we were at the pool.  It was a struggle to get B out of the pool, but DD and T went back to the room to find out the cleaners were there, he also had problems with is key in the elevator, once they came back we all headed back, Lola got clean towels from the cleaners across the way, and we told them they didn't need to clean our rooms.  All the pool goers had showers and MBMell had a nap (that hurricane hit her hard).

Once everyone was rinsed off, the 5 of us played TowerFall on the switch now that DD went and got a HDMI cable.  We had an awesome time!  Lola and the kids even beat AA and DD, which is not always easy.

We got MBMell up from her nap and headed down to the hotel restaurant to enjoy some beverages and play some games before heading to our dinner reservation.  T played one game of Monopoly Deal with the adults, the decided he wanted to watch B play Animal Crossing.  We had a good time with a large enough table for all of us which felt weird as we had been playing on a bench in our hotel room most nights.

We walked to Hard Rock Cafe on Bourbon Street, it was about a 10 minute walk, and it only drizzled lightly or even at all.  Lola and the kids had burgers while AA, DD and MBMell ordered the always good fajitas.  DD was still full from the other meals of the day, so MBMell and DD shared another meal, while DD decided to order the nachos to supplement his half portion. B was excited about the pink bun, for cancer awareness month.  We headed back to the hotel, stopping for some drinks for the evening, where of course we were going to play Monopoly Deal.  We played a few games, including Overcooked on the switch.  It was a great last night in New Orleans.

Lola and MBMell went for a late night "snack" at Shake Shack before the restaurant closed.  MBMell got a milk shake, and Lola couldn't decide so of course she got a full meal :).  It was so good!