I love to play "If You Would Rather" game when trying to figure out just the right gift for someone. Earlier I asked Ken if he would rather have a party or an experience for his big 50. With his answer... I started working on my plan. I thought about going somewhere different, maybe with a beach. But with Ken's schedule, I was worried about plane schedules. We had just taken a road trip to San Antonio during Spring Break, so I started looking for someplace great within a 10 hour radius. Turns out New Orleans is really about 10 1/2 hours, but it held so much promise. When I asked the girls, they were totally on board.
I created a Google doc and planning began! I picked a funky cool, hip hotel - Old No. 77, which was an old cannery restored to a hotel. It's not on the French Quarter, but close. Turns out it was in a perfect location, and we were able to walk everywhere. I talked to Ken's receptionist to see if she could keep Tuesday open because we would be driving back and Ken wouldn't be in the office. She worked her magic and he had no idea! When he came home Friday after work I asked him how his day was and he said busy. I told him then he deserve a break and the girls and I are kidnapping him for his 50th Birthday Celebration Weekend!
Here's how it went down:
Friday - Ken's at work, while the girls and I pack. We also drop off Kricket at my sister's. Ken comes home & SURPRISE! We drive to Little Rock. I was going to try to make him think this is where the weekend trip was going to be, but he knew better and figured it out.
Saturday - headed towards NOLA, with a side stop in Vicksburg, where we went through the National Park. By the time we finally got to New Orleans, we were hungry. PoBoys from Mother's!
The next morning was an early one - we had tickets for a swamp tour with Cajun Encounters. Great experience - tour guide was one of the best, weather was perfect, and we got to see gators and wild boars. It's about an hour drive there, so when we got back it was definitely lunch time. This time it was muffalettas at Johnny's. We went back to hotel for a quick nap because we had another tour lined up for the evening - ghost tour. Kailyn did an awesome job arranging this one! We met James at 7:30 in front of the St.Louis Cathedral for our ghost tour. After the tour we grabbed a sweet treat at Cafe du Monde, because you can't go to New Orleans without eating beignets.
Monday was our last full day, so we let Ken make all the decisions. He chose to visit the National WWII Museum. Highly recommend this museum! We each got a dog tag, which connected to a real WWII veteran. You go through the exhibit and check in to follow your soldier's story. The only downfall was we went on Memorial Day, so it was super crowded. We went back to the hotel to get all dressed up for our fancy dinner. Ken chose Emeril's New Orleans. Seemed a little cliche, but if you're going to eat at an Emeril's restaurant, why not pick the place that started his culinary career. Everything was delicious!
Next day... before we headed back home... we had to have beignets just one more time. We decided to try Cafe Beignet because Alton Brown claims these are truly the best. It was a cute little cafe and the wait time was longer. It was a mixed bag on our official beignet critique - 2 of us enjoyed Cafe Du Monde, while the other 2 agreed with Alton. On the road again! We enjoyed pizzas at Wildwood Pizza in Alexandria. We got home a little later than expected - terrible storms in Texas. Good thing we didn't have to worry about plane - Dallas airport was closed because of flooding.
It was a fantastic little extended family vacation time & celebrating sweet Ken's 50th birthday - a win/win in my book!
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