Over the Memorial holiday weekend, I went New Orleans with Mike and a bunch of his east coast friends. Let me tell you about this AMAZING city that I've always wanted to go check out!
Mike and his friends got in on Wednesday, but I elected to leave on Thursday morning because I have IBM Basketball League on Wednesday nights. :) Anyway, I booked a 5am flight out of Tucson that would put me in New Orleans by noon on Thursday. Running on 5 hours of broken airline sleep, I landed in New Orleans at the same time as two other couples: Steve and Sarah from D.C. and Sam and Steph from New York. (Yes, I joked about them all having names starting with S.) The five of us caught a cab to town and got Deanie's for lunch since the others had already eaten. Deanie's had some delicious crawfish boil...I got 2 pounds worth LOL. :) I enjoyed it so much that I would actually end up getting this on the last day before I flew back home.
After Deanie's, we all met up on Bourbon street, which was within walking distance from our hotel. Bourbon street is the most popular street in New Orleans for bars and partying. It's where you get to see drunk girls make fools of themselves and flash their boobies for beads. And yes, I saw 3 pairs of nice tits on this trip just as I was walking along the street. :P Thursday ended up being pretty crazy. We kicked off the afternoon with some very strong Hand Grenades (imagine a frozen, lime skittle flavored drink made with Everclear). We then went to Pat O'Brien's and Mike introduced us to this $120 mega-huge drink that we all shared. The glass is so large that it requires a $75 deposit as well. It tasted kind of like sangria, and I hear there were about 40 shots of vodka in it, ha!
The drinks in New Orleans are very strong! And when I say that, it's almost an understatement. By nighttime, everyone in our group was super wasted and we ended up actually forgetting to eat dinner. I remember stopping by some pizza shop on the street and eating some delicious Buffalo Wing Pizza. Around 8pm, my shorts were stained red from the frozen mixed drinks that we had been drinking, and I actually got lost in all the bar-hopping. There's actually a hilarious sequence of text messages between me and Mike when I got lost.
What I loved the most about this trip were the people and their mentality. Everyone in our group wanted to have a good time and we all got very drunk to the same level. We all know that sometimes it gets annoying when your friend is drunk and your sober or vice-versa, but everyone was just wasted every night we were out. It was my kind of group, one that could actually keep up for a change! :) I mean, New Orleans was the first city where I ever saw a 3-for-1 special. 3-for-1!!! That blew my mind and I just had to order 6 beers at a time! :P
When we weren't out drinking or eating, we tried to do some other touristy things. On Friday we took an airboat tour in the bayous surrounding Lake Salvador. We actually had plans to start the tour at 1pm, but that tour ended up getting rained out. We were contemplating whether it was worth staying for the 4pm tour, but it totally was! The first time our guide caught a gator and brought him onto our boat, I was a little nervous, especially since I was in the front row. But I got a ton of great pictures of the swamps and marshes, and I got to hold the guide's pet alligator. This tour was well worth the wait and the $75 it costs.
Saturday was more of relaxing day where we tried to check out any parts of New Orleans that we had not had a chance to visit. This included going down to the French Market, playing so craps at the casino, and drinking on Frenchman Street. All in all, it was a great trip and I'm really glad I went. There were 15 of us total and for the most part we tried to stay together and there wasn't a bunch of drama, just a bunch of fun stories. :) If you ever do get the chance to go to New Orleans, I would highly recommend Deanie's Seafood, Felix's Restaurant, and Willie's Chicken Shack as must-visit food places. I really wanted to try Acme Oyster House and the beignets at Cafe du Monde, but couldn't because the wait was always so long...it's better to try and go to those places during the week before the weekends get packed with tourists. I can't wait to go back to New Orleans and I will definitely go back again as it is now one of my favorite cities to visit!
