Touring New Orleans

Hi all. I’m slowly recovering from a weekend in New Orleans. No, its not because I drank a little too much, I swear! I actually had a layover at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and made the mistake of getting chicken tacos at Qdoba. Worst mistake ever…I think I definitely had food poisoning, and I’m just now starting to feel human again. I will never eat Qdoba again…

Anyways, on a brighter note, the rest of the weekend was SO fun! I was there for my friend Laura’s bachelorette party. One of the bridesmaids grew up in New Orleans, so she planned most of the weekend activities, and she did such a great job as our tour guide!

New Orleans is all about the live music and the food, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed during our weekend visit. I arrived on Friday, and after a quick change of clothes, we headed to the Columns for a cocktail.

This classy restaurant had a lovely patio overlooking St. Charles. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain this evening, so we weren’t really able to enjoy the view. We still got a flavor for the old-school locale.

After our drink, we braved the torrential downpour to head to Peche, an amazing seafood grill. This restaurant has been honored with two James Beard awards- best new restaurant and best chef in the south. We shared a lot of small plates, and enjoyed every bite!

Next, we headed to the Maple Leaf bar for some live music. The band was “Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes,” and they were really, really fun. Their original songs were great, and they also did some really fun covers, like Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative!” We were out until past 2 am, which I haven’t done in quite some time, but the time flew since we were having such a great time!

New Orleans may be all about the music and food, but with this group of ladies, I knew we’d also squeeze in some FITNESS.

Even though we were out late on Friday, we managed to make it to an early morning TRX class at NOLA Pilates. NOLA Pilates was a great little studio that offered TRX, yoga, Pilates, Reformer Pilates, barre, spin, and more! Actually, I saw that they had Surfset boards there, which I tried out last December, and LOVED (read all about it HERE) This studio definitely had a little something for everyone, and if I lived in New Orleans, I think I’d be a regular!

One of the girls had called ahead to reserve spots for us in the Saturday morning class, and I was really impressed by how welcoming the studio was to us out-of-towners. We received an email ahead of time, explaining what to bring and what to expect. After we arrived and filled out a waiver, we were offered towels. Then the instructor explained what the class would entail and demonstrated some of the moves. The hour-long class was a good mix of a little bit of cardio and a lot of strength.

I was a little tired going into the class, but like usual, working out made me feel a lot better. We were all revived and ready to go for the rest of the day!

After lunch at the Grocery, we took a walking tour of the Garden District. This tour was so great- I really enjoyed it. We saw so many beautiful houses (including some celebrity homes), and learned a lot about New Orleans and its rich history. My favorite part of the walking tour was when we toured one of the New Orleans cemeteries. This part was definitely a little eerie, but really interesting.

Eli and Peyton Manning’s house. Yes, it is tilted.

Sandra Bullock’s house

Petting John Goodman’s dog!

The cemetery was really spooky, as the graves are actually above ground. The ground is too swampy to bury the bodies. Instead, as each body “rots” (sorry, I know that’s morbid) they put another body on top of it. Generation after generation is buried in an above-ground grave.

If you ever find yourself in New Orleans, be sure to take a tour of the cemeteries.

After the walking tour was over, it was time for us to head back to get ready for dinner. But on the way, we had to make one stop- at a drive-thru daiquiri!

Yep, open container laws don’t exist in New Orleans, and these drive-thru daiquiris are all over the place. I have to admit, it was pretty tasty on a hot day…

Before heading back out for the night, the bachelorette opened presents…

We also had a little champagne toast!

Then we were off to Bourbon Street, which was INSANE. It reminded me a little bit of Beale Street in Memphis, but wilder and “dirtier.”

It was remarkable that Bourbon Street was so wild and raw, yet you could walk over one block and fine nice restaurants and art galleries. We had dinner at one of these nice restaurants, Arnaud’s. It was great, though not quite as awesome as Peche the night before.

After dinner, we had to stop at Cafe Du Monde for a beignet (when in Rome, right?)

….and then off to Frenchman street for more live music. This time it was at d.b.a, where Rebirth Brass Band was playing. Another fun night in New Orleans!

My return flight left bright and early on Sunday morning. I was only in New Orleans for about 36 hours, but we covered a lot of ground and had such a great time!

Now I am even more excited for the wedding in August.

Can’t wait to celebrate again with this lady!

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Fits on the Road: New Orleans!

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