My twinkie cousin, William, moved to New Orleans this fall to pursue a Master of Healthcare Administration from Tulane. We’ve missed him like crazy, so we decided to take a road trip and check out his new city. We hadn’t been to NOLA since before John and I were married, so we were way overdue. This was also a reward for Helen Grace for making some good progress toward potty training, so she thought she was pretty cool to get to take a road trip with Mama.
We drove to Jackson on Thursday afternoon and spent the night with Aunt Glo. We ate dinner with Glo, Suzanne, Worth, and Grace Ann. Love watching how excited HG gets to play with her cousins.
And you know you have a true friend when she gets her THREE kids up early and drives 30 minutes to see you at 7:45 a.m. before the girls had to be at school. We were thrilled to see Reba, Adickes, Leighton, and Elliott. (E wouldn’t slow down long enough to get in a picture.)
Made it to NOLA! She slept for an hour or so in the car with her reward being able to go straight to the aquarium.
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas was amazing. We could have spent all day in there, but my three year old would look at something for a second then start running again. Stimulation overload.
They had a bird exhibit like they do at the Memphis Zoo, but these food sticks are half the size and the birds are 100 times more eager. This pic was taken two seconds before birds starting landing on HG’s arm to get the food and she had a major meltdown. Good thing we only wasted$1!
After we explored the aquarium, William had finished studying, so we headed to his house in Mid City. Since HG was having a conniption fit to ride a trolley, we decided to hop on one and go back to the French Quarter to see Jackson Square. She was so excited!
{She thought they were super cool for the first time or two, but after the third ride, she deemed them ‘boring’ and asked if we could ride in our car.}
She wanted to play games, so William and I came up with a ‘lap’ game which consisted of running around trees in Jackson Square. This entertained her for quite a while, and William and I enjoyed kicking our feet up and catching up.
Making a wish in the fountain
On Friday night, we ate at Mandina’s, a great little local haunt near William’s. It is apparently pretty legendary, and it lived it up to its reputation…delicious food and wine and really loud so that no one could hear my delirious child singing at the top of her lungs. She was a hot mess by this time of night and was covered in ‘sketti’ from head to toe.
We woke up early Saturday morning, but we couldn’t tear her away from William’s Mardi Gras beads until mid morning.
I was DESPERATE for beignets, so we finally got started on our trek to Cafe Du Monde. Due to some construction on the trolley tracks, we had to switch from the trolley to a city bus. Thankfully, William didn’t tell me about this until he was pushing me on the bus, but it actually wasn’t bad at all. HG is now a pro at both buses and trolleys. Only subways left to conquer!
AT LAST!! Cafe Du Monde, it’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other. My mouth started watering for beignets about 100 miles outside of town when I could smell the powdered sugar.
There was a long line, but she was entertained by a balloon man and a little band. She thought it was pretty cool to drop a dollar in their bucket. 
The silly girl wouldn’t eat a bite of beignets; she’d only lick a little powdered sugar off her finger. That’s alright- more for Mommy!
She was fascinated by the street performers. While I wanted to stay back a bit to keep from having to fork over $20 to the persistent tumblers, she wanted to scoot closer and closer.
While William headed to a Tulane tailgate, Helen Grace and I headed to the Audubon Insectarium. She really enjoyed checking out all the creepy crawlers, and I like the butterfly room. She saw one land on a girl though, and she must have had flashbacks of the birds- she was READY to get out of there! 
After a much deserved nap, we headed to City Park’s Carousel Gardens Amusement Park & Storyland, which is one of New Orleans’ best kept secrets. It’s an amazing place for kids- Helen Grace calls it Magic Land. Admission is $3 (plus ride tickets), and just off the amusement park is Storyland, a little wooded area with all kinds of treasures from fairy tales- Rapunzel’s Tower, Cinderella’s castle and pumpkin carriage, Snow' White’s cabin, the Three Little Pigs’ houses, just to name a few. HG was in heaven!
“Wake up, Snow White!”
The carousel was the first ride she went for.
And then the Ferris wheel. I swear, I’m getting too old. This wasn’t the gondola kind of Ferris wheel but one that is only attached at one point on each side. It would lurch with any slight movement or breeze, and she refused to let me put my arm around her. I was clinging to the hem of her dress like a mad woman. She would look at me with a huge smile on her face and say, “Mama, are you scared? Are you nervous? I’m NOT!,” and then would cackle! I mean, we were so high above the trees that you could see the New Orleans’ skyline in the distance! I wanted my feet planted securely on the ground asap. Lots of deep breaths.
Dinner at Juan’s Flying Burrito and gelato at Brocato’s capped off a fabulous day and weekend.
I have to make note that the people of New Orleans surpassed my expectations and were the nicest people I’ve ever encountered in a Southern city. Strangers gave us free wristbands for rides at City Park, a trolley driver gave me some money back even though you were supposed to get the credit on a card for future trips, and someone in line at the bug museum gave HG a stuffed animal that they won for spending a certain amount. I was constantly shaking my head at people’s generosity and welcoming attitude.
At every point along the trip, whether at Gloria’s or William’s, she’d say, “I love it here. I want to come back.” She was a great travel companion, even though William and I had to slow down our pace because we kept forgetting her legs were so much shorter than ours, and she really enjoyed time with all ‘her people.’ Can’t wait to go back and check on “Will-em” again soon!
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