New Orleans Recap

So we are finally home and settled from our trip.

Yesterday was a long day. Our flight out of NO was at 7am so Gabe and I were up at 4:30 to get dressed and finish packing a few things. We woke up Avery around 5am (which I hated doing!) to get our cab and head to the airport. Everything went very smoothly (thank God). We flew to JFK which was about a 3 hour flight. I fully expected Avery to pass out from exhaustion, but she only slept about a half hour! Our layover was about 2 hours so we let Avery crawl around a bit and we all ate lunch. Then it was a quick hour flight home. We got in around 3:30 and Avery was home and napping by 4!

Overall the trip was very good. I was ready to come home though near the end. It was exhausting having the baby in a city you've never been to and trying to keep her entertained when it's 90+ degrees outside. Like I said numerous times, she was a trooper!

New Orleans wasn't what I expected at all. All of these years I've heard about Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras, I pictured a glamorous city....kind of like Vegas, but not to that scale. And the truth is...it's nothing like that. Bourbon Street was actually kind of sketchy. It's safe and all of that and there are a lot of people, but I think if it wasn't crowded you would be afraid to walk around just because of the way it looks. Most of the buildings are from the 1800s and yes it's cool to see that and I understand that's the "charm" of New Orleans, but you'd think they'd at least clean it up a bit. I'm just talking a new coat of paint or something....a lot of it looked very run down. It just wasn't what I expected at all.

I also think it's a city that you would enjoy if you're really into music and/or drinking. We obviously didn't experience Bourbon St at night since Avery was in bed early but pretty much everything there was a bar or strip club. I think it would be fun to see Mardi Gras (and maybe scary too!) but I don't really think it's a family vacation type of place. Gabe and I aren't the drinkers/partiers so I don't know that we would fully enjoy the experience there (although Gabe did go a few years ago for a bachelor party so he had his fill!).

Overall it was a good trip! I'm glad I got to see a new city, but glad to be home in my own bed too!