Destination 5: New Orleans, Louisiana [Part I]

After four days of 1-night stops throughout the southwest, I am very excited to slow down a bit in none other than New Orleans. We checked in last night around 11 p.m. and we don't plan on leaving until Tuesday morning. Today, in honor of Father's Day, was the official relaxation day, filled with laundry, swimming and reading. While watching the Food Network, the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" came on, which lists the famous chefs' favorite restaurants around the country (perfect, right??) With New Orleans being a mecca for good food, it's no surprise that one of the chef's chose a fried shrimp po-boy at Domilise's in New Orleans! We google-mapped it and decided that we'd have an early dinner there. But when we got there, it was closed!






Instead, we drove to the French Quarter and walked along Bourbon Street. We decided to eat at Paul O'Brien's and have dessert at the well known Café du Monde. I ordered crawfish cakes, Dad chose the jambalaya and Mom got the gumbo. Daniel ordered his usual hamburger as did Mary and Robert with their chicken strips. Everything, including the chicken strips, was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. Not only was it tasty, it was authentic and fun. We were sitting in the middle of a nice courtyard with fun music and large industrial fans blowing on us.

[Dad drinking a pineapple & cranberry juice in the courtyard]

[My crawfish cakes]

[Mom's gumbo]

[Dad's jambalaya]

[Mary gives a thumbs-up on the fried chicken strips]

After dinner, we walked to Café du Monde, which Mom has been talking about since the start of the road trip. It's a café that is known for its delicious beignets and coffee. It was recommended to her by some friends. Yelp.com also spoke very highly of the place, getting 5 stars from over 200 reviewers. When we got there, we ordered 12 beignets. If you don't know what beignets are, they are known as a French donut (even though I don't remember seeing these in France), which tastes very similar to a Knott's Berry Farm funnel cake. When we got them, they came straight out of the oven, covered in glorious powder sugar. I'll let the pictures illustrate just how much the family enjoyed them:

[The anticipation is killing them]

[Ahhh...finally]

[The first bite]

[Finger-licking is always a good sign!]

["Whaat?? I'm clean!!]

[This particular person didn't want her picture posted...so I compromised :)]

We walked around a little more, then came back to the hotel to watch more Food Network and for some night swimming.



It was a relaxing day indeed and a perfect way to spend Father's Day. Tomorrow will be much more eventful as we explore New Orleans a little more.

I hope all of you had a beautiful day too!