We're Still Around!

This blog post is dedicated to my good friend Robyn, who delicately pointed out that there hasn't been a lot of posting going on lately.

I may have mentioned before that David is the best gift-giver.  I could rarely guess beforehand what it's going to be, and I was completely surprised at Christmas to open a box containing luggage tags...a fleur de lis sticker...a bunch of beads...and an itinerary for a February trip to New Orleans!  We were scheduled to be there 2 weekends before Mardi Gras, but would still be able to see one of the first Mardi Gras parades.

On our first day, we flew from Springfield to Atlanta and Atlanta to New Orleans...no delays, no problems.  We arrived just in time for lunch at Johnny's Po Boys.  It was just as delicious as we remembered from 5 years ago.

From there we set out on foot to start seeing the sites.

 While we sat at Jackson Square and watched the world go by, we could hear some amazing violin music.  We finally tracked it down to this musician.

After much walking, and perhaps a nap, we had dinner at a place recommended by the man at our hotel's front desk.  It happened to be the place where his wife worked as a server, and had for many years.  We weren't sure about eating there after he told us it was called Club Desire.  It sounded, well, a bit sketchy and like the food, if there was any, might be served by someone dressed in next to nothing.  It turned out not to be called Club Desire, but just Desire and is known for their charbroiled oysters...which we did not try.  It was, despite it's name, a classy and historic looking place.

And the food turned out to be delicious.  That's David's jambalaya pasta at the top, and my chicken and waffles at the bottom.  Our server gave us more info on the parade that we were there to see...more on that later.