KatelynJanuary 31, 2020 – February 10, 2020
Trip Snapshot:
Where We Stayed: Hyatt Centric French Quarter
Trip Highlights:
- Krewe of Chewbacchus Parade
- Spending Time with Morgan
- Exploring the French Quarter
- Feeding Giraffes!
Favorite Restaurants of the Trip:
What a strange year 2020 has been! Sam and I were lucky to take one major trip at the very beginning of 2020, prior to the pandemic. We spent the first week and a half of February in New Orleans, Louisiana, exploring the French Quarter on a little “work-cation.”
This trip was a little different because it wasn’t all play. Sam had originally booked the trip as part of his yearly training, and would be spending six days of our trip in a classroom in the convention center learning about Network Penetration Testing. I tagged along, and would be working from our hotel room just outside of the French Quarter during most of the weekdays, but with the weekends and evenings free to explore the city. It also happened that my best friend, Morgan, was working at a temporary internship just outside of New Orleans at the time, so besides just seeing a new city, I would be able to spend time with her as well. A win-win!
We left Milwaukee on January 31st, and after quick layover in Dallas, we arrived in New Orleans and made our way to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric French Quarter. The location of this hotel was great, as it was right on the edge of the French Quarter as well as easily walk-able for Sam every day as he went to his class.
We had our first taste of New Orleans cuisine that night at a seafood restaurant called Deanie’s, which was across the street from our hotel. We ended up returning to this restaurant multiple times throughout our stay, because the food was INCREDIBLE. Just take a look at that massive pile of fried catfish! Sam enjoyed a massive bowl of gumbo as well. Plenty of gluten free options, and they started every meal with a bowl of boiled potatoes, and you can’t go wrong with that!
Also, we never managed to take a picture, but nearly every day of this trip, we ended the day with gelato from Amorino. I swear the employees recognized us after a couple days. We also spent quite a bit of time at night in watching Dr. Who in our hotel room. I don’t think we’re the typical party-goers who visit New Orleans!
On our second day, we met up with Morgan to try out a local coffee shop before enjoying a walking tour that discussed the history of voodoo in New Orleans and the truth behind the stereotypes. The tour was run by a practicing voodoo priest, who grew up in the religion. It was interesting hearing a historical perspective on voodoo, rather than the crazy witchcraft and voodoo doll stories you normally think of.
For lunch, we wandered over to the French Market and picked out dishes from several of the stalls. I had a delicious crab cake po’ boy and Sam and Morgan had gumbo from Meals from the Heart cafe, which ended up being another local favorite I visited several times throughout the trip. Most of their food is gluten free, so I was also able to try gluten free king cake, a local favorite around Mardi Gras! All three of us also enjoyed delicious crepes at the market, another favorite of ours throughout the trip.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon catching up and exploring the French Quarter. One thing we found funny was while sitting on benches in Jackson Square, we noticed that the ground around us with covered in powdered sugar. Turns out those benches were a popular spot to eat beignets from Cafe du Monde, which was right around the corner.
Early February is considered the very beginning of Mardi Gras season, so that night we watched the Krewe of Chewbacchus, a Mardi Gras style parade themed around nerd culture. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. A few of our favorites included of course Harry Potter and Dr. Who, but also some of the more unique additions, like the pink Chewbacca!
On our second full day, the three of us began the day at the New Orleans Jazz Museum just outside of the French Quarter. The museum was smaller than we thought it would be, but still a nice little museum to walk though and learn a little bit about the major players on the original New Orleans jazz scene.
We wandered back to the French Market for lunch and enjoyed more gumbo, po boys and crepes. This time, we also took a little time to explore the flea market within the French Market and the handmade products vendors were selling.
We had another relaxing afternoon catching up and wandering through various stores, before ending the day at The Auction House Market, a food hall, where we enjoyed delicious dosas, bowls, and these yummy marinated crab claws.
Monday began our actual working week. Sam went to his class during the day, Morgan was at her internship, and I spent the day working from the hotel. Tuesday was much of the same, but I did venture out to the French Market for lunch, but luckily made it back before a massive hail storm rained down on our hotel.
On Wednesday, after finishing my work for the day, I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with Sam and Morgan for dinner. Through her internship, Morgan was able to provide me tickets to several of the nearby Audubon institutions, so I spent a couple hours wandering through the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. While the aquarium was a little small, it was nearly empty, and I did enjoy wandering through the exhibits.
On Thursday, with more time to kill after work, I was able to visit the Audubon Insectarium. While I’m not a big “insect person” the exhibits were very well themed and I did enjoy spending about 40 minutes wandering through.
That evening, Sam and I went to our final favorite restaurant of the trip, Cuñada, a Mexican restaurant in the French Quarter. We only had a few more days in New Orleans, but we both agreed that their carnitas may be the best we’ve ever had. Also, just look at that plate of nachos. Absolutely delicious.
Sam was back in class on Friday, but I decided to take the day off and explore the city on my own. I started off the day at the National World War II Museum. This museum was highly rated and reviewed online, and I did enjoy it overall, I did find that it was a little skewed to the U.S. viewpoint and tended to pass over the more negative actions that the U.S. took during the war. I understand that may not have been it’s purpose, but that was my general impression.
I met up with Sam for lunch, and then continued to explore, this time through the French Quarter. I had started the day with a list of neat shops and small museums that we had passed by on our earlier explorations but hadn’t had the chance to stop in. One store I’d love to visit on a return trip was Idea Factory, a cool little store with a bunch of wooden art pieces and puzzles. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon, and I found a few cool souvenirs along the way as well.
Saturday was probably the most memorable day of the entire trip. For Sam, Saturday was his final day of class, which included their CTF (capture the flag) competition. He was able to put everything he learned that week to the test with a team of other students, to be the first team to successfully hack a simulated business. Despite being a little out of his comfort zone in this class, Sam’s team was still able to win the CTF and secure the coveted winner’s coin. A great way to round out his week of training! Sam’s convinced he may have aged several years in those five hours – the second place team was mere minutes behind them the entire time.
With Sam in class for the day, I met up with Morgan to visit the Audubon Species Survival Center, where she was currently working as an intern. The facility isn’t open to the public, but she was able to give me a private tour in one of their vehicles, and I was able to interact with several of their animals.
First, we visited the okapi, a endangered relative of the giraffe. I had only seen one of these in a zoo once before, but in this case I was able to feed him and ask his keeper questions. Really fascinating to see one of these animals up close!
We also drove through several of the other animal habitats. Because the facility isn’t open to the public, the animals have very large enclosures that are able to be driven through, which was a really cool way to see the animals. We also stopped by the cranes, the animals Morgan had been working with most often during her internship, and fed a couple of the birds there as well.
The highlight of the trip for me, however, was interacting with the giraffes. I am a huge fan of giraffes, so in addition to just driving through their enclosure, we were able to meet up with their keeper, get out of the truck, stand in the back of a golf cart, and feed the giraffes while the rest of the herd surrounded us and watched. It was a little scary being so close and out in the open with the giraffes like that, but also an incredible experience I will never forget!
That afternoon, Morgan and I finished our animal-filled day with a trip to the Audubon Zoo. I really liked this zoo. It was pretty large and had some very cool themed exhibits. Also, a two-headed snake. Pretty cool to explore and conclude our day full of animals!
To start our final full day in New Orleans, Sam and I left the French Quarter and visited the Metairie Cemetery. Visiting an above-ground cemetery had been something I was interested in seeing on this trip, and this cemetery was known for having very large, extravagant tombs. We were able to find a tomb listed online as containing a weeping angel statue, which was a little extra creepy after watching a lot of Dr. Who the night before.
We finished off our final day by meeting up with Morgan one last time to eat at the French Market and wander the French Quarter before saying goodbye.
We loved New Orleans! The culture was so different from many of the other cities we’ve visited, and the food was phenomenal. I would love to go back again, especially if a cruise leaving from New Orleans followed right after!
