On My Own

Every summer for the past five years, Rob has gone on a golf weekend.  I'm more than happy for him to go because I know one secret to a long happy marriage is to have a life outside of each other.  He always says I should do the same, and I want to, but it's a little harder for me to get the time off from work.  So when his sister invited me along on her spring break girl's trip I said, "yes!" and started packing my bags.

I was honored to be invited along.  Jenni made it a tradition with her older daughter, Allison, to go on a special spring break trip her senior year.  Now it's Sarah's turn to fly the nest and it was time for the mother-daughter trip. Actually, this was going to be a mother-daughter-Aunt Kristina-Sarah's friend Bailey trip. The more, the merrier!

​Our destination was New Orleans.  I know, I know, you are thinking girls gone wild.  But it was nothing like that.  We were looking for good food, culture, history, and the girls wanted to hang at the hotel's pool.  In the end I think we would all agree we picked the right city for this kind of trip!

Day One
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The travel plan was for Jenni and the girls to drive down from Indiana and pick me up at the airport in New Orleans, then we would all drive to the hotel together.  This was great on my end because I was able to fly by myself, something I love to do.  There were no direct flights, so I had to connect in Atlanta.  Oh, and my flight out of Cincinnati was at 6am, so I had to wake up at 4am.  Other than that my trip got off to a great start.

My first beignets of the trip, purchased at the airport.

Our hotel selection was Le Pavilion, which we were originally drawn to because it looked beautiful, historic, and had a great location.  Although it was impressive to look out, I wouldn't recommend it for many reasons that I won't go into here.  Now that I've been to New Orleans I know there are so many better options with just as much character.

Looking into the lobby of our hotel.

After parking, checking in and dropping off our bags, we were off!  And since we were starving, our first stop was Daisy Dukes for authentic creole food.  

Shrimp po' boy with red beans and rice.

The rest of our first day was taken up with a scavenger hunt.  Jenni found this website where you purchased a scavenger hunt for a particular city.  We had to go around and explore the city, answering questions to get the next clue.  I will admit to being skeptical before we started but in the end Jenni and I had a ball.  The two teens seemed over it about halfway through.  If you are in a small to mid-sized city, I say check out these scavenger hunts! 

Me in front of the St. Louis Cathedral.

Did you know New Orleans is on the Mississippi river?

One of the scavenger hunt clues was to count the number of fruits in this statues basket.

I just love going to a city and having it be exactly like I thought it would be.

Now time for dinner!  What? Didn't we just eat lunch?  No.  The scavenger hunt took about 4 hours and we walked miles and miles.  We were hungry! 

Dinner on Jackson Square

This is a crawfish pie. It was so good.

After dinner we strolled back to the hotel and I went to bed.  Remember, I got up at 4am to fly down.  Jenni and the girls partook of a ritual that makes staying at Le Pavilion special, the PB&J Buffet.  Every night at 10pm, the hotel puts out sandwiches and milk for the guests to enjoy. Pretty cute, but i slept right through it.

Day Two

Jenni and I really wanted to go to the WWII Museum while we were in NOLA, and today was the best day for it.  The girls, you will remember, were high school seniors on Spring Break, so they had no desire to join us.  They spent the morning and afternoon at the pool.  

But first, breakfast!  I did not appreciate how much of a food city NOLA truly is.  I don't think we had one bad meal, and this breakfast was no acceptation.  Our destination was The Ruby Slipper Cafe and their motto is "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!"  How awesome is that?? Because of our destination we chose not to partake in a mimosa, but the food was good.

Just coffee. I should have bought the mug.

I believe this was a chicken and waffles egg benedict. Jenni said it was good.

I got the southern breakfast. Eggs, grits, bacon, biscuit, fried green tomato.

After a short walk, we were at the museum, and I hope you will bear with me as I have a lot to say about this place.  Let's start with the obvious question, why is the National WWII Museum in New Orleans?  Turns out, Andrew Higgins was from New Orleans and he invented and tested his boat in the waters around New Orleans.  Because of this, there was a D-Day museum in the city, which grew in time (and with a lot of money) into the current museum.

​I've been to a lot of museums over the years and this one is so incredibly well done. From the moment you walk into the lobby you know you are in for something special.  We arrived about 10 minutes before they opened and took it all in.  There are aircraft overhead and trucks around for you to see. Beyond the stanchions you see a Union Pacific railcar and the sign overhead is a real clicking train times board.   

Now a word about tickets.  This museum is not cheap, but it is worth EVERY PENNY.  Also, WWII veterans are always free, there is a discount for active and retired military, and as a spouse with a valid ID I was given a discount too.  With your ticket you are given a metal dog tag and told that it will be explained later, then you are directed to enter the train car.

The train car was so cool.  Outside the window screens show you what you would have seen if you were a serviceman boarding the train for basic training.  In front of your seat is a screen.  Once every seat is filled, the screens walk you through what to do with your dog tag.  The tags are RFID enabled and each one is tied to a real person who served during the war.  Mine, I learned, was a fighter pilot in the Pacific.  Jenni's was Jimmy Stewart!  The screen explained that we would find kiosks throughout the museum that showed us where our person was at that point in the war.  

You see a lot of technology moving into museums these days, but this was the best integration I have ever encountered.  In my opinion, it added to the museum and wasn't just technology for the sake of technology.  

After the train car, we checked out a temporary exhibit on Propaganda and then headed for the 4D movie, Beyond all Boundaries.  All the reviews and everyone we talked to about the museum said we HAD to see the movie.  In all honesty, if I ever return to the museum I will not see the movie again.  Although it was excellently done, for me, it was too much.  Here's my review, and I will try not to give too much away in case the movie is something you want to see.

There is a large IMAX screen, which should have been my first clue because I am not a fan of IMAX movies.  I find the screens to be too much to look at, and I can get motion sickness from them.  The seats are motion seats, which were used to give you the feeling of rumbling along in a tank or flying in a bomber.  There were also water and fog effects, plus lots of loud and sudden noises.  At certain points, large set pieces rise or fall from the stage in front of the screen.  I should say everything about this movie is so well done.  It is as realistic a museum film as you will ever see.  For me, the realism was too much and I was anxious the whole time about what might happen next.

The main exhibits at the museum are divided into the Road to Berlin and the Road to Tokyo.  Like most people, we did Berlin first and Tokyo second.  If possible, devote two days to this museum with one for each section.  

It's hard to explain what the exhibits are like.  you go from room to room, with each being a different point in the war.  There are short films, interviews with veterans, and thousands of artifacts.  Way too much to see in one visit.  If I remember correctly we spent 5 hours at the museum, with 45 minutes being the movie and an hour for lunch.  So call it 3 hours in the two main exhibits, and there was another temporary exhibit on the Merchant Marines that we didn't get to see.  If you go, plan at least a whole day here, or maybe two mornings.

We started getting texts from the girls that they were done with the pool. so we wrapped up our visit and went back to the hotel.  Then we headed back down to the French Market area for shopping and dinner.  

Obligatory Hurricanes. After two drinks Jenni remembered she doesn't like rum and I HAD to drink both.

Day Three

We started out the day in true NOLA fashion, breakfast at Cafe Du Monde.  

This mug I did buy.

Coffee and beignets, all you need!  But go early.  I think we got there about 8:30 and got right in for a table.  When we left the line was over an hour wait.  

Next, we went to the 1850 House.  It was a cool little house to walk through and see what life was like in the 1850s.  I also learned the difference between wrought iron and cast iron.  And I took this picture to prove that parenting hasn't really changed in the last 200 years.  

Historic circle of neglect.

At this point I left Jenni and the girls and attended Mass at St. Louis Cathedral.  I love to go to Mass on vacation (I know, I'm weird).  It was so peaceful to sit in the Cathedral.  Plus, how many places do you have the opportunity to worship where a saint once worshiped?

After Mass, I met up with Jenni and the girls (who had lunch with a friend of Jenni's from grad school) and we all took a cemetery tour.  That might sound strange, but in NOLA they are below sea level so they have to bury everyone above ground.  Our tour was of the Saint Louis Cemetery 1.  Our tour guide was strange, but then again, what do you expect of a person who gives tours of cemeteries? 

Originally this was 5 levels high. Now it has sunk and only 2 and a half levels are visible.

The future resting place of Nicholas Cage.

If your family couldn't afford a tomb, you could buy into a society. This one is for Italians.

The tour was hot and in full sun, so we needed a break back at the hotel.  Then we headed out for our last evening.  A kind lady who sold us some art earlier in the trip had recommended we take the St. Charles Streetcar line for a wonderful tour of the Garden District.  Then she said we should get off and have dinner at a little french cafe at the curve in the track, so that's exactly what we did.  It was gorgeous, man those houses are impressive!  So impressive that I took 0 pictures.  Sorry!  

The next morning the girls dropped me at the airport on their way out of town.  It was a short trip, but so much fun.  I was happy to go home to my family, refreshed and ready to go back to work.