New Orleans 2018 - Part One

Author’s note:  This is the second attempt at writing this post.   We lost the almost-complete first version when Dave upgraded his iPad to IOS 11.  This disabled his editing software, Blogsy, which is no longer supported.  Rather than trying to roll-back to 10.3.3 he decided to try again.   Unfortunately he will not be able to recreate that masterpiece of a post.)

Both our companies give us a holiday for Good Friday (AKA the “Spring Holiday” as written on the holiday memo).  We knew we wanted to work the day into a long weekend getaway.   Our first thought was to go to Santa Fa, NM.  But when we found out it could still be cold there we nixed the idea.   Memphis was the next city on our radar:  Not too far, should be warm, and it had enough attractions to fill a long weekend.   Then we figured out we could extend the trip for a few more days and it seemed like too much time in Memphis.   Key West, FL was too expensive to fly to and Spring Breakers could be crowding up the bars.  

We eventually settled on New Orleans.   This would be our third trip to the Big Easy together (Holly went one additional time for work).   Our first trip we were in our mid 20’s when the party atmosphere of Bourbon Street and drinking Huge Ass Beers while wandering the streets was appealing.   We returned 18 years later (and older) and discovered the finer points of the French Quarter and had since fallen in love with creole and Cajun food.   Since that trip in 2015 was for a marathon we didn’t feel like we had the full NOLA experience.   We found reasonable airfare and a decent hotel rate at a Waldorf-Astoria on the edge of the French Quarter.

Our noon flight out of O’Hare landed us into the Louis Armstrong airport before 3:00.   The cab to the city was a flat-rate of $18/pp; which was cheaper than Uber.   The Roosevelt Hotel had the typical features of a late-1800’s hotel:  opulent lobby with wood painted to look like gold, big crystal chandeliers, huge oil paintings of European royalty, etc.  We were on the west side of Canal Street which kept the party crowds away, but gave us a block walk to the start of Bourbon Street.

Our plan was to have a late lunch, and then a late dinner.   We started at the Hotel Montelone and their famous Carousel Bar.   The circular bar actually rotates.   Upon arrival we had to hover for seats, which is normally not too bad but it becomes hard when the seats you are scoping out keep moving.   Our wait wasn’t too long fortunately.   We had a couple of beers and shared a snack of crawfish and blue crab beignets.  Afterwards we headed to Hermes Bar for snacks round two:  soufflé potatoes and crawfish bisque.    

By this point we had been in the Quarter for almost two hours and hadn’t been to Lafitte’s yet.   We love the dank old blacksmith shop-turned-bar.  We drank about ½ our beers before turning them into walkies and strolled down Bourbon Street to Pat O’Brien’s.   Since it was still early on a Thursday night we had no issues getting an upfront table in the piano bar to go with our Hurricane.  As touristy as it is we still enjoy our time at this bar. 

Dinner took place sometime around 10pm.   We headed to a favorite from our last trip, The Gumbo Shop, and ended up waiting on a line out-the-door to get it.   Fortunately we got seated relatively quickly.   After ordering Turbo Dogs (a longtime local favorite) we both decide the three-course fixed-price menu was the way to go.   For $27 each we got an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.   We went with traditional gumbo and etouffe.  

We decided this trip to New Orleans was going to be a marathon and not a sprint.   Pace yourself….. We decided to skip the neon allure of Bourbon for a quiet glass of wine in the hotel room.     One thing we noticed this trip was Bourbon Street was more crowded (than January 2015) and seemed skankier than our last visit.  With all the neon it was like a modern day Pottersville.

***

We got a later start than we wanted to on Friday.   Our free breakfast (Hilton Honors status level benefit) was delayed because the kitchen could not figure out how to assemble ham and cheese croissants.  We walked 20 minutes through the Central Business District and Warehouse District to our first destination:  The National World War II Museum.   We got there too late.   School kids on field trips and other visitors were all over the place.   We ended up booking the 2:00pm 4-d experience, giving us only 3 hours to tour the exhibits.    Not enough time at all.   This museum requires the full day to see everything at a still abbreviated pace.  We did not visit the submarine or take in the “shipping off to war” train experience.  

The museum/exhibit layout causes some bottlenecks but overall the displays are excellent and present the information in a very informative, and personal, way.   In many places you can read about an individual’s personal account of their service time.  Most rooms featured a film giving an overview of the events while the displays provided supporting information.

After finishing the 4-D experience (narrated by Tom Hanks) we decided we should have lunch vs. viewing any additional exhibits.   We ate at a fairly new restaurant by the museum:  Flamingo-A-Go-Go.   The weather was pleasant so we dined in their courtyard.  The food was delicious and we found another great local beer – Irish Channel Stout.  Our second round became a walkie as we headed towards our hotel.

We changed for the evening and grabbed our coats in case it got chilly at night.   We walked down Bourbon Street and you could tell it was Friday as the crowd was a bit larger and rowdier.   We grabbed a beer from one of the bars and walked with it to Jackson Square.  We benched it for a while to enjoy some fun people watching before heading to Café Du Monde for a beignet snack.   Dinner would come after our “Haunted Pub Crawl”.  

We booked this tour a few weeks before our trip through Ghost City Tours.  For $25 each we would be guided through the French Quarter to hear about some of the haunted buildings in the area.  With about 10 other people in the group we made our way through the Quarter visiting TuJague's, Pirate’s Alley (where we learned about absinthe), and Lafitte’s.   We sat down for dinner around 9:30 at Pere Antoine’s Restaurant.   The food did not photograph well but rest assured it was good. 

After dinner we had one more round at Tropical Isle’s Bayou Club to listen to the zydeco band.   After a few songs we weaved our way through the dense crowd on Bourbon to our quiet hotel. 

Part 2:  Commander's Palace and French Quarter Touring  

Exuma Bahamas November 2017

This post is obviously a little bit late. We postponed this post in order to cover our Disney World Christmas trip during the holiday season. Hopefully you will enjoy our photos and videos from Exuma.

This was our second trip to The Exumas, a chain of 365 islands that are part of Bahamas. We first visited Great Exuma in 2010 when Sandals took over the former Four Seasons. We were won over by the huge crescent-shaped beach and the water clarity. Since our first visit Sandals has added more amenities to the resort including restaurants, a pastry shop, and jerk shack. This year we opted for a beach house room which gave us quick access to the sand and our own dedicated hammock (that we hardly used). The beach is never crowded here since most guests opt for spending their day in the giant pool with its swim-up bar.

We experienced a lot of wind and choppy water this trip, which was not too different from our last visit. It made drinking Kaliks in the water a challenge but allowed us to invent a new game. We brought little unicorn inflatable floating drink holders with us expecting them to actually function (at least in the pool). They always tipped over, spilling rainbow concoctions into the pool. We ended up using them for races. First one into shore wins! Video below:

We don't participate in too many resort activities. One exception is Fish-a-Prize. The goal is to get a metal ring tied to a make-shift cane pole over the neck of a rum bottle. Fastest time wins. Holly was a champion! Dave was very proud and excited to get a free bottle of rum to bring home.

Sandals owns a quality 18-hole course that hugs the shoreline. Holly would use the cart path for a portion of her morning runs while Dave took a few walks to the end of the point.

We had a lot of fun with the staff this trip. They took great care of us while seeming to have fun. Hand them your camera for a photo and you will most likely end up with one of them too.

We had one excursion this trip. We rented a car and drove around the island. In the Bahamas you drive British-style with American cars. Drive on the left with the steering wheel on the left. Not too crazy but luckily there's not a lot of traffic on the island. Our first destination was north of the resort, Coco Plum Beach. One thing we noticed was nothing is labeled. We ended up driving passed the beach road, turned into a neighborhood and realized we were too far. From the top of the hill we could see the beach (it was lovely) but could not figure out where the access point was. We asked a man walking by for directions and he told us to turn at the blue trash bin. We eventually found it. We were the only people on the beach when we arrived and by the time we left about four more people showed up.

Tide was too high to use the swings

After having a walk and quick swim we got back in the car and headed south towards The Tropic of Cancer Beach. This location wasn't labeled either. We lucked into noticing a trash bin within the appropriate miles away from the bridge connecting the two islands. There were a few houses near and on the beach. People count was maybe around ten.

Lunch was nearby at Santana's. The outdoor restaurant was right on the coast. The wind kept us planted at the bar to enjoy our entrees of fried fish and fried lobster. Fantastic. As usual, the staff was friendly and interested in our outing plans. After lunch we walked next doors to Mom's Bakery to pick up one of their acclaimed rum cakes. For $7 we picked a vanilla cake that weighed about two pounds. After making our selection the lady pulled the foil back on the loaf and poured heaping ladles of rum sauce all over the cake. Best rum cake ever! Sorry, no pictures...

Our final destination was the "famous" Chat 'n' Chill bar across the bay from Georgetown. Our water taxi ride was $30 round-trip. We arranged a pickup time with our driver to give us a good two hours on the island. Unfortunately the skies were not looking so good. Rain was coming at some point. Once we landed on the island we went right to the main beach to watch the sting rays go by. They know where the food is so they hang by the beach all day. They are used to people and don't freak out when you pet them. We also saw a small shark while here. When a light rain started we retreated inside. We met a nice patron from Tennessee whom recently sold a business he started many years ago for $20MM. We enjoyed hearing about how he lives his life between TN and Exuma and his plans to fly his personal airplane to Europe and South Africa. You just never know who you will run into in an island bar.

Our new friend offered us a boat ride back to the ferry dock but we turned him down so the water taxi driver wouldn't wonder where the heck we went to. The ride back was miserable with a hard rain beating down on us as we crossed the channel. We wanted to visit one of the more interesting hotels in town (one of the oldest buildings) for a drink, but they were closed for renovations. We opted to go back to the land of prepaid food and drink instead of stopping anywhere else.

After two trips The Exumas are gaining rank in our list of favorite locations. As far as Sandals properties go, this one has everything we enjoy (a variety of restaurants and a large, quiet beach). The islands and water are gorgeous, and the people are friendly. Not Jamaican friendly, but still very nice (especially when they see you are not fussy and willing to go with the flow). There aren't too many people that live in these islands so there are still many unspoiled pieces of land.

 

Charity of the Month: Brookfield Zoo Share the Care

Charity of the Month is a way Team Tizzel is helping to support some very worthy organizations. As part of this program, we will dedicate a post to a charity that we will sponsor through the month by donating Holly's training run money.

In February we had double charity month (because Dave was lazy in January) supporting both Mended Hearts and the Eagles Charitable Foundation with cash donations.

March Charity of the Month:

Brookfield Zoo Share the the Care Program

It's been a long time since we've visited Brookfield Zoo.   It's very nice, just a bit too far to make the trip during the summer when the opportunity cost is a day on the lake.  

What prompted us to pick the zoo this month was the receipt of our renewal letter for the Share the Care Animal Adoption Program.  This is our 18th year of support.   We started by supporting the zoo's new baby polar bear, Tiguak, in 2000.  Tiguak was born at the zoo in the fall of 1999, but was rejected by the mother.   Zookeepers hand-nursed her and kept her healthy.   This was big news and hyped up in the media.  Once she was placed into the display areas we made a visit and enjoyed watching her play with her toys and swimming.

Possibly one of the first pictures we took using a digital camera

While at the zoo they asked us to join the Share the Care Program.   With our package we received a photo of Tiguak.   With follow-up donations each year we received an update on her well-being.   After a few years she was transferred to another zoo and our care converted over to her younger brother Hudson.  

While preparing to write this post we tried to find out what happened to Tiguak.   Unfortunately she died in 2011 under anesthesia during a dental operation in Quebec.

In addition to keeping our Share the Care going for Hudson we started a new Share the Care for Holly's favorite animal - the giraffe.  A few years ago Potoka went viral in a video of her prancing around her display area.