Road trip to New Orleans...

women cousins

My mother had 2 sisters. My 2 cousins (pictured here with me) are their daughters. We basically grew up together and now that our parents are gone, it's wonderful to have my cousins still around. They have continued to live in New Orleans, so I don't get to see them very often (since DH and I moved to Texas in 1971). 

But we were there this past weekend for Darnell's (cousin in center) son's wedding. This is where this picture was taken. It was a lovely wedding and a lovely visit. 

I forget how much I miss both the family and the city when I'm away, but it all comes rushing back at family events such as this. Having watched for good Flight Specials and not finding any, my dear friend offered to take a road trip and drive us down instead of flying. This turned out to be a great idea as what we ended up spending on gas was less than a round trip ticket.

So we got our fix of Cafe Au'lait and beignets at both Cafe Dumonde on Veterans as well as The Morning Call in City Park. We tried to get more at the Cafe in the French Quarter Saturday morning... but the lines were around the block. However, we did pick up some Italian seed cookies at the Central Grocery and hit Aunt Sally's Pralines and a few cute shops around Jackson Square.

Cafe Au'lait and Beignets

oyster po-boy

Jackson Square (me)

St Louis Cathedral (Janet)

Ship Shop on Jackson Square

t-shirt

paintings along Jackson Square

And besides the wedding and the French Quarter, we also got to go to City Park which is one of the most beautiful parks in the country. With the oak trees, moss, and lagoons... I just love it. We didn't live far from City Park when I was growing up and Dad used to bring us often. It's really a beautiful place.

City park lagoons

This is my friend, Karen,  who I went to high school and college with. She still lives in New Orleans and we try to meet whenever I'm in town.







And this is my friend, Janet, who drove down to New Orleans with me.

Janet and Karen on old oak tree

And my 2 cousins, Janet, and I drove out to the Gulf Coast on Monday (45 mins from New Orleans) and had a wonderful seafood lunch at this little Marina on the beach...

taken from our restaurant window

I had red beans and rice with fried catfish, while the others had soft shell crab, fried green tomatoes, and crab meat. We had all had wonderful gumbo and jambalaya at the wedding... so we can't complain that we didn't get our N.O. food fix.

We also stayed at my cousin Barb's house and were shown wonderful hospitality. She has 2 cats, Anna and Kuchi. I got a few pictures of Kuchi as she lay on my lap one morning.

Kuchi

It was a great trip and hopefully will hold me for a while...