DAY 16 -19: New Orleans with the Kids....The first day.

I need a vacation from my vacation. 

Thursday afternoon they began arriving. Each one like a long awaited Christmas present. Yep, that's the way that I feel about my kids and how nice to have them join me on this adventure for Father's Day Weekend in New Orleans. Hard to believe that this trip that we planned all the way back in late February was finally here. First came Emily and Eliza with husband Matt and boyfriend Charlie and I met them in the lobby of our hotel Le Pavillon, where we were staying. Le Pavillon, deigned a four star hotel by travel magazines, is a 104 year old hotel just a couple of blocks off of the wildness of the French Quarter. Like a beautiful and wonderful woman just a few years past her prime (much like my sister Beverly) this grand old hotel proved to be the perfect place for our stay. Large well appointed rooms, rooftop pool, in walking distance of most things, friendly and helpful staff and of course the walls of the hotel were adorned with plenty of pictures of dead people, a sure fire sign that you are staying at a nice place. With hugs and kisses all around I greeted them and after stowing luggage we set off for the French Quarter knowing that Luke and his girlfriend Danielle were going to be an hour or two behind.

We headed down to Bourbon Street not bothered at all by the heat and humidity that is New Orleans in the summer. One block in and I directed their attention to The Acme Oyster House, a New Orleans legend and one of my personal favorites. Of course we detoured and went in for a quick lunch of their famous chargrilled oysters and some etouffe. (I am going to do a whole blog on the food of New Orleans, so I am not going to touch on it too much here. Suffice it to say, many people come to New Orleans just to eat).

Refueled we headed back down the street and stopped in at one of the many places that serve "Alcohol to go". These emporiums dot Bourbon Street selling every type of tropical drink that you can imagine with every mixture of alcohol that you can imagine.

With drinks now in hand we proceeded down Bourbon where out attention was stolen by what appeared to be the filming of a movie. A very odd movie. As we stood along with many other gawkers on the street looking up at a balcony towards which three cameras were directed, out came a guy in a cowboy hat and ass-less chaps and a woman in a wedding veil. Shouting "We just got married!" he proceeded to turn around and shake his naked butt at the assembled crowd below, many being planted extras. His proclamation was received by a woman lifting her shirt in approval of his wedding announcement and shouting "Woo hooooo" or something like that. Thus we had our very first boob siting......and thankfully it was neither of my daughters.

Eventually Luke and his girlfriend Danielle joined us in a little watering hole known as the home of the Grenade, apparently a trademarked alcoholic beverage. With more hugs and kisses all around we were now all assembled and ready for our weekend journey.

 Finding ourselves an oasis of sorts we ended up in a private upstairs bar with a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street, where we spent some time cooling down and catching up and just enjoying each others company. And of course a shot or two to toast the weekend, some going down smoother and easier than others.

Having regaled Luke and Danielle about how good the chargrilled oysters were at Acme Oyster House, we decided to head back for round two of what proved to be one of our favorite meals and dishes of the weekend.

After dinner and a return to our hotel rooms we napped and cleaned up and headed back down for the kids first night on Bourbon. Some good music, some dancing, some more drinking all led to Matt and Luke riding the mechanical bull. It was not pretty. Well, there is so much more to write and say, but I am short on time right now as I am heading to Carlsbad, New Mexico. But I wanted to leave you with this short clip of a magician that we ran into on Day 2 of our NOLA Adventure. Enjoy....more to come.