Recently, we headed out for another fabulous vacation with some of our favorite travel buddies, Ashley, Jason, and sweet Ethan. They are great travel partners because we have similar styles of travel- we like to eat, drink, and be on the go nonstop during our trip. We dropped Lola off with her friends at Shady Acres and drove to our friends’ beautiful new home in Beaumont. It was a decent drive-there was lots of rain, which we had no idea would turn into snow. We were not sad that we missed the snow in Austin, as I’ve seen enough snow to last a lifetime. Our first adventure had us making a trip to a liquor store so that Ashley and Mike could buy rare beers. Later, we enjoyed the beer with some yummy Thai food. We had a great time hanging out, catching up, and one of us was excited to see snow.

Friday morning we woke up to snow! We waited for Jason to complete rounds and then we all packed up into the truck to be on our way. We stopped in Lake Charles, LA at Luna, a bar and grill, for lunch. At no surprise to us, Jason and I ordered the same sandwich, a grilled chicken sandwich, and Mike and Ashley also ordered the same sandwich, a buffalo chicken style sandwich. The food was delicious and it was good to get out and stretch a little bit before continuing on our way. We discovered that parts of Louisiana got a fair amount of snow and it was absolutely beautiful as we drove through Baton Rouge. We made it to New Orleans just in time to unpack and be on our way for dinner.

The weather was not quite what we had expected as it was fairly damp and cold most of the weekend. We tried to head to a fancy pizza place for dinner, but they had no openings for hours and that didn’t quite work for us traveling with a toddler. We made our way to Ole Saint Kitchen and Tap for dinner and some local brews. I picked the macaroni and cheese with roast beef debris and it did not disappoint. The roast beef debris had a yummy sauce and paired fabulously with the creamy cheese and bow tie pasta.

After dinner, we took Ashley and Ethan back to the hotel before heading out to Bourbon St. It was a truly unique experience. There were people everywhere and from all walks of life. We wandered for a bit to take in the sights before settling at Pat O’Briens, where we had to try the iconic hurricanes. It was pretty cold that night so we walked some before returning to the bar in our hotel.

Our goal on Saturday was to go to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and coffee. We walked to Jackson Square for some sightseeing and to get breakfast. The line for Cafe du Monde was insane, but fast moving and we were able to enjoy the delicious treats with the flavorful coffee. We ended up wearing a bit of the evidence, but that just showed how much we enjoyed our food! We did a fair amount of walking, stopping at Brieux Carre for beers for the boys before stopping at Acme Oyster for lunch.

Some of our favorites in front of the St. Louis Cathedral

Poor Ethan didn’t feel well after a long day in the cold, so he and Ashley missed out on our dinner that evening. We also took the opportunity to hit up several dive bars and enjoyed the sights and people watching. The following morning, the boys tried to go to a bar for some amazing fries while Ashley and I got ready for our tea time. It seemed like a weekend of mishaps because the kitchen at the bar didn’t start serving until later, so the boys missed out on those. Our tea time got cancelled due to a pastry problem and we all ended up eating brunch instead. After brunch, we stopped to pick up some pralines before heading home. We stopped in Lafayette, LA to visit a neat home store, Paul Michaels and then for a yummy pizza dinner. Mike and I stayed one more night in Beaumont before heading home. It was another amazing adventure with our “framily.” We can’t wait to see where our next adventure might take us.

The New Austonian