It went like this:  I had some roll-over vacation days, and my supervisor informed me at the beginning of March that they would expire by the end of the month.  So Matthew booked us a trip to New Orleans for a few days!  I’m so lucky to have married a man who can make stuff like that happen.  I would have been just paralyzed by choice, but he takes care of business!

Badda-bing badda-boom!  Next thing I know, we’re snuggled up in a shotgun house in Mid-City.

Snuggled in our lovely Airbnb

Mid-City is where real people live.  It’s felt like as if we were staying in Roxbury:  A little rough around the edges, but some hidden gems if you’re willing to look.  And if you walk for 30 minutes, you can get to some of the nicest and most well-known parts of the city.  People who know New Orleans and also Boston might have reactions to that comparison, but I work in Roxbury and like it very much.  I also liked Mid-City very much.  I was really struck, as we explored the neighborhood, by what a friendly and scrappy city this is.  I could imagine living there.

“Home is a feeling I’m trying to fix”

“I take you to all the nicest places,” said Matthew

Our place was walkable to the French Quarter – if you like walking, which we do.  We spent our days exploring the sights and foods and experiences of the city.  We checked out the Quarter, the Garden District, the Riverwalk, Frenchmen Street, and bits of pieces of what’s in between.  We visited the cemeteries and we saw a show at Preservation Hall (which was particularly cool for me, because the Preservation Hall Jazz Band played at my high school some 15 years ago!)

I was captivated by the plants growing on the crypts in the cemeteries.

Preservation Hall.

A bad-ass biker glowing his way through the French Quarter

Decorative and colorful! The house is nice too!

We had beignets at Cafe du Monde and muffuletta at Central Grocery.  We got classy at Commander’s Palace and tucked into soul food at Jacques Imo’s.  (Highly recommend Jacques Imo’s!)

One afternoon we checked out a festival: Hogs for the Cause.  There was barbecue, live music, and lots of punny names.

This terrifying slide…

Smoked ‘Gator

We also spent a day at Jean Lafitte Park.  We took a boat tour of the canals and bayous and then a walk through the park. SO MANY ALLIGATORS!  Honestly, they’re like squirrels, only more intimidating and much much lazier.

Love these guys, all snuggled up

These ones are currently incarcerated.

The tape is to keep him from biting our fingers off.

Can I keep him!?

There was also other nature:  Turtles (not as lazy, and more shy) and ROUS’s (actually Nutria).  And lots of beautiful trees and Spanish moss.

Five turtles

This tree has funny roots because it was growing atop a midden pile! I love midden piles. The pile is gone, and now it looks like it is walking on tiptoes

Spanish Moss

“The Monarch of the Forest” – for some reason this tree wasn’t cut down by loggers, so it’s very big and very old.

Rodents of Unusual Size

It was a really lovely time.  I already know I’ll be going back in April next year for my sister’s bachelorette party, and I’m excited to get to know the city even better.

One more thing I have to acknowledge:  Hurricane Katrina and the truly heart-wrenching events that took place in Crescent City after the levies broke happened ten years ago.  But still, I felt the presence of that trauma.  While I was there, I listened to an episode of This American Life that told just a few of the stories from that time.  It was very, very hard to hear, but I think it is also very, very worth listening to.  It made me ache, and it also gave me a deeper understanding of where New Orleans is today, and why.