“I Can’t Believe She Stretched That into Three Posts,” (Or Charleston Vacation Part 3)

Check out the previous two Charleston Vacation posts here and here.

Ok!  I’m sure you’ve read those and we’re all caught up, right?!

Great.  Picking up where I left off:

For those not familiar with Rainbow Row — or Charleston, for that matter — it is a row of fourteen historical, attached houses dating from 1740, all painted in various pastel shades.  It has the distinction of being the longest, intact row of Georgian rowhouses in the U.S, but mostly I just think it’s pretty.

…And really hard to capture in photography.  Typically, when you see pics of Rainbow Row, it appears as if it is on the water or at the very least there is nothing across from the street from it.  Quite the contrary, it is one street over from the water and all of its blocks are lined with trees so it’s hard to get a good vantage point to capture the whole row in one frame.

Here are a few shots of sections of the Row.

Sooo lovely.

After Rainbow Row, we headed north to the Dock Street Theatre.  (Did I mention this was all on foot?  We are New Yorkers, after all.)

For actors like Josh and me, the Dock Street Theatre is a very special place as it was the FIRST theatre in America.

Granted, it has been rebuilt in places due to fires and the like, but still — that’s pretty cool stuff in our book.

Fortunately, we got there right before they locked their doors for the day (just before 5:00), so they let us come in and check it out.  (However, only the balcony is open to tourists.  If you want to get a close-up, you have to check out a show there — which I highly recommend. Charleston Stage Company is their resident, professional theatre company and they offer a variety of stage productions throughout the year.  Here’s their website).

After having more than a few nerdy moments, Josh and I headed towards King Street for shopping shopping shopping.  Josh was pumped.  Not really.  (Though he was a really good sport, and I even think he enjoyed himself the majority of the time.)

King Street has a lot of the typical chains you’d find in a shopping mall, e.g., J. Crew, Gap, Victoria’s Secret, but it also has a lot of great boutiques and local one-of-a-kind places, too.  A few stores were even pic-worthy, like this store that specialized in honey.

They backlit their honey, which I think is one of the best merchandising ideas ever.  Anything with a warm amber glow is like eye candy to me.  Or eye-honey.  Hm…

Along our King Street stroll, we also came across the Oops! Catalog Clothing store (I think it’s a chain but I’m not sure?).  They carry items from catalogs that have been discontinued or are slightly irregular (maybe overstock, too?).  We didn’t buy anything, but the prices were actually pretty darn good.  So I took a picture of their sign…  Just to say that I did.

Ah, and of course here’s a Robot Candy Company sign.  We took a picture of it simply so Josh could Instagram it.  (This reason motivated 97% of the pictures we took.)

But yeah, it’s a pretty cool sign… I get it.

Then we went into the most fantastic Urban Outfitters ever.  It wasn’t so much the merchandise that appealed to us (but I do happen to like UO for that reason) — after all, we seem to have a UO on every corner in NYC.  However, this one was in a fancy was-it-once-a-hotel-or-an-old-movie-house-or-perhaps-a-palace? kind of building.  I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked as both of our phones were dying, but I did manage to get a few.

I love old buildings. So. Hard.

After our Urban excursion (that didn’t rhyme nearly as we’ll as I wanted), we continued along King Street to Cupcake, a place I had visited on my last visit to Charleston.  As could be expected from its name, they sell cupcakes there.  Yep.  And so delicious.  (And as of this writing, they are the only cupcake-only bakery in Charleston.)

After our dessert, we decided it was time for dinner (when you’re on vacation, you can eat backwards — it’s a fact).  We headed to Hyman’s Seafood, a restaurant   beloved by many and oft considered a Charleston institution.

And yeah, it was goooood.  Josh had the fish and chips (boring, but he said they were good), and I had the Carolina Delight, which was basically shrimp and grits, except the grits were made into a cake.  Josh had meal envy as my choice was far superior.  Sorry, Josh.

After dinner, we had reservations with a ghost tour, so we headed back towards the market to meet up with our tour guide.

 

Pause. 

Now, when Josh and I went on our honeymoon to New Orleans, we went on a ghost tour, and as I mentioned here, it was the highlight of our trip (only rivaled by our trip to Preservation Hall).  Note the words “ghost tour.”  Not ghost hunt.  However, our Charleston tour guide was dead-set (pun only half intended) on us seeing some ectoplasmic, orbic something.  Which I could care less about.

The NOLA ghost tour was more of a historical walking tour with the occasional “Oh, here’s an interesting local legend/tale/bit of folklore/whatever.”  And because the stories concerned places that we walked by all of the time, and because our tour guide wasn’t trying to fight with our skeptical side, it was so interesting and enjoyable.

However, our Charleston ghost tour began with a “Who here doesn’t believe in ghosts?”  This was basically the beginning of the end.  And honestly, I don’t not believe in ghosts.  I say I’m from Atlanta, but I grew up in Mobile, Alabama, one of the oldest cities in the nation.  My high school was established in the early 1800’s.  My middle school was a freaking Civil War hospital before it became a school.  Needless to say, I’m not a skeptic.  However, even this guy had me rolling my eyes.

The tour was only supposed to be an hour and a half, but the first half hour was wasted (in my opinion) on basically fighting with skeptics.  It wasn’t until halfway through the tour that words like “history” and even “Charleston” came up.  He showed us two alleyways (that are known to be haunted), the oldest graveyard in Charleston, and the dungeon (in the provost building).  Obviously, the latter was the coolest part, but merely because… it was a dungeon.  Aaand some undeniably spooky stuff happened while we were in there, but not because of anything the ghost tour guide said or did.

As I reread this, I guess I don’t sound very nice.  It’s just that we expected one thing, but got something very different.  And the tour guide wasn’t an awful person; in fact, when he wasn’t obsessed with trying to win over the skeptics, he was pretty cool.

All in all, it was a bit of a letdown.

But we did get to go into a reeeally old dungeon. (Or at least, old by American standards.). So that was one redeeming thing about the experience.

And that was Thursday.

The rest of the weekend was a bit more wedding involved, i.e., mani/pedis, bridesmaids’ stuff, wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and then of course the wedding itself.  (It was fabulous and beautiful and picture worthy… and I got no pictures.  Bad blogger — BAD!)

(Oh… except this pic of use after the ceremony:)

In keeping with the tradition of breaking our traditions, instead of rising at 5:00 and hitting the road, we slept until we woke up and hit the road at a leisurely 11:00.

Along the way, we found the best thing ever.

Like, for real.

And why there aren’t more of these is beyond me…

We found a dog run in North Carolina RIGHT. OFF. THE. HIGHWAY.  And we went to that dog run.  And our dogs ran.  Appropriately, I didn’t think to take any pictures of the fabulous wedding, but oh, how I took pictures at the dog run.  Get ready.

This might be my new favorite picture of Margeaux:

That smile could lower the deficit, I’m sure of it.

And here’s Josh in all of his white boy glory:

Oh, how I love my white boy.

We didn’t get back to Brooklyn until about 1:00 a.m., and OF COURSE we circled for a parking spot for a good 30 minutes.  This was not the highlight of our vacation.

And then we went back to work the next day.  Sigh.

 

In short:

Charleston Road Trip 2012 = Major Success

Motel 6 = Exactly as adequate as expected.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Josh Donahue and Courtney Foster-Donahue = The Road Trip Champs.  We are the best.  Do not accept imitations.

Check out my previous Charleston Vacation 2012 posts:  Part One and Part Two

Operation Do-as-Much-as-We-Possibly-Can-in-One-Day (Charleston Vacation, Part 2)

Yesterday I regaled the story of our road trip from NYC to Charleston.  If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, you can catch it here.

Or I can just summarize:  We drove all night/morning — singing show tunes and classic rock all the way– got into Charleston in the afternoon, had a little DIY S’mores excursion at Parson Jack, then returned to our very basic-but-it-still-has-a-wall-mounted-bottle-opener-so-that’s-cool hotel room and slept for a solid eleven hours.

You’re basically all caught up.

Today, I pick up where I left off.  We awoke Thursday morning, put the dogs back in the car (there was some resistance on their part as they had been in the car for fourteen hours previously), and drove to Angel Oak.  “What’s Angel Oak?”

It’s a reeeaaallllly old/big oak tree.  It is considered the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River, and it’s also considered one of the oldest living things in the United States (estimated to be between 1,500-3,000 years old).  It’s huge, it’s gorgeous, it’s gnarly, and it was a must see for our Charleston trip — so it was our first stop.

All the touristy direction info can be found here (in case you want to check it out yourself, which you totally should), but the short story is that it was a mere fifteen minutes from our hotel, where we passsed many of these:

… which always hearken me back to my childhood growing up on the Gulf Coast…

And then we had to go down this lovely, albeit dirt road:

Which also hearkened me back to my childhood living by the Mississippi state line… where they don’t have roads.

Ha.  Just kidding.  (Kinda.)

But we had the CR-V, who came through like a champ.

And here’s a close-up of the massively gi-NORM-ous trunk:

And just to give you a sense of scale, here’s Nola and Margeaux sitting — ever so obediently — in front of the tree:

We have to think that the girls sensed this was a special place, because despite all of the “Do not climb” signs, Nola tried to do so anyway.  In fact, both of them were in hyper sniff/wag/joy mode the whole time we were there.

It’s hard to believe that in Charleston — which has seen its share of fires, hurricanes, and even a devastating earthquake — there could be something like Angel Oak.  Of course, it’s wired and stabilized in some places, but for the most part it looks like it’s not going anywhere.

Ok, so after we got down from our old-big-things-are-really-cool high, we dropped off the girls at our (pet-friendly) hotel and headed to peninsular Charleston.  It was around noon, so we had lunch at that place where I work in Times Square that I can’t exactly spell out for weird social media reasons, but they happen to have a location in Charleston where we could use our generous discount.  Seriously, I know you could probably figure it out, but I don’t want to get in trouble, so…

Yeah, that was delicious and stuff, and since we were right next to the Charleston City Market, we headed that way.  (And goodness knows you can’t keep me away from an open air market if your life depended on it).

I even Instagrammed a bit.

The market was great, complete with a mixture of touristy junk and unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade stuff you can’t get anywhere else.

I even found some inspiration at a few booths that had fun DIY upcycling ideas.  Among those were the “man candles” from Rewined Candles.

They were made using old beer bottles (and there were some wine bottle versions as well) — the tops had been removed with a slightly more advanced version of what I did here, then the half bottles were filled with wax and a wick.  Aside from the super eco-friendly design, the candles smelled fantastic (or fantastic-ly?).

And I didn’t get any close-up pictures.  (Just go to her website to check them out: Here.)

However, I did get some pics of these canape trays made from empty liquor and wine bottles (have you noticed a theme with me?).

I especially loved how there was just enough room in the opening of the bottle to insert a canape knife.  I will learn how to make these.

As always, the Charleston City Market was full of numerous Gullah folk making their amazing Charleston sweetgrass baskets.  I found one particular vendor that had some of the roses… and they were still green (like my favorite shade of green).  I bought some, which we later used for our rehearsal flowers for the wedding.

Honestly, they smelled like nothing.  This was just my way of getting around the fact that I wasn’t wearing lipstick, but wanted to take a picture with the roses anyway.  Any resulting cuteness and coyness is merely an accident.  :)

After visiting all of the booths (or maybe they’re called stalls in this case?), we headed down East Bay Street to check out the lovely (and famous) Rainbow Row.

… Which I’m sure I’ll tell you all about tomorrow in a bit wrap-up vacay posty goodness — Check back!

And if you’re really lucky, I’ll never use the word “vacay” again.

…Or “posty.”

(But I’m not making any promises.)

Crazy Things That People in Their Late Twenties Do (Charleston Vacation, Part 1)

This past week, Josh and I loaded up the tried and true CR-V with suitcases and dogs (Nola and Margeaux, to be exact) and did the whole fourteen hour drive thing to Charleston, SC.  (As I type this, I realize that 2012 has been the year of long road trips for me — here, here, and here being just some of the examples — it must be related to the world ending in December… obviously). 

Our friends, Megan and John were getting married — destination wedding style — in Charleston, South Carolina.  Aside from our great love for Megan and John, we also have a great love for the South, along with any vacation that promises delicious seafood and historical loveliness, so yeah, we were all about it.

But back to the road trip part…

The original, responsible, this-is-what-adults-should-do choice was to go to bed after getting off at the restaurant and leave early-ish the next morning (like 5:00 a.m.).  However, what usually happens with Josh and I is that we pack at the last minute, get NO sleep, curse our fate, and leave early anyway, with full intention of drinking multiple Red Bulls along the way.

This time, we’d done laundry early, cleaned the apartment the day before (which is essential to going out of town — we MUST come back to a clean house), and done EVERYTHING we don’t normally do.  So this time, when we were both prepped to go to bed at 9:30 with everything crossed off of our (read: my) to do list, we were surprised to say the least.  And then inspired… If you could call it that.

You see, now that 30 is on the horizon (and I’m referring to the age here), Josh and I have found ourselves making more spontaneous, i.e., more twenty-something type decisions lately.  Even if they are not the best decisions.

So instead of leaving the next morning after what would have been a restful eight hours, we threw caution, logic, and reasonable thought processes to the wind and decided to leave…right then.  Like at 10:00 at night.  What made this even sillier was that we hadn’t exactly gotten a full night’s sleep the night before.  Yet, the idea of jumping in the car right then and jumpstarting our vacation eight hours earlier was so appealing that we just did it.  The solution to our sleep deprivation issue was that we would just trade off driving and napping shifts.

One of many caffeine stops along the way…

We didn’t take into account the fact that we might both be sleepy at the same time and of course this was the case as soon we hit Maryland.  I was fighting sleep in the passenger’s seat, Josh was even more so in the driver’s seat, and our dogs were… wide awake.  But they don’t know how to drive, so they couldn’t exactly pull their weight in this case.  (Obviously that’s the only reason… not the whole no-opposable-thumbs-too-short-and-oh-yeah-they’re-dogs reason.  I mean, that one just doesn’t hold up.)

So we pulled over to a truck stop with the intention of taking a twenty minute nap (we set an alarm and everything), but it turned into a two hour nap (we’re old and tired…. did I mention we’re approaching thirty?).  However, we still had a six hour head start, so we didn’t feel too defeated, and after just a few more stops, we got into Charleston at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday.  I mean, we had zombie eyes and everything, but we were still there a lot earlier than if we had waited until the next morning.  Overall, our twenty-something choice was the best one (or at least, the most fun… and THAT’S what is more important).  Right?!

A truck in a gas station: This is the moment we realized we were back in the South.

While the wedding was in downtown Charleston, Josh and I, always on a quest to save the murnies, opted to stay just outside of downtown Charleston in the lovely and quiet West Ashley area.  We also had the babies (read: dogs) with us so we needed a pet friendly place that wasn’t going to charge us an arm and a leg simply because we had two dogs.  And because we had been with the dogs and were suddenly in a, strange, new place, we really wanted to eat dinner somewhere that was dog friendly.  (And don’t you know I thought of that before and did an Urban Spoon search for a dog friendly restaurants in West Ashley?  Of course I did.)

We ended up at Parson Jack, a slightly more-than-a-sports-bar sports bar that had an enclosed off-leash dog patio along with “best wings ever,” according to chicken wing aficionado, Josh Donahue.  Not to mention they had DIY s’mores for dessert (yes, please), which we absolutely ordered.  They brought out a small basket of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers, along with a little burner and two fondue skewers.

And after a Captain Obvious reminder from our server that fire can cause fires, we proceeded to roast our own marshmallows at our table.  Cutest.  Thing.  Ever.  (More restaurants should do this! But then again, fire can cause fires, so…).

That was about the extent of the excitement for that day, especially since we’d driven all night and morning and were — like I said — zombies.  We went to a PigglyWiggly across the street (I forgot those existed!) and got a 6 pack of the local amber beer, Palmetto Amber.

The verdict: Josh liked it; I thought it was awful (and I like amber beer).  And while we forgot our bottle opener, we were in luck because our hotel had one… attached to the wall.

That’s right, our basic-er than basic hotel had no tissue box, no hair dryer, no alarm clock, no wall art (oh, how I pined for a floral still life or bird nest print), but it had… A wall-mounted bottle opener:

So.  Much.  Class.

After a beer and a half (I had the half), we went to sleep for eleven hours (eleven!), got up, and did lots of cool things…

… Which I’ll tell you about tomorrow!  Check back!

Virginia-Highland: Bungalows, Boutiques, and Bodaciousness

There’s a beloved little corner in Atlanta called Virginia-Highland.  It’s where Josh and I spent our last year in Atlanta, and it’s what we immediately associate with when we miss that city.

So named because it’s at the corner of  Virginia and North Highland Avenues, it was first developed as a streetcar suburb.  (There are plenty of Atlantans, even residents of this neighborhood who erroneously call it “the Virginia Highlands” — including myself for a while… though technically it’s “Viriginia-Highland. ” Whatever.)

Though the streetcars are long gone, the streets are still lined with the beautiful homes from that time period, including grand Victorians and fabulous Craftsman style bungalows.

Josh and I actually lived in one of these old houses (built in 1929), and it was our favorite apartment that we  lived in while in metro Atlanta.

What’s nice about Virginia-Highland, aside from the architecture smorgasbord, is how pedestrian friendly it is.  If you live in this nabe, all of the restaurants and shops, including a lot of great boutiques, are within walking distance.  And this is especially exciting because there are more Zagat rated restaurants per square mile than in most places I’ve seen (not a verified fact — but probably not too far from the truth), not to mention dozens of shops and boutiques, which feature the work of local artisans and designers.

While Virginia-Highland is not on a typical tourism itinerary for those visiting Atlanta, it’s certainly a great way to spend an afternoon or evening, not to mention it’s just a couple of miles from some of the bigger attractions, like the Georgia Aquarium, Turner Field, the World of Coke, and Centennial Olympic Park.

Here’s a list of some of our faves from VaHi:

George’s — This place looks like just another hole-in-the-wall, but they have some of the best burgers around.  (Zagat and lots of other important people say so, including Josh Donahue, so it must be true.)  Aaaand they’ve been around since 1961, so they must be doing something right.

Fontaine’s Oyster House — We only visited this place a couple of times, so we didn’t exactly sample the menu, but their New Orleans-influenced food is fantastic.  (And fabulous decor, too!)

Highland Woodworking — This place makes me wish I had carpentry skills every time I walk in.   They carry a lot of what you’d expect the big box retailers to carry, and then some!  Even better, their staff is very knowledgable about their products and they even offer classes and workshops.

Doc Chey’s Noodle House — Yes, they have noodle bowls, and they are excellent (as you’d expect from a noodle house).  However, my personal favorites on the menu are the fish tacos.  They are… well, perfect.  (And I’m picky about this sort of thing.)

Yeah! Burger — Think of the personalized experience you get at Five Guys, then add words like “veggie,” “grass fed, ” and “free range,” and you have Yeah! Burger (oh yeah, and add a couple of bucks to the price tag).  They also have their own special recipe sauces for you to choose from (including something sinful called bacon jam) , and they are about as green as a business can be.

Paolo’s Gelato— An award winning Italian gelato shop!  Everything is made fresh daily, and aside from their daily standards, they have a few varieties that change daily (you’re lucky if you show up on a day when they have avocado gelato — surprisingly delicious).

Rosebud — Comfort food with a gourmet twist.  Located in nearby Morningside, this place is great for brunch, lunch, or dinner.

El Taco — Tacos and booze, what more could you ask for?  They have an excellent fish taco (some people say it’s the best in town), free fresh chips and salsa, and lots of drink specials, including an hourly free drink giveaway.  And their salsa bar has a salsa that literally hurt my tastebuds… so proceed with caution.

The Paper Source — This is a chain that some of you may already be familiar with, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this particular location (and with authentic tin ceilings and original details, it’s gorgeous inside as well as out!).  Aside from a rainbow of stationery and papers, they also sell wrapping sheets in some of the most beautiful and unique papers, many of which are only available at Paper Source.

Half Moon Outfitters — This is the go-to outdoorsy store for VaHi (and much of midtown Atlanta).  With two levels of shopping, they have bikes, tents, gear, clothing… and honestly, lots of other things that I know nothing about seeing as I’m not the outdoorsy type.  But Josh likes this place, and no VaHi walkeroo shopping trip is complete without a stop here.  (And they allow dogs to come in to the store!)

Armour & Co. — It’s a home emporium of dreams and delights.  But mostly dreams, as their prices are something that I could never afford, oh but how nice it is to window shop and pretend!  (And steal ideas…)

Alon’s — This is a market and restaurant, with super-duper fresh food, baked breads, and pastries.  Walking by this place is an olfactory experience unto itself.

Yogli Mogli Frozen Yogurt — Yes, a chain, but since it’s addition to the VaHi strip, the lines haven’t slowed down.  And c’mon, it’s the hot South — we require frozen delights.

Taco Mac — Yeah, I know, you’ve probably already heard of this place before, but this is the original location — where the magic all began!  Aside from excellent pub food, they have the Brewniversity program, a frequent diners’ beer-of-the-month club.  #joshfavorite #watchoutforthefratboys #totallyworthit

Noche — This is one of a few locations in the metro area, though each locations’ menu varies slightly.  Delicious tapas, appetizers, and entrees, and I know I sound like a broken record, but they also have really good fish tacos.

Festivity — This is a chain boutique, but I especially love the VaHi location

Dakota J’s — Another fun boutique!  And unlike most boutiques, their prices are pretty darn reasonable in my opinion!  (My favorite cocktail dress of all time came from this store.)

Technically, a couple of these restaurants and shops are in the Morningside neighborhood, but it’s so close to Virginia-Highland (like a five minute walk) that I had to include these as well.  And believe it or not, there are still many more restaurants, many of which Josh and I never got a chance to try (we’re bad about sticking to a couple of favorites and not branching out).  What’s great about VaHi is that the “worst” restaurant (there are none), would be the best most anywhere else.

As far as the shops go, I’ve just listed those that I have browsed through (or been a customer of).  The last time Josh and I drove through in April, a couple of places had closed and new shops had opened in their place.  So, don’t take my word for it — things are constantly evolving — for the better — and these changes tend to keep with the unique, one-of-kind tradition that is Virginia-Highland.

For more info, you can check out their website.

To see where exactly VaHi is on a map, go here: Google maps:  Virginia-Highland

Back to crafty-crafty good times tomorrow… I’ll show you what I did with my Michaels’ $1.00 stationery!

NYC Trip, Part 2 AKA The Sunscreen Games

Before I launch into a recap of the rest of our NYC trip (part 1 can be found here), I thought I’d explain this  post title: Aside from a sort-of reference to that post-apocalyptic trilogy that totally owns, the majority of our trip, or at least from my perspective, was concerned with my sunscreen application.  Most of what we did was walking, and most of the walking was done outside, and because it’s summer and the position of the earth in relation to the sun is — well, you get the science behind it.

Unfortunately, because of my gingery-gingerness, I am a target for some of the more malicious UV rays out there and even five minutes unprotected can mean a sunburn.  But… in the end, it didn’t really matter.  Despite high SPF and numerous re-applications, I still got sunburned.  Whatever.  My ancestors did not have to live at this latitude.  I wasn’t built for this.

The Plight of the Pale aside, we still had an excellent trip.  If you’ll remember from Monday’s post, we went to the 911 memorial, Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market, the South Street Seaport, and the moon (OK, not the last one — I was just making sure you were paying attention — it’s an old trick of my father’s).

On Monday, we started off the day in Chinatown.

Picture from Renaissance-NY.org

Amanda’s boyfriend had told her “You must go to Chinatown!” to which we were like “Um… really?!”  

I mean, aside from a barrage of Chinese characters and numerous cheap (if not perhaps illegal?) merchandise, there’s not a lot to see.  But went we did, and Amanda’s reaction was pretty much like ours.  In fact, she got over the pushy-ness of the shop owners even faster than we did: “WatchesWatchesWatches!  You want a watch?  $10!  For you $10!  No, I’ll make you a deal.  Today only, just for you!  $8!  For you, $8.  See?  Very nice!  Only $8.”  Yeah, she got over that pretty fast.

So we left Chinatown and kept walking until we arrived in adjacent Little Italy (if you’ve ever visited these two nabes, you know they are literally right next to each other, and all of a sudden the Chinese characters vanish and everything’s covered in red, white, and green).

photo from Architessica

I much prefer the vibe in Little Italy to Chinatown, not to mention there’s almost none of the pushy-ness or hocking of wares.  Mostly, Little Italy is just lovely old buildings filled with Italian restaurants and bakeries.  Yum.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), we’d already eaten lunch, otherwise we would have had a hard time choosing a restaurant.

Next, we visited Union Square including the Metronomis art installation, the park, and the 4-story Barnes & Noble.  About that last one: Yeah, that’s not your typical tourist stop, but we’d visited it when Josh’s brother was in town and we were surprisingly fascinated by it in a sort of country bumpkin way.  Kinda.  I can’t explain it, but whatever.  It’s pretty cool.  They have lots of books.

photo from Yelp

We also visited the epic Union Square Greenmarket — well, I did.  Josh and Amanda mostly just rested their legs in the park; meanwhile, my love for all open air markets was further reinforced.

After that, Josh had to leave us for his Monday evening acting class (this is what happens when you surprise people and try to change their schedule), so we decided to visit Times Square.  (That place with all of the lights and tourists?  Maybe you’ve heard of it?)

photo from TrekExchange.com

We ogled at the lights, went to Toys ‘R Us (complete with a life-sized robot dinosaur that roars violently every few minutes and a ferris wheel), we played with make-up in Sephora, went to both the M&M’s and Hershey’s store (mostly for the smell of it), and visited the Phantom of Broadway shop.  Yeah, we’re wild and crazy ladies.

Then we swiped our cute little unlimited Metro cards, met back up with Josh, and headed home.  I’m pretty sure we rented the new Muppets movie (with Jason Siegel and Amy Adams), but I slept through most of it so I can’t tell you much about it.  I have the stamina of a senior citizen.

The next day we visited…

THE MET!

(The Metropolitan Museum Of Art)

We’d heard it was big, we’d walked by it before, but no… calling the Met “big” is an understatement.  And we knew we wouldn’t get through the whole museum in one day, but in reality we didn’t even scratch the surface.  We were there for about four hours (they started closing up around 5:15) and we didn’t even get through half of the museum.  Not even 1/4 of it.  NOT EVEN 1/8 of it.  No exaggeration, it was FUGE.

However, what we did get through was amazing, and I snapped a few pics, albeit not your typical touristy pics (by the way, photography is fine in the Met so long as it’s not flash photography).

Josh and Amanda were appreciating the art like one is supposed to in a museum — reading the plaques and history, marveling at the craftsmanship, speculating over the lives of the past owners, et al.  I was basically window shopping.

Here are two vases from the Egyptian exhibition that I thought would look nice on my living room dresser:

Totally my colors.  I’m sure the Met would let me borrow them one day.

And here’s a sword that I fancied:

I think it’d make a really cool curtain rod in my bedroom.

Oh, and here’s an example of something metal that I would not spray paint:

I mean, I’d think about spray painting it… but I wouldn’t.

We also went to the Medieval Art section and I saw this flag with a dragon doing jazz hands:

Fabulous.

One of my favorite observations was this framed Egyptian textile, circa 2 A.D.

That’s a CHEVRON pattern, y’all!

So for all of chevron naysayers out there, see?  A good ol’ chevron is timeless.  And I love it (but those who view this from the website already knew that because of my chevron background).

There were a whole heap of other amazing things, but I didn’t really take a lot of pics (there was even an Egyptian temple that had been relocated to the museum).

One of the best parts about the Met — and definitely the most GPP friendly part — is that it’s “pay what you can.”  Sure, the suggested donation for adults is $25, but if you don’t have that, it’s ok.  It’s paid for by the state, so they’re just wanting some donation.  I’ve even heard of folks giving as little as a penny.  While I don’t really believe in that, I did give them $30 for the three of us, so not the full $75, but still a little respectable somethin’ somethin’ (after all, nothing is free — “paid for by the state” equals taxpayer dollars).

Since we live in NYC, Josh and I have major plans of seeing ALL of the Met over time.  We have a map now, so we can pinpoint what exhibits/rooms we want to check out on a day off and just target those areas, so that we don’t get overwhelmed by it all (which is easy to do). I’ll keep you posted on how it goes…

The next day was the 4th, so we took Amanda to St. Patrick’s Cathedral…

photo from Sunlit Uplands

… the Love sculpture in Manhattan…

photo from city-data.com

…and Rockefeller Center…

But the day was not over yet.  We were part of that crazy mob of people that went to see the Macy’s fireworks over the Hudson.  And it. was. in-SANE.  If Times Square at New Year’s is worse than that (and I’m sure it is) I know that we will probably never participate in that mess.

We entered at 24th St., thinking it wouldn’t be as crowded and crazy as some of the entrances in Midtown, and while I’m sure that’s still true, it was madness nonetheless.  We got there at 7:45 for a show that started at 9:20 and of course, we were not one of the first groups to get there.  We would have arrived earlier, brought a picnic, whatever, but there were no port-a-potties or any public restrooms, and my intense fear over having to go to the bathroom but not having anywhere to go won out and we delayed our arrival.  In my mind, we were all going to be sitting on a lawn while watching the show, but in reality, everyone had to stand on the street facing the Hudson so the police could cram in as many people as possible.  And did I mention that people had the gall to smoke in the crowd?  Now that’s just tacky.  They could have waited.

Ok, but complaints aside, we did have a great time and the show was… well, amazing (perhaps you saw it on national TV?)

Yeah, my camera phone pics are poor representations of the show, but if this goofus picture of Josh says anything…

He wasn’t posing for that pic… this moment just happened organically.

While the fireworks show was spectacular, the whole mass-exodus-of-thousands-of-people-all-trying-to-get-onto-the-same-subway-train thing was pretty horrendous.  But it happened, we finally got home, went to bed, and left the next morning for a seriously long journey back to Atlanta.  Seriously long.

We eventually drove into Atlanta at about 2 a.m., all the while being accompanied by every top 40 and lite mix radio station in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.   (Whoa.  When I type it out like that, it’s a bit overwhelming to think about.  But we did it! — and without a bit of bad weather or car trouble!  Hallelujah!)

I think I’m still recovering.  I actually slept in Friday and Saturday mornings, which is not how I roll… so that’s weird (sleeping in = sleeping after 9:00 a.m.).  And part of the recovery process is getting that darn “so call me, maybe” song out of my head.  Aghhh….

But how about you?  Anyone else ever window shop at the Met? Or any other museum for that matter?  Or delay your arrival to a large event because of a nervous bladder?  Or get a really stupid top 40 song stuck in your head?  Share :)

A Trip to NYC and a Tyler Durden Refrigerator

I was in NYC this week to visit my dear sweet hubs, thus the week long blog silence on my end.  Whoops.  But I’ve just accepted this as a fact of this summer.  From August on, I will resume regularly scheduled programming… until then… whatever :)  I’ll do my best, and that is all.

Back to today’s blog:  For those who are slightly confused, I do indeed live with my husband most of the time, but I’ve been working in Atlanta for the past four weeks.  I still have three more weeks before I’m back in NYC for good (or as good as I’ll ever be).  However, I had this whole week off so I decided to visit Josh.

Now Josh was under the impression I was flying to LaGuardia just as he was getting of work on Saturday (“how convenient!”) while in reality I went all sneaky snake on him and invited his sister and our dogs along and DROVE all day Saturday.

This happened:

That’s a lot of freaking miles.

Aside from that, I didn’t get a chance to get any more pictures because I was afraid it would tip off Josh (the cameras on our phones are connected to Dropbox on our home computer, so whenever one of us takes a picture, a little notification pops up).  I also didn’t use my debit card in case he checked the bank account and saw a transaction at an Exxon in North Carolina or a Subway in Maryland or whatever.  And I also turned off my phone for what would have been the duration of my “flight.”  These were just some of the ninja tactics I employed to keep up the ruse, not to mention the countless white lies I told him via text and on the phone that day.  My sister-in-law (and driving companion) noted that I was too good at quickly making up lies to which I assured her that I only use my powers for good.  No, really.

So… after 17 hours in a car, a huge enormous action-packed surprise for Josh, and a good night’s sleep, Amanda and I set about running a few errands Sunday morning (while Josh was at work).  The first order of business: go grocery shopping for Josh.

I can already hear the quasi-feminist backlash saying that he can just go grocery shopping himself, so to quiet those voices, let me just clarify something for you:  No, he cannot.  Don’t believe me?  For the doubtful, I decided to do a before and after picture of the refrigerator:

Remember Tyler Durden in Fight Club talking about the embarrassment of strangers learing he had nothing in his refrigerator but ketchup packets?

Yeah…

After a visit to Stop ‘n Shop (they have free parking in Brooklyn, so obviously I love them), here’s the de-Durden-ified result:

Blurry, I know.

Don’t worry, I got fresh produce, too (it’s hiding in the drawer).

After unpacking the groceries, we spent most of the day in Lower Manhattan, killing time until Josh got off work.  I took Amanda to the 911 memorial in Lower Manhattan which, as you may remember, Josh and I had visited back in April.

Since we were already in the area, we decided to check out the Fulton Stall Market and the shops around South Street Seaport.  And guess what?  I spent TWENTY TWO DOLLARS on a headband.  No really, hand to God.  And yeah, maybe right now you’re scrolling back up to the top of this webpage and going “Wait, I thought you were the ‘Ginger Penny Pincher’?”  I know, I know.  But look!  Isn’t it pretty?

I know… now you’re looking at it and thinking I could have made five headbands like this for the price of one.  I know… I KNOW!!!   (By the way, these are all things Josh said while shaking his head at me.)

But $22 or not, I was smitten, I wanted to buy it, and buy it I did.  And… I’ve basically worn it every day since then (if that gives me any credibility).  Sometimes you just have to splurge, even in the face of DIY adversity (and it’s not as bad as splurging on a $500 handbag, so… forgive me?)

Moving on.  In our mostly window shopping that day, we also visited a store called Superdry (which is actually named after a Japanese beer, so it has nothing to do with absorbent work-out clothing like we originally thought).  The store was pretty cool — like, if H&M and PacSun had a lovechild, it’d probably be this store.

However, my favorite part of this store was the chandelier that was hanging in the entrance:

It reminded me of the many mason jar pendant lights/chandeliers I’ve seen all over the Blogosphere and Pinterest, but better.  When I asked the sales associate how much the chandelier cost, he just laughed (he thought I was kidding).

We assumed this chandelier was unique to this particular location, but we also saw a smaller version at another Superdry location uptown.  Fabulous.

Oh wait! I’m not telling this in chronological order.  Before we did all of this stuff, we checked out the Dekalb Market in downtown Brooklyn (not to be confused with the Dekalb Farmers Market in Atlanta from this previous post).

And that’s when I got really excited about pictures:

It’s an open-air market with food and crafty/gift item tents, as well as a garden:

On the weekends, this area is full of tents with artists and vendors, however it’s still busy during the week as they have a few permanent shops built into old shipping containers:

(And they’re climate-controlled!)

Obviously, I love this place.  Repurposed items and building materials?  Check.  Unique, one-of-a-kind goods from local artists and vendors?  Check.  Cool industrial eclectic decor?  Check.

They even have planters made out of wooden pallets, and you know I love recycled wooden pallets.

I also hear they have great food, but it was so extraordinarily hot, we couldn’t handle much more than the hour we spent there, so we didn’t find out for ourselves (though ducking into the shipping containers with their AC units was a sweet relief).

As we were leaving we noticed these quirky little statues on the top of the shipping containers:

(For more info about the Dekalb Market, visit their website.)

Whew.  The 911 memorial, A grocery shopping marathon, a shipping container market, a $22 headband, and lots of other shopping, and that was just Sunday.  Fortunately, Josh had Monday through Wednesday off so we were able to spend time with him, too, but the other days weren’t nearly as ambitious as Sunday.  And that was perfectly fine with us.

But that’s all for today.  I’ll share the rest of our trip tomorrow, including a visit to the Met, Union Square, fireworks over the Hudson, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, and more sunscreen than you’ve probably ever worn in your life (unless you’re a sad little UV ray-challenged ginger like me… and then you might understand).

Until tomorrow :)

I moved to Atlanta!

That title is a it misleading, but I had to reel you in somehow.  Before I launch into the full meaning of that, let me explain the deal for the next eight weeks, two months, blahbitty blah number of days (I’m not interested in math right now).

I am currently in Atlanta, and will be for… that period of time mentioned above.  Yes, Josh and I are still married.  No, we are not separated (far from it). While Josh is staying back in NYC to work (and continue taking over the world, as he has been doing for some time), I will be choreographing for a children’s theatre for the summer.

It’s no blog secret that Josh and I are both actors and singers (primarily theatre) — thus, the reason for moving to NYC in the first place.  And the deal with NYC is that if you want to be a working actor, you must audition.  In order to audition, especially if you’re a musical theatre actor like me, you must be able to sing.  In order to sing, you have to be well.  And as you may remember this previous post I was not 100% (or even close) for like four months.  For real.  A combination of a sinus infection and then a bitchin’ case of the flu that hung on like a steroid-infused rock climber left me in a laryngitis-type state (and who knows? Maybe I had laryngitis too?).

This rendered me unable to go to any auditions during the prime “audition season” (which is basically February, March, and April)… so no prospects for summer work (again non-actors: to get work, you have to audition — recommendation letters just don’t work).  Boo.

Fortunately, God likes me to stay employed (at least for now), because somewhere around March, I was asked to return to teach for Atlanta Children’s Theatre for a third summer (even though the director knows I’ve moved to NYC, she thought I might be willing to come down for a few weeks — Hallelujah!).

I’m doing it for the love of the children (and the money).
{Source: Buckhead Patch}

Again, this isn’t a permanent move — I’ll just be in the ATL until the end of July.  However, while I’m here (and when I’m not choreographing), I will be milking the bejeesus out of my suburban surroundings.  I look forward to writing a slew of crafty posts with my crafty mama. I also hope to do some posts about Atlanta, especially since it is such an affordable and awesome city to live in and to visit!

Brace yourself GPP readers, it’s about to get reeeal Southern up in here!

Vacationing in the Big Easy: The Garden District and Day Trips

Psst!  While you’re reading this, Josh and I are driving down to Atlanta!  Two dogs, fourteen hours, and untold amounts of gas guzzled.  Eek!  Why, you ask?  Check back on Monday for the full scoop.

The French Quarter can be a busy, bustling place, chock full of locals and tourists (and smells).  So while you may enjoy the Quarter, you may also seek a day of quiet and serenity, which is exactly what the Garden District can offer.  (If you’ve seen Interview with a Vampire, you’re probably already familiar with the area.)

Perhaps what you’ll first notice about the Garden District are the tree-lined streets and Victorian mansions.  The Garden District is at a higher elevation that the rest of NOLA, so it has been (mostly) protected from hurricanes and tropical storms.  Because of this, it looks basically as it did two hundred years ago, when most of the homes were built (also credited to good maintenance and continual renovations by homeowners).

Walking from the Quarter would be quite ambitious (don’t do it), but you can drive and park on the street, or take the streetcar there (the St. Charles line will get you to the Garden District, which just so happens to be the oldest, continuously operating streetcar line in the world).  I recommend the streetcars — aside from the quaint interiors of mahogany seats, exposed bulbs, and iron railings, you’ll pass through tunnels of live oaks and get the best views of the antebellum mansions.

One notable Garden District spot — that Josh and I have never visited — is Commander’s Palace Restaurant.  Since we’ve never been, I can’t rave about the food and ambiance, but Zagat’s got their stickers all over that place and it’s considered the most popular NOLA restaurant. (It’s on our “next time in Nola” list, for sure).

After you finish strolling or driving by all of the beautiful houses, you can continue on foot to the beautiful and historic Audubon Park (named for John James Audubon, famous architect and painter of birds).  This park, with its walking trails and mature live oaks, actually makes me wish I had my tennis shoes with me every time we walk through it (I think if we lived in NOLA, I’d actually be a runner… and enjoy it).

If you’re feeling up to an activity, you can go check out nearby Audubon Zoo.  Aside from the usual zoo residents and attractions, this one is known for its ongoing swamplife exhibit and “Reptile Encounters” (they’ve got a Komodo dragon).

Like the Aquarium of the Americas, the Zoo is operated by the Audubon Nature Institute (visit that link for an array of details including schedules, prices, upcoming exhibits and other fancy-ness).

If you’ve got a car, you can drive about 10 minutes northeast into Mid City to Rock-n-Bowl.  This bowling alley features live music almost every night as well as Swing and Cajun dancing.  Though Josh and I have never been, it’s been given a high recommendation by a friend of ours who was stationed there in 2006-2007.  From what I’ve read, it’s one of the most popular Zydeco music and dance venues in NOLA, especially among locals… and of course, you can do a little bowling, too.

Perhaps if you’re really wanting a NOLA getaway or daytrip (and you brought your car with you),  there are many historic homes just minutes outside of the city:

• Oak Valley Plantation — One of the area’s most visited plantations (and when you see the alley of oaks framing the home you can see why).

Oak Alley Plantation

• Madewood Plantation — About 75 mi. west of NOLA — has its own B&B with antique furnishings

• Nottoway Plantation — About an hour north of NOLA’s airport — Gorgeous!

• Chalmette Battlefield and Beauregard House — Just seven miles downriver from the French Quarter, this house is a beautiful antebellum mansion located on the site of the last battle of the War of 1812 (The Battle of New Orleans) and the Chalmette Battlefield and Chalmette National Cemetery (of Civil War fame).

• Destrehan and Ormond Plantations — Both plantations are within 30 miles of NOLA and are part of the tapestry of this area’s rich history, having both been built in the late 1700’s.  Though only a mile and half apart, they are unique in their architectural styles

• Laura Plantation Home — It was at this plantation where the stories of Bre’er Rabbit were recorded.

• Houmas House Plantation — Immensely popular for tourists and a venue for weddings and events as well.

Hope these ideas help plan your next NOLA getaway!  To read the other NOLA travel posts from this week, check out this list:

The French Quarter

Treme and Frenchmen Street

Central Business District and the Riverwalk

Vacationing in the Big Easy: Treme and Frenchmen Street

You may remember from Monday’s post that I know quite a bit about the French Quarter.  And you may recall from Tuesday’s post that I also know a bit about the Riverwalk area and the Central Business District.  Today’s post will be much shorter as — Honesty Time — I know very little about Treme and Frenchmen Street in Marigny.

I’m a FRAUD!  No, not really.  I’ve visited these areas and enjoyed them, but I speak with far less authority than I do with other parts of NOLA (including tomorrow’s post about the Garden District), simply because I’ve spent less time there.  So… finger wagging and eye rolling from the locals aside, here’s my (slightly inexperienced) take on Treme-Lafitte, AKA Faubourg Treme, AKA just plain ol’ Treme (and yes, it’s the namesake and location for a really excellent HBO show).

Situated above the French Quarter, Treme is historically referred to as Faubourg Treme (“faubourg” meaning suburb in French).  Aside from being the oldest African-American neighborhood, Treme also has the Louis Armstrong Park, named for one of NOLA’s most famous residents.

Towards the south entrance of the park, you’ll find another historical attraction: 

Congo Square

In the 1800’s, slaves would meet here on Sundays and form drum circles.  These circles evolved to include more instruments and styles as well as dancing.  Most historians (and I’m sure nearly all Treme residents) agree that this is where jazz music was born.

Congo Square stands not only as a landmark in music history, but also as a popular music venue today.

West of the park — and technically in Iberville, not Treme — are St. Louis Cemteries #1 and #2.   In most other cities, historical cemeteries wouldn’t be all that remarkable (aside from the popular “Find the oldest tombstone” game… or are we the only ones who play that?).  However, in NOLA, due to the fact that most of the city is below sea level and due to NOLA’s rich Spanish and French history, the graves are all in above-ground vaults; in the St. Louis cemeteries, most of these vaults were constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries.   There are dozens of companies that offer tours throughout the cemeteries, though you are free to walk them yourself.

I can see how someone might see a tour through one of these “Cities of the Dead” as a bit morbid, but they really are quite beautiful and almost… romantic?  And it’s definitely a cool and unique experience that you won’t have in many other places.

Famous “residents” of St. Louis Cemteries (#1 and #2) include: Homer Plessy (of Plessy v. Ferguson fame), voodoo priestess Madame Marie Laveau, and dozens of statesmen and politicians.

Heading east of Treme into the neighborhood of Marigny, you’ll find what most locals agree is the home to the best jazz music in NOLA (and arguably, the world), Frenchmen Street.

{Source: Mary’s Ramblin’s}

As you walk down the street, you’ll spot a unique architectural style called Creole Cottages, most of which date back to the late 1790’s to the mid 1800’s.

Though the architecture is something to see, the main event on Frenchmen Street is the music.  Josh and I have not been to all of the jazz clubs there, though we have checked out (and loved) Spotted Cat , the Apple Barrel, and d.b.a. (which has an incredibly extensive alcohol list).

Other Frenchmen street jazz clubs include:

• The Blue Nile Night Club
• Cafe Negril
• Igor’s Check Point Charlie’s
• Dragon’s Den
• Hookah Cafe
• La Maison de la Musique
• The Praline Connection
• Manahan’s 13
• Snug Harbor
• Mimi’s in the Marigny

Of course, these clubs do not play jazz music exclusively — some feature blues, R&B, and Rock and Roll, among other styles.  However, it’s the jazz music (and dancing) that gives this area its appeal to tourists and locals alike.  Check out their official website for more info (that’s right, a street gets its own website).

That’s it for today, kids!  See?  I told you I was no authority on the subject of Treme and Frenchmen Street.  However, it is my hope that some of what I’ve mentioned today will pique your interest when planning a NOLA vacay, and perhaps you’ll feel like venturing forth from the Quarter (though we all love the Quarter).  Check back tomorrow for my last NOLA post — I’ll be talking about the Garden District and outlying areas, including NOLA day trip ideas.

And since this was not my area of expertise today, please feel free to leave any helpful comments, suggestions, and tips for visiting the areas north of the Quarter.  

Delicious restaurants?  Music venues?  Activities?  Historical landmarks?  Secret shopping spots?  Share any and all!

Check out my previous NOLA travel posts…

The French Quarter

The Riverwalk and Central Business District

Vacationing in the Big Easy: The Riverwalk and Central Business District

Yesterday, I talked about New Orleans’ French Quarter —  Today’s all about the Riverwalk, Central Business District, and Algiers Point.  Ready?!

First:

The Riverwalk

Look at those cute little honeymoon dumplings!

The Riverwalk in New Orleans is… well,  exactly what it sounds like.  A place to walk by the river.  (So unexpected, I know.)  However, what’s amazing about this particular riverwalk (a lot of cities have them) is that it is smack dab next to the Mississippi River… as in the Mighty Mississip’… Ol’ Man River… the playground of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Jim.  Yeah, that river.

So aside from its obvious historical and cultural value, it’s also a great place for strolling, picnicking, and photo-opping.  Then, after you’ve Instagrammed your face off, you can catch a ride on the Steamboat Natchez and enjoy an authentic New Orleans meal accompanied by live jazz music (check the website for schedules and pricing).

A little further down the Riverwalk (southwest), you’ll find the Riverwalk Marketplace, a shopping and dining destination, featuring everything from national retail chains to local NOLA shops, as well as over 15 restaurants.  The Riverwalk Marketplace is also home to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (somewhere that Josh and I have never visited, but how can it be bad?).

Pre-Katrina, the Riverwalk was a great place to shop, but the revival of this place has been a bit slow going since the storm.  However, every time Josh and I visit, we see more and more quality stores open, and it’s getting closer to what I knew it to be visiting there as a child in the mid to late 90’s.  (And the last time we visited was January 2011, so who knows what kind of improvements have been made since then?).

Like, the Riverwalk Marketplace, the Shops at Jax Brewery are another unique retail destination in NOLA.  Housed in the old Jax Brewery, they no longer make beer (locals often agree it was the worst beer ever made), but they do have an array of local and national retail shops and two food courts.

{Source: Solo Friendly}

Across the river you can see Algiers point, NOLA’s second oldest neighborhood, accessible by bridge or the Algiers Ferry (out of Canal Street in the Central Business District).  Though Josh and I have never visited the Point on any of our trips, it’s definitely on our list for the next time we go.  Aside from an incredible view of the French Quarter, Algiers Point is also home to a lot of original architecture, much of it dating back to the mid 1800’s.

From the same point where you take the Algiers Ferry at Canal Street, you’ll also find the Entergy Imax theatre and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, both great places for kids and adults alike.  Exhibits change constantly (check their websites), but one of their main features is a large tank featuring marine life native to the Gulf of Mexico.

Near the Aquarium, you’ll also find another major tourist attraction:  Harrah’s Casino.  Josh and I are big fans because you can have a little fun, spend $10 at the slot machines, and have unlimited free drinks of any variety brought to you while you play.  Of course, we rarely win and we put a $20 cap on the amount of money we’ll gamble — slot machines only, but it’s a good way to get free drinks and we probably would have spent more than $20 if we had gone to a bar and ordered even two martinis, so we think it’s a good value (it’s a Foster-Donahue Travel Secret… shhh…..).

 Central Business District

Aside from being a business hub and home to the Superdome, the Central Business District isn’t exactly a top tourist destination, so I won’t spend an incredible amount of time discussing it.  However, the CBD also holds two more of the aforementioned Foster-Donahue Travel secrets, so I had to devote a little blog space to it.

The average tourist vacationing to NOLA will probably seek a hotel or inn in the heart of the French Quarter, which makes perfect sense on paper.  However, in my experiences growing up and visiting NOLA with Josh, we have found that while the French Quarter hotels are one-of-a-kind, beautiful, historical, all of those good things, they don’t tend to have the most comfortable beds and also tend to sit on busy (read: noisy) streets, so a good nights’ sleep is not usually in the cards.

Our choice of lodging is always the Drury Inn & Suites located on Poydras Street in — you guessed it — the Central Business District.  Of course, there are a lot of other great hotels in this area, but my father racks up a lot of free stays with the traveling he does for work, so this is usually the most economic choice for us, too.  (However, even if it wasn’t a free or discounted stay, I think we’d still go with them.)

The hotel is not in the French Quarter, where we spend most of our NOLA vacation time, but we’re youngins who don’t mind walking, so the quarter mile from the French Quarter is still totally worth it.  Not to mention, we’re super close to our favorite NOLA restaurant (hunker down for F.D.T. Sectret #3), Mulate’s.

The drinks are great and the food is outta control (try the blackened alligator with remoulade sauce).  And to further the charm that is Mulate’s, they have live Zydeco music and dancing nightly, usually starting around 7:00 p.m.  And did I mention it’s our favorite New Orleans restaurant?  It’s perfect.  We set out to go at least once every trip and usually go twice.

That’s it for today!  Of course, there’s more to these neighborhoods than I’ve mentioned — this is just the stuff we’re most familiar with.  To learn more about NOLA’s Riverwalk and CBD, check out New Orleans Online (quite possibly one of the best tourism websites for any city that I’ve ever seen).

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up the Wedding series, but if brides, bouquets, and boutonnieres aren’t your thing, come back on Thursday where we’ll go “down in the Treme” (just me and my baby, we all goin’ crazy, just jammin’ and havin’ fun – woo!).

(Please tell me someone else watches the HBO series Treme?  It’s sooo good, it hurts me.)

Check out the previous NOLA post: The French Quarter