Nawlins

No, I didn't pronounce it "Nawlins" ever, but I thought that was a fun title for the post.  We white folks from Denver just say "New Orlins".  I think that's at least better than saying "New Orleeens", right? 

Bourbon Street

My memory of the fabulous weekend is already fading seeing as how it's been about two weeks since we went... and in between then and now was this fiasco.  But, thankfully, as you might have guessed, I took about 600 pictures to record the fabulous-ness of it all.  Despite it raining most of the trip, I honestly can say it was one of our favorite little getaways yet!  Not only was it an awesome place to visit for a wedding, but we got to spend time with some of my dearest friends from high school, whom I've now known for about 20 years!  How did that happen?  Though time and distance keep us apart, we always have such a great time together, and I'm so thankful for their friendships!

I won't bore you with all 600 pictures (but if you're interesed in them all, I widdled them down a bit and put up an album here), but here's a quick run down of our trip.  When I look back at this post six months from now longing for a no-baby-getaway, I'll be thankful to have at least put this all in one place :)

Day 1 (Thursday):
Well, it was snowing quite a bit in Denver, but that wasn't our problem - the severe thunderstorms in New Orleans were.  So after a delay, we finally made it in (and after lots and lots of bumps in the air... oh my).  We caught a cab to our hotel, were surprised to find we got upgraded to a two-bedroom condo (woah), and decided to wander around (rain be damned!).  Our hotel was on Frenchmen Street at the very edge of the French Quarter, and we LOVED the area.  We ran into locals that said it's the place to be if you're not wanting to be super touristy (and super wasted) on Bourbon, so we were thankful to find the little boutique hotel in the middle of the "hipsters" part of town.  Of course.  We wandered into the French Quarter a bit, got hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's of course, grabbed dinner at the Gumbo Shop, got suckered into a 10 minute massage at a random foot reflexology place (they were everywhere!), and then came back to our neck of the woods and enjoyed awesome music at the little bars around the hotel.  It was a wonderful night.  We were in awe of New Orleans beautiful architecture and vibrant streets.  The music in just about every bar was ridiculous.  We could have walked around forever!

our cute hotel

view from our hotel of Frenchmen St

some samples of the music:

Day 2: 
We ventured back into the French Quarter to get beignets at the legendary Cafe Du Monde.  Luckily we did that morning, because every time we passed it afterwards, it had crazy lines.  (The hype was legit, though... it was delicious!)  We met up with some old buddies of mine from high school who were also in town for the wedding (and the groom!) and cruised around the Quarter with them for a bit.  After splitting ways, Matt and I caught the trolley just to check out areas outside of the Quarter (and escape the rain) and then hopped off near the Warehouse District to grab lunch at Butcher (the day-part of Cochon)... wow, so delicious!  We ventured back into the Quarter (through the rain), killed time by getting a pedicure (even Matt!), picked up a super-touristy frozen banana daiquiri for the walk, and finally made it back to get ready for dinner.  The rehearsal dinner was at a fancy restaurant downtown called Brennan's, and it was fun to see everyone and enjoy a tasty dinner.  Afterwards, we hit up Pat O's once again and then ventured out on Bourbon Street.  There are no words for that place!  If it was this crazy on a random Friday night, I can't even imagine what Mardi Gras is like :)

sorry for my appearance - it was raining most of the day!

so touristy!

Love these guys!!

bride and groom!!

Day 3:
Wedding Day!  We met up with some of the guys (and the groom) at Johnny's Po-Boys for a late breakfast and started to cruise around the Quarter when it started raining (of course).  We snuck inside an oyster bar for drinks and to ride out the rain.  And after splitting ways, Matt and I cruised the Quarter once again and found some awesome music and lots of cute boutiques.  Kari (finally!) made her way in, and after eating some tasty southern cuisine across the street from our hotel, we had just enough time to get ready for the wedding and head to catch the bus.  The wedding was out at City Park, and the rain was kind enough to let up.  It was beautiful (and a little chilly)!  And though the wedding was awesome, I think the best part was the traditional wedding parade they did once we got back into the city!  They had a four-piece jazz band lead the way while Nate and Kate carried adorable umbrellas and marched us through the streets while the guests waved white handkerchiefs.  It was so fun!!  The reception was absolutely gorgeous, and we all stuffed our faces and danced the night away.  Of course we headed out to Bourbon Street once more before we all had to leave, and it was a great night (including some of the most hilarious dancing I've ever seen firsthand - these videos don't even do it justice.  Andy went into multiple bars and danced like he owned the place.  He even got "challenged" at one bar" and nicknamed "007".  Amazing)

for Suzie!

getting ready for the parade through the streets!

arriving at the reception! a glimpse at the parade (video courtesy of Adam):

Heading back to Bourbon Street:

a little 007 dance action:

footage of the danceoff:

Day 4:
Bad weather was once again our nemesis.  A huge storm was hitting Denver (12" of snow!), so our flight got delayed quite a bit.  We were all pretty tired, but we managed to make it back to Cafe Du Monde and to catch the French Market as well.  We even made it to Acme so Matt could get some fresh oysters before we headed back to our land-locked home.  Sadly, our flight got even more delayed once we got to the airport, but eventually we made it home safely to see our cute baby boy (we had to wake him up - I needed a hug!!).

Here's the little guy we missed so much! Judging by these pictures we got, he didn't miss us all that much :) {thank you, Mimi and Papa, for making the weekend possible!!}

yay for forts!