Welcome to Chopped Tulips Street...aka Tchoupitoulas Street

Trivia Time

State flower? Magnolia

Mayor? Mitchel J. Landrieu

State with the most stable population? Louisiana

Street name of the grocery store?  Tchoupitoulas Street

How do you spell it? …

Name of the grocery store? Rousse’s

State bird? Pelican

How excited is Kathryn (scale of 1-10)?  100

Why does New Orleans only have above ground cemeteries? high water table

What does po’ boy short for? Poor Boy

What’s the difference between Creole and Cajun?  Creole: Spanish and Caribbean influences

Cajun: French and some Italian influences

What river is actually the longest in the U.S.: Mississippi or Missouri? Missouri (Mississippi is the largest by volume)

True or False: Some people call Hurricane Katrina a "man made disaster" because the storm didn't directly hit New Orleans.  Rather, the levees weren't built deep enough and failed.  TRUE

True or False: Sandra Bullock has a house in New Orleans. TRUE

True or False: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie also have a house in New Orleans.  TRUE.

Where is the house from "American Horror Story" Located?" In New Orleans, Garden District, corner of Jackson and Colesium Street!

 

"The Beast" Day One Part II

Written by Kathryn

The Beast

“Which one is ours?” –Colin

“The gold one.” –Rental Car Rep.

“Uh…so which one?” –Colin

“The GOLD one.” –Rental Car Rep.

“Oh…ok…well I’m colorblind so…”

The Beast. The Tank. BRUCE…is the biggest S.U.V. I’ve ever seen. It’s not very practical for the streets of New Orleans, but we take what we can get.

Upon our attempted departure from the parking garage (one group in the S.U.V. and the other in a slick white Hyundi), we first couldn’t seem to understand why there was a “Do Not Enter” sign, that was followed a few feet behind with an “Enter” sign.  HOW DO WE EXIT? Mind blown.

“So, where’s the car?”

Then, we’re trying to get out of the gate, and the woman just does not understand why our paperwork says we’ve rented an S.U.V. and we’re riding in a Hyundi.  We eventually were able to explain…

Mother’s (est. 1938)

We all love mother’s cooking.  Whether it’s your mom or someone else’s, the food just comes out so much better when they do it.  We waited in the beautiful sunshine at Mother’s Restaurant, which I overheard is the place to get the best food in New Orleans, and according to the sign it has “the best baked ham.”  It’s cafeteria-style, popular, and run like a tight-ship.

Look at the line!

They're jazzed we're here. We're jazzed we're here!

I can now attest to the truth of the sign for best baked ham, as I ate an entire Freri special, which is a renowned and LOADED po’ boy with baked ham, roast beef, and “debris” (the little pieces of the roast beef that fall off when you’re carving), lettuce, mustard, and au ju gravy.  It wasn’t my absolute favorite sandwich, but I was hungry and it was authentic New Orleans food.  Other orders among the 10 adventurers ranged from shrimp or debris po’ boys to salad, to a big-as-your-face stack of pancakes with blueberries.  We were stuffed. 

1PM Disaster: Luggage Down/Colin’s Panic-Stricken Face

The fast-forwarded version of this mini-slip up: We left Mother’s, and Beth was doing her thing and driving the Beast, when all of the sudden…Colin beeped frantically.  Bruce’s trunk was wide open to reveal a gaping hole where THREE of our prized luggages should have been.  Where were they now? In the middle of the street.  According to Colin, the people that luckily stopped their car to allow him to gather the stray luggage laughed and welcomed him to New Orleans.  Everything had gone oh so smoothly up until now, this was bound to happen! ;)

Arrival at Molly’s House

We’re staying at Molly’s House, which is a house owned by Trinity Church, built after Hurricane Katrina to welcome service groups.

A series of “oohhs” and “aahhs” carried us across the threshold into our spacious abode at which point Colin commented, “Welcome to the Real World: New Orleans.”  Everyone erupted in laughter.

Beth and Colin (our leaders) took beds upstairs, while the 8 girls quickly chose bunk beds downstairs, put sheets on them, and “tested them out.”  Aka everyone was asleep within the half hour.  Unsurprisingly, Kathryn was up within 30 minutes, with Casey not far behind.  

 Everyone else rested awhile longer while Beth, Colin, Casey, Kathryn, and Abigayel took to the streets to find a coffee shop and check out the local grocery store.

"Don't go anywhere!" Don't do anything. -Colin

And all that JAZZ…

After a walk along the Mississippi River and down one of the streets in the French Quarter, we made our way to Preservation Hall to hear authentic New Orleans Jazz. 

[Side note: Kathryn faced a very heart-attack-like scare when a skate-boarder came right at her and squealed like a girl while Kathryn was taking a picture.  Kathryn threw her hands up and jumped a foot in terror.   

Everyone thought it was funny.  Kathryn did not. ;) ]

The venue was packed.  We sat right in front, on floor cushions.   I was so close that I could’ve polished the musicians’ shoes.  The band filled up the room with it’s swingin’ sounds of the city’s iconic jazz. 

Each musician closed his eyes and tapped his foot to the rhythm that whisked away to another time in history.  Although the musicians (trombonist, trumpet player, clarinetist, bass player, drummer, and a very young pianist) all told their own musical story, the music interlaced in the air and reached our ears in a pleasing, toe-tapping melody.  The music was in and around us.  It could’ve gone on and on… Staple songs included “The Basin Blues” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” 

Visitors drank beer from the neighboring renowned Pat O’Brien’s, sipped coffee, sat contentedly, clapped to the beat, or simply ogled in amazement (the last was Kathryn).  The experience was unparalleled. 

A man at the back of the audience summed up the show well.  “#worthit”

10pm Beignets and Café au Lait

Beignets (ben-yays) are a mouth-watering doughnut like piece of heaven coated in powdered sugar.  Café au Lait (cafey-olé) is coffee and milk.

We reveled in the extraordinary taste of this combination at the well-known “Café du Monde.”  No table nor guest left without powdered sugar all over it/him/her.  You can guess what the most popular and basically only order might be…  

[Yes, Mom, I got decaf.  xo, Kathryn]

This has been a reflection brought to you by Kathryn.

Over and Out.

“The Lite Bright Life of Some Meek Rat Adventurers” Day One Part I

[Co-authored by Kathryn and Casey]

It’s Go Time.

4:30 am The morning is brisk, but the spirits are high.

8:00 am Welcome to our New Orleans Adventure Blog.  The month is March, the days are frosty, and spring break 2015 has finally arrived.  As the wings of the Southwest plane tilt, we (Casey and Kathryn) look out upon the snow-covered tiny little cities and towns. We imagine increasingly warmer weather and good times as the miles between us and the grand ol’ historic city of New Orleans melt like the snowflakes so omnipresent in our imagination.

Let’s rewind a little a bit.  If we think in terms of, say, statistics, we’d argue that 2 in 10 people in our airport carpool should have been categorized as chatterboxes.  Chatty Kathies.  Ferbies. The kind you want to lock in the closet.  At 4am. 

Discussion ranged from Casey’s “meek rat” encounters (meerkats) to Kathryn’s childhood nostalgia of lite-brights and their striking similarity to New Jersey bridges and city skylines pre-sunrise. 

The excitement was just too much to handle!  (Well, for us at least.) Despite Kathryn’s overly-tightened blue shoelaces and Casey’s unfortunate tummy ache, these Stags were ready for adventure.  The cab driver (speedy little devil), had every intention of arriving to the airport in an exceedingly timely fashion.  And that we did.

3 Eggs in a Pan.

Make it to the airport. Check.  Make it through security.  Well…eventually. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the tale of a 6am security check.

“That girl put three eggs in a pan this morning.” –Kath

“What?” –Casey

Kathryn overheard this enthusiastic breakfast declaration from a fellow airportian as we waited in line.

First selfie break for the team (minus Beth)!  Let’s just say not everyone was photo-ready.  (See Kathryn’s FB for details).

Moving on.  Casey’s footwear choice of boots with the fur (jk, but sky high metal zippers), resulted in a stand-off with the scanner.  Casey walked out in socks.  Kathryn knew who won that argument.

Likewise, Kathryn was pulled over by a security officer for a bag check.  Long story short, her privacy was temporarily invaded, the bag was fine, and she got to ask her question.  Aka, he woke up at 2 am.  Nice guy. 

Simultaneously, Casey and Kathryn exchanged confused looks as they watched Jess with her lack of ID scurry down the hall on the opposite side of the glass.  We later met up with her and Abigayel on our way to the gate.  To this day, the details of her strange absence remain unknown.

Three Boys and Their Hats.

Upon arrival at gate A14, we realized we weren’t dressed for the occasion.  We’d forgotten the all-too common headwear of the 21^st century “seasoned” spring break travelers.  One might call them safari hats, straw caps, or even “Southern sombreros.”   In any case, we didn’t have them, nor did we rise to the occasion of some of our co-airportians who proudly and suavely sported the crisp, clean cut, and white collar look of the all-white suit set.  You go, trend-setting comrades.

8:30 am Pretzels or Peanuts?
Peanuts. 

“Who’s Thirsty?” says the napkin.

“Kathryn!” says the Casey.

This has been a live report from Seats 11 D&E, Kathryn and Casey.

Over and out.