Fort Worth

Happy Easter everyone! Today John and I drove from New Orleans to Ft. Worth. On the drive, we ran into some pretty stormy weather and had to pull off on the side of the highway for a bit, but thankfully we arrived safely! We almost ran out of gas on the drive, too, which would have put a bit of a damper on things, but it's pretty funny why we had the predicament. Being in Louisiana we wanted to give ourselves enough time to find gas, (the exits are sparse and the chance that there is food or gas at the exit is even more rare), so we started searching about half an hour before we would need some. When the storm came through, the winds were very strong, gusts of about 60 miles an hour. When we saw an exit that seemed to have food and gas, we were excited- it was the first town we had seen in about 45 minutes, the storm had just hit so John and I really had to use the restroom (we had been driving for almost 5 hours at this point, too), and we were pumped to fill up on gas and grab a bite to eat. As we drove into the town, we thought it was really strange that no lights were on in any of the store locations. We stopped at a McDonalds, it was closed. The Wendy's and Burger King were the same. Although disappointed and hungry, John and I thought they were maybe closed for Easter... Until we arrived at the gas station. The place was locked up and the pumps weren't on, weird. Turns out when the storm passed through, the power went out in the ENTIRE little town! John and I had to go to the bathroom really bad at this point, so I thought maybe a hotel would have a generator. The hotel did not have a generator, but the friendly receptionist was kind enough to allow us to use the lobby bathroom- John and I just had to use the flashlights on our phone in the bathroom! After finally using the bathroom, we weighed our options- stay in this town until they got the power up and running or drive 60 miles to the next town with gas. We opted to take the risk and make our way further north to the next city. With about 40 miles remaining, the gas light went on. We just made it to the gas station! By the time we arrived we were running on fumes!

After we got to Fort Worth, John's Uncle Sam and his wife, Madelene showed us where we would be staying- John's uncle's condo! It's a great location and we couldn't be more pumped or grateful for such an awesome place to stay!!

Sam and Madelene took us to an amazing restaurant called Reata. We were seated at a great outdoor table on the roof and had a good view of the city around us. John and I decided to be adventurous and we started out with Calf Fries and Cream Gravy, a southern specialty. For those of you unaware of what Calf Fries are, they are cow testicles- yum (haha). They were actually pretty good, I wouldn't knock 'em until you tried them yourself. Then, we got a delicious sampler platter to split- if you look at the picture, the items are listed in order from top to bottom: Polenta Star, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp, Smoked Quail with Jalapeño Cheddar Grits and Molasses Barbecue Glaze, Jalapeño and Cheese Elk Sausage, Fried Calamari with Cowboy Cocktail Sauce, and Tenderloin Tamales with Pecan Mash. An amazing assortment of true Texan cuisine!

After dinner we walked next door to a tiny gelato store and treated ourselves to some scrumptious dessert! We then took a walk around the downtown Fort Worth area. It's a beautiful city and I can't wait to see more of it over the next few days!

I apologize if this blog post isn't formatted the same way as my other recent posts. This is our first location without wifi so I'm giving my blog app a try! I've been excited to use the app, so we'll have to see how this post turns out! :)

Cochon Butcher, Garden District, and a New Orleans Cemetery

I wanted to start off this blog post by thanking all of my readers!  The blog has gotten over 2,500 views, and I’ve been excitedly watching the view count increase over the last few days, and today it breached a mile-stone number!  I love writing about our adventures and what we are doing on our journey, and I’m so happy that you are all reading and checking back to see what’s new on the blog!  Thanks everyone!!

Last night John and I had an awesome time on Bourbon Street.  The people that visit New Orleans are so ridiculous, and with 3 for 1 drink specials, I can understand why people are drunk at 6pm.  John and I had a very entertaining time people watching during our dinner last night!  After dinner we enjoyed the sites, drink specials, and live music!

Today we decided to start off our day with lunch at an unbelievably delicious place called Cochon Butcher.  John and I ordered three different items and shared them – the Duck Pastrami Sliders, Pancetta Mac-n-Cheese, and the Cochon Muffaletta with House Meats and Olive Salad.  I can’t even attempt to write about how amazing lunch was.  The Duck Pastrami Sliders were unlike anything I had ever had, but SO GOOD!  And the Pancetta Mac-n-Cheese was the best Mac-n-Cheese I have ever had the pleasure of spooning into my mouth – its delectable cheesy goodness was unreal. (Are you salivating yet while reading this post?)

After lunch, we drove to the New Orleans Garden District, where we visited a cemetery and also walked around the neighborhoods admiring the beautiful houses.  New Orleans cemeteries are quite strange – since the water table is so high, the bodies need to be buried above ground.  Instead of having several mausoleums scattered throughout a cemetery and the majority of burial spots being gravestones with a body buried beneath, in New Orleans all the bodies are kept above ground.  This leads to a very interesting look – as you can see from the pictures, it is very strange to have all of the large, ornate mausoleums and no gravestones.  And if there are gravestones, it is on a raised plot of land, so that the bodies are still buried underground!  It was very interesting to walk around and take in the abnormality of the cemetery – definitely not something that we are used to up north!

Once we had gotten our fill of walking around the cemetery (it was a bit creepy since all of the mausoleums don’t appear to get much care and most are falling apart), we decided to walk around the Garden District and admire all of the amazingly gorgeous houses in the area.  The Garden District is a very wealthy area and it’s where many of the celebrities in the area live.  Each house was more stunning than the next, so it was really fun to walk around enjoying the beautiful day (another 75 degree sunny day, eat your heart out Buffalo), and admire all the gorgeous properties!

John and I don’t have much planned for tonight, but we are going to have to go to bed early, as tomorrow is a long drive to Texas to visit John’s Uncle Sam and his wife Madelene, who will be showing us around the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the next few days!  We are hoping to wake up early to give ourselves ample time for the ten-hour drive and be able to arrive in Ft. Worth in time for some Easter dinner! 

John and I really loved our time in New Orleans and were discussing this morning that if this part of the country wasn’t so hot (John would die during a Louisiana summer for sure), we would consider moving here instead of California.  The vibe of New Orleans, the people, the food, and the sites, are all really amazing here.  If you’ve never been, start saving and make it your next vacation.  I feel like we could be here for a month and not run out of things to do and good food to eat.  Both of us are surprised at how much we enjoyed the city, and we are both hoping that we visit here again – maybe next time for Mardi Gras!

The home above, (you can see the stone in the bottom right of the pic), was where the first and only president of the Confederate States of America died

Drove past the Superdome on the way back from the Garden District

Plantation Tours and the French Quarter

Today John and I decided that even though the plantations were located a little outside of New Orleans, we would take a drive and check them out while we were in the area. The first plantation we went to was the San Francisco Plantation, which used to be a sugar plantation of almost 1,500 acres. We walked around the grounds and then took a tour of the main house, which we both found very interesting. Next, we drove to the Oak Alley Plantation, where we just walked around the grounds and decided to skip a second house tour. Similar to the San Francisco Plantation, Oak Alley was also a sugar plantation back in the day. After the first two, we stopped at the St. Joseph and Laura Plantations, but the admission costs were too high so we decided to skip them. 

After the plantation tours, John and I chose to eat dinner at a great place called Desire Oyster Bar on Bourbon Street.   We ordered a bunch of different appetizers because we wanted to be able to try a bunch of local favorites without getting too full and having leftovers.  We had Oysters Desire, which was oysters doused in house Parmesan and garlic butter, ½ dozen oysters raw on the half shell, Turtle soup with citrus and sherry, and the Crawfish Etouffee, which was sautéed crawfish tails smothered in Cajun sauce and steamed rice.  Dinner was amazing and we were seated at a table that had open doors to the street – we got dinner and a show!  Bourbon street is amazing, and so is New Orleans, I love the vibe of this city!

Pics from the French Quarter:

 our amazing Oyster Desire and Turtle Soup

Raw Oysters on the half shell and and the Crawfish Etouffee

3 for 1 drink specials.  For 6 drinks it was only $14!

A Grandma having the time of her life

Live band walking through the streets

Person directing the fire truck haha