Halloween in New Orleans 2014

Some would say that Halloween lasts an entire month in New Orleans...others might say that Halloween lasts all year long! We had a very festive October here in the Big Easy. We took a pumpkin patch road trip across Southern Louisiana. We went to the most awesome performance of Rocky Horror at this place called The Allways Lounge. We took a trip south to Houma for the annual Rougarou Festival and spent another day at a Fall Festival at the San Francisco Plantation. On October 30, we costumed for the Krewe of Boo Parade in the French Quarter- I was a fortune telling gypsy and Matt went as one of my tarot cards! On Halloween, we headed back to the French Quarter for people watching, and of course another excuse to wear costumes! Here are some of our photos!



Rocky Horror!

 

Halloween Night Costumes: Hunter S Thompson & his partner in crime :)

 

Oktoberfest on the River Road

Every year, the nearby town of Kenner, LA hosts 3 weekends full of German food, beer and music. We decided to check it out this year. We watching a yodeling contest, ate German sausages on pretzel buns, bought delicious cinnamon roasted nuts to take home and listened to some live traditional German music. We went on October 10 but the festival runs through October 25.

From the Swamp to the Zoo

The first weekend in October was a great one... not only was the weather hovering around 80 degrees with no humidity, we had visitors! We went to the zoo, strolled through the swamp and took a ghost tour. In the swamp we saw snakes, lots of spiders, frogs, alligators, beautiful birds and lots of other creepy crawlies. Here are some of our photos!

Joey K's and Rocket Fire Pizza

This week we tried 3 new restaurants! We went to a little café on Decatur in the French Quarter name Fiorella's. It actually turned out to be pretty bad and I don't say that just because I saw a rat run by the table. The food was bad too! We went to a cute place on Magazine Street called Joey K's. The onion rings we ordered for an appetizer were the best part of our meal...but they were really good! We also went to Rocket Fire Pizza. We're trying to branch out and try new pizza places- it's hard since we've found a few pizza bakeries we love. Of course, we are still keeping count of all the restaurants we try. This week, we are at 178!

Saturday Stroll through Uptown

We spent part of our Saturday strolling through the residential streets in Uptown. Houses in these neighborhoods rent for thousands (yes, plural) of dollars per month. We've seen a few of the larger homes online with rental rates in the tens of thousands per month. While we'll never live in one, they are surely pretty to look at!

 

 

Moonrise in the Swamp

We talk about getting up early for the sunrise, but what about the moonrise? I am a member of a women's group that gets together for walks, craft nights and inspirational events throughout the year. On this Sunday in September, we met at the swamp for a wordless meditative walk to watch the moonrise. The walk was lovely. The crickets and tons of other creatures were coming to life as the sun went down and it was truly like music. We saw more spiders than we could count, frogs, giant crickets, a snake and birds. At the end of the boardwalk, we sat for probably 30 minutes, taking in the night and the sounds, gazing at the stars, and finally breaking the silence for some snacks and contemplative thought sharing. Then, it was about a walk back through the swamp to get back to the cars. It was just the kind of retreat I needed from the city and the world of work. Here are a few of my photos...

Audubon Aquarium and Visitors from Tennessee

Labor Day weekend flew by... we were lucky enough to have family visitors but the time went by too fast. Niki, Brian and Caitlin came to see us and during their visit we went to the Audubon IMAX and Aquarium and ate some great food. We went to Dick & Jenny's for brunch, New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company, Mannings, Dolce Vita Pizza and of course Café Du Monde. Here are a few pictures...