New Orleans 2013

We are back from New Orleans! We had a great trip and I would recommend going if you have never been before.  It was very different and it honestly took be about a day to get use to. During the first day, I kept thinking I am not a fan of this place, but as the week went on it was a  lot of fun!! It is just a completely different world down there! Ha! For those of you who have been, know exactly what I am talking about.

We ate more food than we should of and saw so many neat things while we were there. We ate seafood I think every meal and it was so good. Some of the best food I have ever had!
Friday we just hung out, exploring the town and we had one of my favorite meals friday night. We went to Copeland's Cheese Cake Restaurant... it is a branch of the original Copeland's (we always eat there when we are in AR). It was amazing!! They had some of the best New Orleans Fried Chicken I have ever tasted! Later that night, we picked Will and Michelle up from the airport.

We stayed at the Olivier House.. it was a very unique hotel right in the middle of the French Quarter. It was your typical "new orleans" hotel and if you want the true feel of the town it is a great place to stay and the location was perfect. I loved being right in the middle of the French Quarter, there was always something going on and everything was in walking distance. The hotel is not even a block form Bourbon St. So that was neat that we were so close, but we could also get away from it if we needed.

Saturday morning we went on a swamp tour and this was probably one of my favorite things we did. We were out there for over 2 hours and saw lots of alligator and heard some pretty funny stories! The life down there is just so different. The rest of the afternoon, we walked all over downtown! I don't think we missed a street. We road the street car and bus as well trying to get all through the town. There are some pretty neat things to see.

Sunday it rained in the morning, so we spent all day at the World War II Museum. We got there at 10:00am and didn't get through until after 3:00..we did have a little lunch break in the middle but still-you could be in there for hours! It was so interesting and we also watched the movie "Beyond All Boundaries" by Tom Hanks. It was about an hour long and it was a 4D movie.. it was crazy and so interesting. If I had to pick one thing to recommend to do in New Orleans, this would by far be it.

Monday, we toured the famous St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and it was so weird! New Orleans is so "weird" in general but this was just strange. As most of you know, they have to have all the graves above ground because of the sea level, but actually seeing this was weird.  I am so use to seeing out very clean, structured cemeteries and even those thee were above ground, it was just a mess and seemed "run down" and dirty... but thats just how it is down there. They were all crammed in there and some were broken and very dirty. It was neat to see, but very different.

We also made many trips to Cafe Du Monde, did some shopping, ate a ton of crawfish and lots more- it would take me forever to share our whole trip.

We now have one day to unpack, do laundry, re-pack leave for camp!! I had a blast last year and have been looking forward to it since we got back last year. Mitch is going as a nurse and I am a leader and have a group of girls! I am really looking forward to seeing God show up and bless these students this week! We loved being so involved in Bentonville and miss it, but we love our new lifegroup and know it is exactly where God wants us. I am just thankful we are still able to go back to Bentonville and help with events!!