I’m not sure there are many things as enjoyable as having your house completely packed up in one day and knowing you didn’t pack a single box. Unfortunately truck loading day was a little less enjoyable. But we survived and let me reiterate, our house was completely packed and loaded onto a truck in 2 days. And we didn’t do a thing. That, my friends, is luxury.
Since I have limited blogging capabilities I thought I’d post some travel notes from the road:
To Nashville:
Right now we’re in a car on our way to our first destination and we are the picture of a modern 21st century family. Princess Sparkle is watching a video on the portable DVD player. B is driving and listening to a book on his iPod, and I’m listening to some new albums I downloaded while writing up this post on the trusty iPad. Part of me brussels at this “plugged in but completely disconnected to each other” modern experience. The sentimental and simple side of me longs for the same experience I had as a kid when it comes to road trips…the classic American road trip with family games of i-spy and watching for different license plats from different states. And lets not forget the bickering, the boredom, and the are we there yets? Ah, the memories. For better or for wore, this is one area where modern technology has really come through for us. So we remain happily plugged in while Lamp naps in the car seat.
Memphis to New Orleans:
Princess Sparkle broke the dvd player today. Crap. She decided to pop the little round lens thing-y out. You know the lens thingy that reads the dvd’s and plays them. The one thing you’re not even supposed to touch, let alone pop out. Recently some friends were telling us how their portable DVD players always break after a year or two. We wisely proclaimed that we had bought a more expensive model so that it would last a long time. Suckers.
Sparkle pants only had to endure 2 hours of our car ride today without her videos and we all suffered. We are facing the classic parental dilemma of do we punish her and punish ourselves by not purchasing another DVD player, or do we give in and buy another player so as to make the drive more bearable for everyone and hope that our stern talk about “not messing around with stuff” really leaves a lasting impression? Decisions.
New Orleans:
B (aka Mcguyver) fixed the DVD player with, I kid you not, a needle, a q-tip and some glue. We’ll see if it holds.
We’ve actually done some fun stuff on the way, but I’ll post about that when I can upload pictures as well. Wish us luck!
Oh and what do you recommend doing/seeing/eating in New Orleans?
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I remember the days of family road trips and the games we girls played. Fun and fond memories.
When m own children were younger and we were driving to our summer cabin in NW Montana, we'd be driving through the Nevada dessert an my oldest son would ot roll his window up (we had the AC on) and finally I turned around to look at him and give him the "mom eye" to roll his window up and saw that he had his arm out the window with something in his had. When I asked what he was doing he relied that he had grapes in his hand and he was making raisins. It was so funny. I love taking trips with my children.
Safe travels to you. (We just returned from Austin and I love the weather there.)
If you all like seafood, definitely go to a place called Drago's. It's in the Hilton on Poydras St. They have charbroiled oysters. I'm a lover of seafood, especially oysters…and these are the best I've ever had.
Cafe Du Monde, it's a classic french market cafe with the best donuts/coffee around. Plus, the street market is right next to there, so you can browse around.
Red Fish Grill has excellent seafood and desserts. No matter where you go, go with SEAFOOD and don't be scared to try some local alligator sausage!
Have a safe trip and stay cool (it's supposed to be really cooking today)
I LOVE NEW ORLEANS!!! Anything you do will be lovely. Especially the food.
New Orleans is great!! There is so much to see when you're down that way. How long will you all be there? If time allows, I highly recommend going on a swamp tour and also visiting some of the old plantation homes. Oak Alley and Houmas House are some of my favorites (these are a short drive outside of New Orleans).
Concerning food, I second Cafe Du Monde. You absolutely cannot visit New Orleans without eating beignets from there! If you get a hankering to visit a bakery, I suggest going to Gambino's and sampling some of their delicious goods. It is my opinion that they make the best king cake in the entire world. For actual restaurants, I can't recall where I used to love to go except for Ralph and Kacoo's and which is great seafoode but everything is fried so it just depends on what you're looking for!
Enjoy your time in NO!
My husband and I went on a walking tour of haunted locations. Really fascinating, but definitely not kid friendly. For the whole family the swamp tours are really fun. You get to feed marshmallows to alligators out in the wild and meet some of the good old boys. An evening stroll through the art district is lovely too.
Good luck with your move! Never been to New Orleans, so I'm excited to see what you guys do! Your family photos are so cute.