"It's dirty, dangerous, barely functional, and oozing with sweaty, sexy charm. Itls older than America, the birthplace of jazz and the Sazerac, and the cradle of a cuisine so rich and delectable that any time spent in the Crescent City promises to test even the most fastidiously monitored waistline..." - Denver Nicks, Hot Sauce Nation
There are times when you see a deal you just can't pass up. And sometimes, that deal is a flight to New Orleans. (Thanks, Southwest.) I planned for us to be home for Christmas day, but we had a ton of time before and after to explore, so we booked the flight to NOLA for a few days before Christmas. Baby A's grands were able to fly over from Georgia to meet us there, and with a non-stop flight time under 2 hours, we really didn't have too much to stress out about!
Our flight in was successful- Baby A slept well in the Baby Bjorn (ya'll know I strap the little guy in for flights for everyone on board's sanity) and I had hubs there to help carry the insane amount of baby stuff we travel with (travel crib, car seat, clothing/diapers, travel high chair, and a stroller). **One of my travel with toddler hacks (TWTH #1): get the nicer car seat cover bag, and use the space inside the seat of the chair to stash more stuff. In our case, this was the travel high chair and some diaper inserts, since the high chair folds up like a tiny baby camping chair and the inserts weren't going to get hurt if tossed around by the ground crew.
Our tour of New Orleans was obviously centered around food. I put out some feelers on the book of faces and to some friends with kids to help me develop an itinerary. I feel that having a plan that works with your toddler's sleeping schedule is probably in your best interest, given how fun a cranky or hangry toddler is on vacation (TWTH #2). Some of our best food recommendations came from a brother of a fellow Academy graduate, Denver Nicks, who is a hot sauce connoisseur and expert on New Orleans. We were looking for the smaller, one-off, local, gotta-eat-here joints and he seriously provided tha spots.
We stayed in an AirBnB ((TWTH #3) again, something that makes being away from home with a toddler easier, since he can have a separate room to sleep in, and because we can cook food at the house. It was in Marigny, which is basically the hipster/art district just over a mile from Jackson Square in the French Quarter, and full of it's own charm and places to hang. After we dropped our stuff at the gorgeous shotgun style duplex we stayed at (with some seriously legit art), we immediately found food within walking distance at a place called Elizabeth's. Hubs had a french toast burrito (?!?!?!) and I had a delicious, THICC burger.
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| Gumbo! |
We did a little more neighborhood exploring after that and found a nearby playground. (TWTH #4) A playground is a gem, and I try to make sure our AirBnBs are near at least one, hopefully with a baby swing-- you can usually check maps on Google by dragging the little Life game guy onto a street to get a street view. We were able to hang out and digest our first giant, terrific meal while Baby A got to stretch his legs and prep himself for a good nap!
After nap, we planned another food-based trip to a Denver suggestion called Liuzza's By the Track and we all crammed amazing gumbo down our gullets until we were sweating and our bellies were uncomfortably distended in that weirdly pleasant way. We'd gotten in early in the day and jumped right on in, so we were pretty exhausted after our full day of expanding our stomachs, but we took a little time to drive around the French Quarter, mainly down the streets that run parallel to Bourbon St so we could get a sense of the nightlife scene... and it was cool. Tons of music all around, people wandering the streets [drunkenly], and this pervasive humidity that doesn't purely exist in a meteorological way.
The next day, we got up early (haha, like it's our choice with a toddler up at 7am sharp) and made a beeline for some beignets. We pulled the tourist card and checked out Cafe DuMonde, which was crowded, but open-air and the cafe au laits were about perfect. Baby A had already had some scrambled eggs at the AirBnB so he wasn't starving but he definitely crammed a few beignets in his piehole. You get three in an order and one person can probably down two alone with an au lait. TWTH #5: Bring a bib in your diaper bag for eating out! Then when you're done, get your butt up and go so someone else can jump in.
Right outside of Cafe DuMonde is Jackson Square, where you can find some small vendors and walk off the beignets. On our to-do list was the Cabildo, which is a state museum next to the gorgeous cathedral that houses some interesting artifacts, like Napoleon's death mask, and has some real tough truth bullets in the areas where they showcase the state's history of slavery. But then... there's also a very rigorous history of rebellion, and of the Creole people that came about in an unexpected way. It's nice to hit a museum early to frame what you see during your visit. TWTH #6: Include a stop where your toddler can run out some energy without harming anything or anyone, like an open park square or an unused hall of the museum.
After the museum and square, we were obviously hungry and zipped over to Killer Po'boys (another Denver Nicks suggestion) where we ALL had stellar sandwiches (but hubs' roast beef was the clear winner). Really can't go wrong there, though. And grab a beer. Then hit the Museum of the Dead next door! (Or not, we didn't). Later, I grabbed a drink- because you can drink cavalierly in the streets- as we perused the French Market near where we parked, checked out a train, and made our way back in for late afternoon naps.
That night all we did was eat again, and although our plan was to go to Acme Oyster House, the line was already long when we showed up for dinner so we went to our plan B, but also recommended to us by friends, the Bourbon House. It turned out to be wonderful and although we weren't really dressed up enough for it, I noticed a lot of other folks who probably just popped in off the street for dinner, too. Oysters are a thing in NOLA, so my husband ordered grilled and MIL ordered fried, but I'm only a fan of oysters Rockefeller, so I can't make definite statements on them, but I had a delicious swordfish steak and the restaurant is extremely nice. Baby A was into the "balls" everywhere (big orb lights) and they even had a kid's menu with crayons; mom win, although he ate mostly my food. Also: definitely do dessert here. Bourbon buttered pecan ice cream? Yes, ma'am!
Day three we said we were going to Satsuma, a local cafe named after the local variety of oranges, but we could see another one from our front door and went there instead. It didn't have a name on the building but we found out it was called Paloma (I think lol) and they had just the perfect breakfast for us. We were provided with phenomenal service and the staff and other diners were really cool about our pretty rambunctious toddler. TWTH #7: If your kiddo is getting a little antsy and everyone needs a break from it because no one has had their coffee yet, take turns going outside with them for a walk. If outside isn't a viable option, even just wandering halls near restrooms or low-traffic areas can become an activity, because you can point out basic things that excite toddlers. For instance, we walked down the street just a block and the whole way, we said words Baby A knows: "cat says meow," "car goes bye-bye," "bus is outside," etc. I even found some signs that we were in the right neighborhood.😉 Then when we came back, our delicious biscuits and breakfast tacos were ready.
MIL had pointed out the Louis Armstrong park arch the day before and expressed interest in it, so we had another opportunity to tire Baby A. out and let him run around there while we learned a little bit about Congo Square and jazz origins and enjoyed the most refreshing breeze ever.
We went to Killer Po'boys AGAIN and it was worth it. Then we walked a giant loop that included the riverfront, which feels weirdly out of the way but totally isn't (just follow Canal St). We scoped out the location of the Aquarium for later and watched some tug boats before heading back towards the car and of course, grabbing more beignets at Cafe Beignets on the way. Since we ate those so late in the day, we really didn't have more to eat because we got in and let Baby A go to sleep. I wanted to go out that night but it started raining, plus we did some packing and snacking at the house til we all passed out.
On the last day, we had to be out of the AirBnB by 11am, so we ate up most of our breakfast food (most places are cool with guests leaving some items in the fridge and pantry, like coffee or butter). Then we packed it all into the car and headed off to the National WWII Museum downtown. Baby A was tucked on to hubs' back in the Baby Bjorn in hopes that nap time soon would arrive (it did, eventually, for about an hour, slump cam photo below). The museum was crowded, and for good reason- it's got a lot to see and some pretty interactive segments. Hubs was learning about the interwar period just before class ended, so he basically did 2nd semester prep. I found it a little spooky how the intro to the war had a lot of eerie similarities to today. The museum has it's own restaurant and as I was suuuper hungry, we just ate there (it was fine, nothing spectacular, but I had a decent burger).
The piece de resistance for young AC was, of course, the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. The word "fish" was repeated so many times by this kid... and he also loved the little kid gym near the area where you can touch the manta rays. We held him up to touch the rays but he has little baby arms and you have to wait for them to come up towards your hands, which is difficult to explain to a toddler, so we moved on (and had ice cream because there's a Häagen-Dazs in the food court??!) Also, we did see sharks but as this was the Aquarium of the Americas, the main thing to see was their albino alligator. He (his name is Chompitoulas) was asleep. It was a lovely way to end the fun parts of our trip... because the un-fun airport times were a-comin'.
Unfortunately, the only nonstop flight back from NOLA to home on Southwest was at 9pm, way past Baby A's bedtime, so our plan was to carry him in the Baby Bjorn as much as possible after 7pm and dinner (which was sensational airport food- ugh), and hope we could allow him sleep until we transferred him to the carseat upon arriving in KCMO. Until then, we got lucky with the ghost town of the end of the Southwest terminal as a play area to create a tired toddler. TWTH #8: Try the sleep trifecta when you're in unfamiliar time or space: full belly, tucked as tightly as possible, and quiet zone/same sleep sounds. For Baby A, this means the Baby Bjorn and some shushing, although the white noise of the airplane also works well. I got him to sleep well before takeoff and he stayed asleep until we felt the cold, harsh blast of reality catching the bus back to our parking lot. Winter had come, and we went from being moisturized and having our curls popping back to sucking in just DRYNESS. It was like breathing in sand and now I can't wait for us to move (should I do a special new duty station reveal??)
I'll wrap this up with a few other places we wanted to go but didn't find the time! Try to put them on your list.
Safe travels, and Happy New Year!
-Big A.⚓
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