Cue the Music: How we MADE money and slept with Ariel! Done!

[jenseib]

I'm with you! I hope those ladies got soaked. hahahaha

 

[mickeystoontown]

You know how you have the best of intentions but then.....well, then, life happens? That's me. I had every intention to get on here and write my little heart out, reply to all the comments, catch up on the various threads and reports that I am subscribed to. I did get caught up on three or four trip reports and that's it.

That's not to say that I've been slacking with everyday things. I've been working full time at the law office. Cooking dinner every.single.night. Take that back. Every.single.night 'cept for Friday and sometimes on Saturday. Sunday nights are family night with our kids and Mama. The travel agency business is still my second job. My third job is sewing for my Etsy shop.

John and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary last weekend. My cousin owns and lake house/cabin in south Louisiana and they let us use it for free! I'll take free any day. It was on a private island and was accessible via golf cart only. We spent Friday driving and hanging out at the house/cabin. I too lazy to go get my phone and camera to upload all the pictures that I took so I'll just grab a few from my facebook page.





Saturday, we drove a little over an hour to New Orleans. Now, I've always said "I ain't lost nothin' in New Orleans so I ain't got a reason to go back." It has been over ten years since I've visited that area. @Captain_Oblivious I believe shares those same sentiments after his family's trip through the area. But I have to tell you, we loved it! Even though we got stuck in the middle of the Red Dress Run for charity (about 4,000 runners carrying drinks at 10:00 or so in the morning and all dressed in red dresses), drove through a less than desirable street behind three cop cars and an ambulance trying to bust into a boarded up house, we had a great time. That could have something to do with the fact that we stuck to the area around the French Market. Yes, we saw some less than clean folks nearly passed out on the sidewalks, beggars, and some pretty nasty folks but we believe that they were out in full force trying to take advantage of the extra 4,000 folks (a/k/a potential suckers) they could try to mooch off of. We left before dark because we weren't sure how to turn the lights on on the golf cart. Oh and I forgot to mention that it rained and now just showered. It poured several times during the day.

The cathedral in Jackson Square.



Louisiana is known for its fantastic food. Because of the extra 4,000 people in New Orleans, many of the restaurants had extremely long waits. Luckily, we were able to get a table at The Corner Oyster House. where I ordered the grilled shrimp salad and John ordered the blackened catfish with crawfish sauce. The restaurant had a few different bread puddings but when we asked about dessert, they were sold out of bread pudding. He said that it was rare that they sold out so that pretty much tells you how crowded it was.




I wanted to see Bourbon Street just to say that I had been so I turned on Google Maps on my phone and we started walking....in the rain....beside a guy dressed like Dr. Facilier. The Princess and the Frog is set in Louisiana so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I think that he was a guide for one of the many haunted tours you can take. Every other "normal" person (I use that term lightly) were hunkered underneath awnings and inside of stores. As we got closer to Bourbon Street, you could hear a roar that got louder and louder. Y'all it was loud! I rounded the corner and dang! It was a sea of red dresses. The race ended on Bourbon Street. I didn't even stop to take a picture. We just turned around and then the sky started pouring. That's all we needed to see. We ran through an alley that said not to enter because of construction. We disobeyed the sign and ran into the courtyard of the Louisiana State Museum along with probably 100 other people. And just as quickly as it came, it stopped.

We had parked in a public parking lot and we wanted to put our bags in the car so we didn't have to carry them any longer. We also thought ahead and brought extra shirts for us both in case we got wet. I'm glad that we did. We ducked into the car and changed our shirts quickly. I also grabbed a hat because my hair was looking a mess. We had originally paid for 3 to 5 hour parking and I believe it was $10.00. We checked our ticket and we had right at an hour left. We wanted to look in a few more shops and we HAD to go to Cafe du Monde for beignets. Not wanted to but HAD to. A parking attendant was in the lot and we stopped to ask if we could just add to our time or if we had to start all over again. Bet you can guess what he said. We walked away $8.00 poorer but we had plenty of time to do what we wanted.

Earlier in the day, the line to Cafe du Monde was lined up alllllll the way down the block. Lucky for us, the line wasn't long at all. We were probably the third or fourth couple/family from the front. We were seated after about ten minutes and we perused the menu posted. As you can see, the menu is short and sweet, literally sweet. Okay, so you probably can't see the menu very well. They served beignets, coffee, juice, colas and milk. And they only take cash.


I wasn't super hungry and said that I'd only eat one beignet (they come three to an order). John, Mr. My Sweet Tooth Itches All The Time, thought that we should order two orders of beignets. The total for two orders of beignets, a cup of coffee and a Coke was only $12.00. Not bad at all. They also bring you glasses of water. You may notice that one is already missing from the plate. That's because John broke the cardinal rule of trip report writing and ate without pictures being taken first.




While waiting on our order, we looked at the line and it was so long that I couldn't even see the end of it. We had arrived at just the right time. We didn't dawdle because it had started raining again and we wanted to let some other folks have our table. I looked at the people near the front of the line and we heard the first guests say they had a party of eleven. Right behind them was a couple a little older than us. John and I waved to them and asked if they wanted our table. They were happy to get the table and out of the rain.

On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped in a few more stores and went back through the French Market. I loved the French Market. John and I love flea markets and this was similar but with all new things not used.

We wanted to get back to the house before dark since we would have to navigate the island via golf cart.

I was so glad that we decided to go over to New Orleans for the day. While we were there, we called Hunter to check in on him (his truck died Friday while at work....story of that dang truck's latest life). We told him that we wanted to take him, Jesse and Lacey to New Orleans sometime soon because I know they'd love it.

Continued in next post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Anniversary trip!

I am a planner. To the max which is why I almost couldn't believe that I didn't print the directions from New Orleans back to the lake house. I like MapQuest lots better than Google Maps and I can tell you why. I used the Google Maps app on my phone and put in the address to the lake house and pressed start. You know what that stupidy stupid app told us to do? Go down X number of blocks, turn here, turn there and then get on the interstate. Okay so we can do that. I crap you not when I say we were on the interstate less than two minutes before it told us to get off. Okay. Then it told us to make a U turn and get back on the interstate. We got back on the interstate and I didn't got off of it until we needed gas and only after we got past New Orleans.

Back at the lake house, we ate a meal worthy of a 34th wedding anniversary. Chicken salad sandwiches. Before leaving home, I made chicken salad and I'm glad that we did because the area before going to the island was pretty rural. We spent the evening sitting on the back deck and talking about the day. We also made a plan for the next day.

My cousin usually rents out the house for a week, weekend, etc. and has a cleaning lady come after each guests. Because they were letting us stay there at no charge, I washed all the linens, swept and mopped the floors, etc. before we left. I also left them two of our custom made mahogany and cedar trays as well as some specialty teas, mugs and canned pickles and chow chow that I made. We loaded our suitcase, small ice chest and the bag with our extra food onto the golf cart (it's not a regular golf cart but has a big metal basket and large tires) and drove off the island for the last time.

On our way down South, we drove through the heart of Baton Rouge. The traffic was a B so we decided to take a different highway (one that we would have taken all the way down had we not gotten off and onto the interstate). Our plan for the day was to make stops at at least two plantation homes.

The first one was The Oakley. The guided tour of the home and a self guided tour of the grounds was $10 per adult. We decided to take the tour since it was the only way to see the inside of the plantation home. I am so glad that we did. It was so interesting.








We spent about an hour and a half there and we on our way back on the highway. The next stop was The Myrtles which is one of the most haunted places in America. I've always always wanted to go but John never wants to. He loves me so he didn't object when I said that I wanted to stop. If you don't know the story of The Myrtles, click this link to find out more.

My sister has stayed at The Myrtles before and actually saw and photographed Chloe. I wanted to see her so badly! I took pictures of every single window just to see if I could capture her. A tour was leaving soon but I didn't even ask John if he wanted to go. Rather, we took a free map and walked around the grounds.






As we were walking to the car, John suggested that we take the tour. I could tell that he didn't want to but was asking to be a loving husband who wanted to fulfill his wife's desire to see a ghost peeping and creeping about one of the most haunted places in America. I told him that we didn't have to and I could see his relief.

After a stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center, we hit the highway again and somehow missed our turn. That meant that we added about 45 miles to our trip. Oh well, we saw an area that we hadn't seen before.

We got home that evening. We drove 639.9 miles round trip and had a great time! I can't wait to plan another tip to New Orleans. We also want to fit in a trip to the Angola Prison Museum. The hostess at The Oakley said it was a neat tour/museum.

Alrighty, y'all, I'll stop here. I didn't mean to actually post so much about the anniversary trip. I was going to just tell y'all what we had done and post more about the Disney trip. I'll try to get started on that soon. I promise!​

 

[rteetz]

Happy Anniversary! Looks like a great trip!

 

[Steppesister]

Looked like a really nice anniversary trip for you two.

Relaxing while taking in some pretty spots. And delicious to boot! Making me look forward to my beignets at POFQ next month!

 

[mmeb144]

Your beignet pictures are making me hungry!

 

[PittypatBR]

Happy Anniversary! Next trip you really need to plan a day at the World War II Museum. It is truly outstanding, and Hunter, Lacey, and Jesse would enjoy it too. You had kind of bad timing as far as people in the quarter and the weather. Maybe next time it won't be so crowded, as long as you don't come during Mardi Gras!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Happy Anniversary! Looks like a great trip!

Thank you! It was a good trip even if we did get wet.

Looked like a really nice anniversary trip for you two.

Relaxing while taking in some pretty spots. And delicious to boot! Making me look forward to my beignets at POFQ next month!

We had a really good time and I'm already planning the next trip. We stayed at POFQ for just one night a few years ago and do you know that I didn't even get beignets. We must have been delirious from all of our driving.

 

[rdkeim]

I really enjoyed reading about your anniversary trip! Sounds like it was a great get away!

 

[pooh'smate]

Happy Anniversary!!!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

It sounds like a wonderful Anniversary Trip.

My daughter was one of those 4,000 red dress runners.

 

[SEASONK]

All caught up after taking a break from Disboards. We are also taking a trip from North La to WDW for Thanksgiving Break...ours is a super short one. I love NOLA, I do think it gets a bad rep, but at times it lives up to it's reputation.

 

[burly]

okay all caught up! great so far as usual. Tag your up!

 

[thumper*]

I bet that quilly quilly hurts!

 

[jordanyosh]

hello

 

[mickeystoontown]

hello

OH MY GOSh! Hey!!!!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I really enjoyed reading about your anniversary trip! Sounds like it was a great get away!

It was so nice!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Thank you!

It sounds like a wonderful Anniversary Trip.

My daughter was one of those 4,000 red dress runners.

I may have seen here and didn't even know it!

All caught up after taking a break from Disboards. We are also taking a trip from North La to WDW for Thanksgiving Break...ours is a super short one. I love NOLA, I do think it gets a bad rep, but at times it lives up to it's reputation.

Hey! What are your dates and where are you staying?

okay all caught up! great so far as usual. Tag your up!

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to catch up myself.

Glad someone likes my dumb jokes.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ooooooh, he needs some ointment. I'll pray for you!

After we had checked off another "new to us" attraction (the bird show for those of you who have slept like 60, 70, who knows how many nights since my last Disney update), we were off into the park. If you read my previous reports, you know that John's not a big trail fan. He usually cops a squat....wait that's not right...squats a.....no still not right....pops a squat...there you go, and plays on his phone or calls somebody or anything to get out of just walking trails. Since it was just the two of us and he figured he needed to fulfill his husbandly duties, he went with me.

I'm going through my pictures that were taken almost a gosh darn year ago and this one pops up first. Not in the safari pictures but in the series of pictures taken after the bird show. So, I'm wondering where we ran into this poor fella with what appears to be a gosh awful buttock rash. Okay, so I know it's not a really rash but for the sake of trying to be a little funny and win y'all back over for being away so long, we're saying it's a rash.



The bat area of the trail is not something that John likes. It's a joke in the family that John will be one of the guests who uses that "if you don't like bats, then you weenies need to walk this way" passageway. But, again, he was being a good husband and walked into the open windowed viewing area. I was surprised that there weren't more bats out and about. I don't know if they had some of them in a backstage area or what was going on. There were only a few of these guys and gals hanging around.



Every year since the park opened and all the trails were accessible by guests, Hunter has posed for a picture of him praying under the prayer tree and I couldn't pass up the opportunity too. He actually says a prayer there and that was my intention too but I was trying to tell John something about the camera and it looks like I am doing nothing more than cheesing for the picture.



And another traditional picture is Hunter standing next to the tiger mural and taking a picture with the hidden Mickey. Since he wasn't there, I stood in.



Tradition stand in pictures taken, we moved on and look who was lying there so majestically.




The trail was a little busy and everyone was crowded around the viewing areas so we moved on. The following pictures are next up in the picture line up but I can't remember if the aviary is before or after the tigers. I think after. The birds were pretty active this day so the pictures that I did get of them were blurry.





and apparently dark.



When I go back and look at the screenshot of the time I snagged our Rivers of Light Fastpass, it says 3:24 p.m. so we had some time to kill. I guess that we did the bird show, walked around the trails and then who knows. Probably went to It's Tough to Be a Bug but I always take a jillion pictures of the tree when we do soooooo....

**Up next: It ain't no Jungle Book!



​

 

[mickeystoontown]

It Ain't No Jungle Book!

On our last trip to Walt Disney World, the nighttime show at Animal Kingdom was The Jungle Book show and we loved it. Like love loved it. Not just a little loved it, we loved it. Even John and he's hard to please when it comes to stuff like that. Given that, we were going into the Rivers of Light with some pretty high expectations. Actually not just given that but also the fact that the show had been delayed time and again. We hoped that that meant all of the kinks had been worked out and that the show was done to amaze the guests.

Since we had a Fastpass, we were allowed to go through a different line to get into the theater. The castmembers had put up the standard ropes and the line was so long that there were castmembers holding ropes and directing guests in the right direction. We figured out where to go and made it to the front of the line, tapped our handy dandy wristbands and in we went.

We were early and had to wait a while before show time but that's okay because we had time to do something we enjoy. People watch. Let me tell you, I know how kids get lost at Disney. Parents don't watch them half of the time. They were on their phone or talking and the kids were running from here to there and the parents weren't even looking. I know little kids need to burn off some energy but parents should at least watch where there kids are.

The people to the side of us were obviously grandparents because the grandkids were loaded down with goodies. Misting fans, light up necklaces, stuffed animals. You name it and Mimi and Grandpa had bought it. Not that that's not a good thing because believe me, when the Lord blesses Lacey and Jesse with a baby, I'm going to be broker than I am now. I'll be broke broke.

In front of us were several couples who were country. Nothing wrong with that because I'm a country girl who likes to get down and dirty in the garden and can take a fish off a hook in no time flat. But these people were country and some of the things they said had me giggling.

The sky kept getting darker and the show was about to start. We were ready. Would we be as dazzled by Rivers of Light as The Jungle Book show? We would soon see.

I took several pictures but tried to focus on watching the show instead of just snapping away the entire time.
















Continued in next post
​

 

[mickeystoontown]

It Ain't No Jungle Book continued













What did we think about Rivers of Light? It was okay. It wasn't our favorite. What did the folks in front of us think about it? Right after it was over, the guy in front of us said "It ain't no Jungle Book". Guess he was a fan of the previous show like John and I.

We waited a while before leaving the theater. We like to wait until some of the others leave instead of joining the masses.

I seem to recall that we tried to walk over to Pandora to see it lit up at night but the cast members were shooing people in the other direction. I stopped to take a picture of the Tree of Life before we ended our day at the Animal Kingdom.


Up next: Hello darlin'. It's been a long time!


​