New Orleans

Stacey and I spent Halloween weekend and the first week of November in New Orleans. It was out first trip to the Big Easy and we had a great time!

We traveled to New Orleans for the Macromedia MAX 2004 conference (an IT conference relating to Macromedia products). For more on the conference, check out my MAX 2004 blog posts.

We flew from Raleigh late Saturday morning and arrived in New Orleans early that afternoon. We went to the French Quarter that night after exploring River Walk, an indoor mall with a boardwalk on the Mississippi. Yes, all my elementary education has paid off - I spelled that right! We went to Preservation Hall for some live jazz that evening and it was truly amazing. I would highly recommend that place to anyone (if you can get in). It is so tiny that they only allow a few people in at a time. Bourbon Street was wild that night (as expected) but was especially insane because it was Halloween eve! There were people wasted out of their minds, along with people in outrageous costumes and in drag. Early the next morning, we headed back to our room for what we thought would be a good night's sleep. Little did we know that this drunk b***h on her cell phone would keep us up the entire night with her multiple loud conversations in the hallway. Despite several people telling her to shut her trap and threatening her with bodily harm, including hotel security, she would not shut her trap. Though the hotel wouldn't do anything for the inconvenience we experienced, Amex ultimately came through (as always) and credited us for the room. Thanks Amex!

The next day we checked into our hotel for the remainder of the conference, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. We ate lunch at Riverwalk (Cajun Crawfish Po'Boys...yum!), went back to Bourbon Street after trying to check out St. Louis Cemetery (closed) and capped off the day with an evening dinner jazz cruise on the Mississippi. That was a great experience and we pretty much had the boat to ourselves.

The next morning the conference started, so our days were spent inside the enormous convention center. Highlights of our weeknight adventures include dinner at the Bourbon House, Gordon Biersch, Mardis Gras World, Mother's, and the Hard Rock Cafe. Cafe Du Monde was awesome for breakfast - their beignets were to die for.

Before returning to the Tar Heel State on Friday night, we spent our last day in New Orleans checking out the Garden District and Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. We took the walking tour that was recommended as the best by Fodor's and our guide did not disappoint. My only annoyance is that they only took cash (no credit card awards!) but the tour itself was great.