Spring Break!

Spring Break 2017!  I have been looking forward to this since Christmas.  Why?  Because for Christmas I surprised Andy with a Spring Break vacation :)  Last year he surprised me with a quick trip to NYC to see Hamilton.  While I realize I can never, ever top that in my lifetime, I at least could take him on a kidfree excursion for a few days down to the Deep South.  We went to Natchez, MS and New Orleans and it was awesome :)  Granted, we also could have just checked into a random Holiday Inn in a random town off i40 for 4 days and slept in and still thought that was awesome :)  But the added history was certainly nice.

First things first - the kids!  My parents graciously offered/were forced to take our children from Monday - Friday that week.  I was anxious the entire time because let's be honest - Charlie is not exactly the easiest age.  He is into EVERYTHING.  And he's fast - especially for a kid that whose belly enters the room long before the rest of his body.  So i knew this would be a massive favor I was asking from my parents.  But to sweeten the deal, I threw in two kids who were PUMPED about this road trip and frankly were a little annoyed that I was coming back to get them at some point.

We got there and first thing the kids asked to do was swing in the backyard.  Mother Nature kind of let us down this year.  It was fricking cold.  The entire time.  And later on it rained.  She's a mean woman, for sure.

This girl was in heaven with all of Gaga's flowers to pick from :)  She struts around the house as if it is her own and announces how this is HER house.  She's pretty hilarious this one.

Now, on a funny note, while in Jackson one of our friends from childhood posted a photo on Facebook of John and me when I was...9?  Maybe 8.  And John was a pre-teen.  i love so many things about the 80s here.  The awesome neon colors, the bad perm, the bermuda shorts.  Ah nostalgia.

So on Monday we left my parent's house and drove to our first stop - Natchez, MS!  I wanted to go to Natchez for a couple reasons - my dad lived here twice after college and always spoke so well of Natchez and how neat the town was.  Also, it's smack dab in the middle of the Civil War.  So from a history perspective, it's bursting at the seams.  Oh and at one point Lafayette was there.  I do love the Marquis :)

This is where we stayed - Dunleith House.  It is a restored city manor for those that owned plantations in the country to come and relax during the off season.  It was GORGEOUS.  Very fancy.  And a cool slice of history :)

We stayed here - behind the formal mansion in the courtyard rooms (former slave and servant quarters).  Why?  Because they were the only rooms that offered King size beds and that's how we roll.

Our room had its own gas fireplace.  #winning

Meanwhile, back in Jackson, my kids were in heaven.

The following day we woke up late (having had a delicious meal the night before at The Castle restaurant), went for an early lunch at this establishment Mom and Dad recommended.  Mammy's.  Yes, we ate lunch inside a giant black mammy.  And you know what?  It was freakin' delicious.  Best turkey sandwich I've ever had and I even had the lemon icebox pie (and I never order dessert.)  Andy had the reuben and was equally complimentary.  Sometimes you find good food in the weirdest places.

Then we crossed the mighty MS River into Louisiana to visit the Frogmore Cotton Plantation.  I found out about them online - they are a working cotton farm that also used to be an antebellum cotton plantation.  They offered history tours which I was all over.  And Andy, as always, was so accommodating :)

Frogmore Plantation

What they mean when they say, "sleep tight."

View from the old Overseer's House to check on the slave quarters.

Overseer's house

Replica of Eli Whitney's original cotton gin.

It grew and got even bigger.

I was pretty impressed with the machinery and sophistication involved in all of this.  Given that my grandfather was a cotton farmer, as was my uncle, it's a unique experience seeing the history of it.

I am grateful for my current washing machine after seeing this.

They had a slave cabin that on one side was a traditional slave cabin and the other half was converted into what would have looked like a sharecropper's cabin.

Slave cabin.

Sharecropper cabin.

Frogmore was definitely two hours well spent.  The ladies that took us around were so knowledgeable and we so appreciated all they shared with us.  I'm definitely bringing a lot of this information into Unit 4 for APUSH :)

Another cool thing at Frogmore?  Next to the plantation there was a Choctaw Indian ceremonial mound!  It was carbon dated back to 700 AD.  How crazy is that???

When we got back to Natchez, we drove over to Jefferson Military College b/c #1 - Andrew Jackson was once there.  And #2 legend has it that Aaron Burr was arrested next to the oak trees at the entrance for conspiracy to commit treason against the US (he was the former VP and also thought he'd try to carry out a secession plot.  Moron.)

This is also the oldest school in MS.

The Aaron Burr Oaks!

Granted, we learned that this is more legend than fact.  He was arrested somewhere near this school and the trees were actually planted two years after he died, but still.  I like the legend way better :)

Before dinner that night we drove/walked around downtown Natchez.  Turns out even my favorite fighting Frenchman Lafayette visited Natchez!

A nice beer at Bowie's Tavern to unwind after a long day of history.

This current B&B used to be my dad's old apartment years ago in the 70s :)

We ate dinner at the Magnolia Grill. Another Kersey rec.  And it was amazing.  I had the shrimp and grits and we got to watch the sun as it set over the MS River.

Not too shabby for an evening without kids :)

Natchez was a very cool experience and I loved being able to not only walk in the footsteps of antebellum history but also the footsteps of my dad's youth when he was selling cable door to door in the 70s :)  Also, did I mention we were without kids?  I mean, that alone is a vacation!

And now, onto New Orleans!  I know this sounds weird, but it felt like the second we crossed over the state line, the scenery improved.  No offense Mississippi, but unless you are on the river (like in beautiful Natchez), this state is kind of a hole. And I can say that because I was raised in its neighbor Alabama which can have some pretty pitiful parts.  But at least our big cities are big cities.  Andy and I both felt like the 21st century sort of passed Mississippi right by.

So we drove 2 hours down to New Orleans and before checking in to our AirBnB condo, we stopped at Willie Mae's Scotch House (an amazing fried chicken place.)  I saw recommendations for this place online so we pulled up to this tiny restaurant in the middle of a questionable neighborhood and right when we walked up, there was a line out the door.  This was at 11:30 on a random Wednesday in March. The way it works is that you wait outside for a table to open up.  When it does, the wait staff pops their head out and calls for a "party of 2" or a "party of 4."  What is nice is that if you are a party of two you can jump ahead of the rest of the line if it is made up of bigger groups. I wish I had a picture of our fried chicken but it didn't last long once it was served.....  There are no words for how awesome the fried crust of this chicken was.  Mmmmmm......

Then it was on to the French Quarter!  I am very OCD about travel planning and have certain requisites on an itinerary.  For New Orleans, we have to go to Pat O'Brien's for a Hurricane.  And it was delicious.

A toast to day drinking - Cheers!!!  Also, hurricanes come with a free bag of popcorn.  Drinks and a snack.  Perfect.

After that we walked around Jackson Square and wished the General a very happy 250th birthday!  (If you don't know Jackson's connection to New Orleans, you need to read up on history.  And Jackson. And how awesome America is :)

Although it was freezing while we were there, it was still super pretty.  I do love this city :)

Other than scenery, another thing I love about this city?  Dixie beer!

I had been waiting months to enjoy an ice cold Dixie beer and a dozen raw oysters.  Well - half dozen.  Andy will humor me in so many things but eating these is just not one of them.  But he was a very pleasant drinking companion while I sucked them down :)

Here's a quick glimpse of our AirBnB condo.  I cannot brag on it enough.  It was so super nice, perfect location (on Decatur St.) and we slept fantastic while there.  If anyone ever travels to NOLA, you must look this place up.

The next morning I had booked us a tour of the French Quarter and Cemetery (we got to see St. Louis #1).  Our tour guide was....not good. In fact, he told everyone while we were in Jackson Sqaure that Andrew Jackson was from New Orleans and fought the Battle of New Orleans in the American Revolution (he's from the border of South and North Carolina and the Battle of New Orleans was the War of 1812.)  When basic facts like that are screwed up, it make syou question the rest of the tour.  But nevertheless, we got to go inside one of the oldest cemeteries in New Orleans and see some pretty cool graves.

And in this old Catholic cemetery there was even a Protestant section! I told Andy, "See honey, we have room for your people." ;)

After the tour we stopped for a quick drink and some more oysters.  I found another favorite beer - Ponchartrain Pilsner.  We even stopped at the grocery store on the way home and bought an 18 pack it was that good.
Then we walked a very long walk to National WWII Museum.  We stopped and had a delicious lunch on the way so that made all the walking worth it :)

The museum was amazing - I remember going to visit it pre-Katrina and it was the D-Day museum.  They've expanded the exhibit and in addition to some really cool artifacts and simulations, they also have a massive airplane hangar with old fighter planes and bombers.  Andy got to see the B-17 that his grandfather flew in during the war.

Robert Brimer was a belly gunner or ball turret gunner during the war.  It's insane to us to think that in his early 20s he was risking his life for his country in a war against fascism when our 20s were spent doing.... well, nothing near as impressive.  There's a reason they called our grandparents generation the Greatest Generation.  I think of all the sites we took in during our stay here, this was our favorite.

We Ubered it back to our condo after that and relaxed for a little while.  Then headed down to dinner down the street (mmmm...poboys) until we finally got the chance to walk over to Cafe du Monde for Cafe Ole and Beignets.

They were amazing - as always.

Another drink at Pat O's.  

And then we went out to the piano bars to listen to some music.  You know you're a parent and old when you request the guy at the bar play a song that you know your daughter will love because it's on the Trolls soundtrack.  #oldfarts

Afterwards, we went back to Jackson and retrieved our children.  My parents were such troopers but to thank them we brought them some trinkets along with some boudin and Dixie beer :)  The following week Jack came home with this in his backpack.  I think you can tell they loved their Spring Break as much as we did. :)

Plus, how much do you love how he drew my parent's yellow house? ;)