New Orleans!!

Brandon and I were so lucky to go to New Orleans for the Zurich Classic. Salmon Insurance got invited through Formers (previously MetLife) and Jason and Shannon had plans to be in Houston that weekend so the invitation got passed on to us. It happened to be over my birthday. It was the most amazing trip!!!

The first night we were there we walked to Cafe Du Monde and got beignets. They were delicious! 

Ate dinner at Mr. B's Bistro.

We tried gumbo and jambalaya. Both were delicious! So fun trying new flavors we had never had before.

The next day we took the shuttle to the golf course and it was raining so play was suspended but they had a huge buffet in the hospitality tent and we tried turtle soup, crab dip, and I can't remember what else. It was all so yummy!

Just as we were leaving the players came back out to play, ha ha.

We walked back to the river to see what fun stuff we could see. New Orleans is such a fun unique town. We both fell in love with it! This is Jackson Square.

Gorgeous river boats!

Rode the trolley for fun.

That night they had a really fancy dinner for us at the Museum of Art. We ate incredible food. I had sushi for the first time. I wish I would have blogged about this earlier (it's been a month and a half now) because I can't remember all the yummy things we ate now. 

They had casino tables where you could just play for fun. I have never gambled before so I didn't know how to play, but we played Black Jack and it was fun and I started with $2,000 (of fake money) and got all the way up to $10,000 and then we walked away because Brandon had run out of money ha ha.

It was a great night! We had so much fun!

The whole trip was filled with yummy food, a lot of the meals were in the ballroom of the hotel. We had red beans and rice which was super yummy, the pavlova was amazing. The only thing I didn't get to try while we were there was bananas foster. We'll just have to go back some day!

So many yummy treats!

We tried signing up for the swamp tour but it was full, and the bike tour was also full, so we ended up going to two museums. The Vue Orleans has a 360 degree view of the city up on the 34th floor that was really cool.

After hitting up that museum we rushed back down the street to the hotel to catch the shuttle to go to the World War II museum. 

Inside this museum we were able to watch this amazing 4D show about the war. It was so incredible!

Saw lots of cool fighter planes.

This museum really was pretty cool and we didn't even explore all of it.

We had to try out the beignets from Cafe Beignet and honestly I think they are even  yummier than the ones from Cafe Du Monde.

They were a lot bigger than the ones from Cafe Du Monde. So heavenly! It was hard to find time to go get some because we were always stuffed from all the yummy food they provided us.

The next night was an even fancier dinner at one of the ballrooms in the hotel. They sent a message inviting us to a "Pantone Party". I had no idea what that meant so I googled it and it was a party of colors. 

I didn't know what to expect but oh my goodness they went all out with this big balloon arch at the entry and then this massive ballroom had different sections of color and they had gems for us to put on our face if we wanted, and all sorts of accessories, colorful clip-in hair, light up rings, light up glasses, and so much more. It was out of this world fancy.

We were back in our room and were just going to relax but then I heard some jazz music right outside our window so we went out and walked along with this wedding procession with everyone dancing down the streets along with a band playing live Jazz music. Oh my goodness, this trip really felt like such a dream. It was so freaking fun. This is me on Bourbon Street. That street is super crazy!

This was a church right across from our hotel. We were able to take a peek inside. I love seeing buildings like this!

Sunday was my birthday. We started with a rooftop brunch.

They had raw oysters and shrimp. We didn't dare try the oysters but Brandon loved the shrimp.

Then back to the golf course for the final day of the tournament.

We saw some gators in the pond on the golf course. My first time seeing an alligator in the wild! Someone told us they actually import them there because it looks good for TV to have them there during the golf tournaments.

We were on the 18th hole in the box seats. Seriously best seat in the house. Decked out in our gear they gave us in a gift bag. We were so spoiled on this trip!

While at the golf course we tried the grilled oysters. They were covered in butter and garlic and were really good! Brandon went back a few times. 

Sunset from our hotel room.

They had an open bar available to us during this entire trip. I met this cute girl from the Philippines who spoke Ilonggo! It was fun to talk to her in the language.

Monday was our last day and we decided to book ourselves a swamp tour since we couldn't go on the free one. It was like $90 a person, but it was so much fun!!

They had an albino alligator inside the gift shop.

We got on an airboat and had an awesome tour guide take us around the bayou to look for some gators.

This alligator was so big!

We saw quite a few alligators during the tour and at the very end the guy threw in a marshmallow to this alligator and then the alligator came over and the tour guide kissed his nose! It was so fun to watch.

Headed to the airport and had to get beignets one last time at Cafe Du Monde. I was so impressed they were the same price in the airport as in the city! That never happens.

Seriously this trip was an absolute dream. We had so much fun and enjoyed the food and the city so much! Super grateful for my parents and Kristen for helping with our kids so we could make it happen!