We covered a lot of ground today! We were up early and I sat outside with coffee until it was time to get ready to go for our first NOLA tour - a 10K run. We haven't run much lately because of injuries and, let's be frank, because of laziness. That, combined with the uneven sidewalks and streets of New Orleans had me thinking that this could be one of those "sounded like a good idea at the time" situations. Regardless, we had paid a deposit so we headed out to meet Marcus, our running guide, a couple of blocks from the apartment. We were also joined by a woman named Jen, who promptly offered that she was hungover. I'll admit that my immediate feeling was relief that her 24-ounce flu may mean I wasn't the slowest one on the run. We headed out and my fears were soon put to rest when I realized that, not only were we not running particularly fast, we also only ran for a few minutes at a time before we stopped to take a picture or look at a point of interest. In the 90-ish minutes we were out, we covered just shy of 7 miles. The longest stretch of running without a break was probably 15 minutes and we actually really enjoyed this tour. Not only did we see some things that we wouldn't have known about on our own (where Sandra Bullock and Brangelina live, and where Jefferson Davis died), but we got in a good workout. Possibly our only one for the week.
After we made it back home, we showered and consulted "The List" for a lunch venue. We landed on Yo Mama's; a dark and smoky bar this is reputed to have some great burgers. Andrew chose a cheeseburger with bacon, and a side of mac & cheese; I chose the peanut butter and bacon burger with a baked potato. As you can see from the picture below, the portion was enormous and heaped with enough bacon to send you in to instantaneous cardiac arrest. We'd committed, however, so we dug in and were not disappointed. I'd not heard of the PB & B combo before, but it was actually quite good.
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| Peanut butter & bacon burger from Yo Mama. Check another one off the list! |
We reluctantly left a significant amount of the meal uneaten and hit the streets to walk some of it off. We wandered around the quarter, including Bourbon & Canal Streets, taking in the sights. The whole time being mindful not to sprain an ankle. I know I keep saying this but, seriously, it's bound to happen to at least one of us before we leave.
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| Bourbon Street during the day. Nice and quiet, but a little stinky. |
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| Brass band playing in Jackson Square |
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| Quintessential New Orleans view - wrought iron, ferns and "watch your step on the buckled sidewalk" cones. |
For dinner, we met up with Chris & Cliff to check out one of the star attractions on "The List" - Jacques Imo's. Chris had head about this place from a friend and my research verified that it was, in fact, List worthy; despite what the sign out front might imply.
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| Jacque-Imo's |
The food was Southern & Creole in flavor. We ordered a variety of things and shared them all: alligator & shrimp cheesecake, duck & andouille gumbo, grilled grouper with lobster imperial and tabasco hollandaise, BBQ Shrimp and, the star attraction, Godzilla Meets Fried Green Tomatoes. This monstrosity was a tower of friend green tomatoes and grilled eggplant topped with a fried soft-shell crab filled with oyster-stuffing. Crazy!
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| Godzilla Meets Fried Green Tomatoes |
To end the night, we took a second stroll down Bourbon Street and stopped at Pat O'Brien's for a Hurricane. For those of you who are not familiar, Hurricane's are a potentially lethal combination containing at least 4 ounces of alcohol disguised in a lovely fruit juice. Oh, and it's legal to have open alcohol on the streets in New Orleans, so you can sip as you stroll. Is the insanity that is Mardi Gras starting to make more sense to you now? It is to me. I think we'd better call it a night before things start going south. :)
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| Cliff, Andrew, me & Christopher having a hurricane at Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon Street |
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