The Dread Pirate Mama: The Cap'n Finds a Beloved New Port (or, "Girls Trip to NOLA")

Oh my goodness. I have found a new obsession. I tend to have lots of those. It really started two years ago this very week...the BP oil spill happened in the Gulf. New Orleans (as well as MANY other communities) got socked with a major disaster and subsequent bureaucratic bullshit just a few years after horrendous Katrina and her aftermath. In spring 2010 I really started paying more attention to that region, its downfall and determination to revitalize, and firm imprint on American culture. At just about the same time, the show Treme premiered on HBO. Now, for those of you who aren't familiar, this is a show about life in New Orleans that takes place just a few months after Katrina occurred. It's by the same team that did The Wire, which is sort of universally known as The Greatest Television Show of All Time Even though It Was Totally Unappreciated by the Masses upon Its Air Time (it's a working subtitle). Anyway, Hubs and I watched entirety of The Wire over the course of my pregnancy (we finished the show about 3 weeks before HD was born -- I looked at him, depressed it was actually over, and asked, "What do we do now?" He replied, "We become parents."). So, having a budding interest in all things Gulf and missing the brilliance of David Simon, I plunged readily into his new show. And boy howdy, was I hooked. Not just on the show. But on the resilience, the beauty, the violence and madness, and the tomorrow-be-damned festive nature of New Orleans. It was a quiet interest, mostly played out in learning more about the music and reading up on the news stories that inspired the stories on Treme.

St. Louis Cathedral, view from Jackson Square

Then, around this past new year, a group of my good girlfriends from college all decided that since 2012 is the year we all turn 30, we needed to celebrate it up big. I talked to Hubs and he thought a long weekend away with the girls was a totally fair present for a big birthday. He'd use frequent flyer points (from his old job) to score me a free ticket, we'd budget for lodging and hefty food/drink costs, and he'd take the kiddo for 3 whole nights and days. Have I mentioned how much I adore that gorgeous, kind, virile, crazy-amazing, beefcake man of mine? And can you guess where my friends and I decided to venture? I finally got to hit the city that's piqued my curiosity for so long. And I fanned the flames of my Type-A nature by reading both A Confederacy of Dunces and The Awakening before the trip, not to mention downloading all sorts of music from the area, everything from bounce to zydeco. What? I like to be culturally competent when visiting a new place :)

These girlfriends of mine? They're something else for sure. There were 7 of us in total, and we're an impressive bunch. Graduate degrees, interesting & thriving careers, scattered all about the country. Then there's little old me, the only mama of the bunch...guaranteed none of the other girls freaked out about how grocery shopping would get done while she was away, or asked her spouse 87 times if it was really ok if she could go. The trip was wonderful, and we had such a blast just wandering without an agenda. My days are typically so scheduled and structured, it was such a luxury to do whatever we felt like doing. The only plans on the agenda were dinner reservations at Mr. B's Bistro and Luke, both were excellent. Guess which OCD mama was the one to research and make reservations? Like music and literature prep, researching restaurants is my way of psyching myself up for a trip. Weird side note on food? I realized the day that I left that I at ONLY seafood the entire time. Oysters, fish, crab, shrimp galore. NOM.

So what did we do? Oh you know...wandered, ate, drank, and danced! My first night was sazeracs with my buddy Alisa at Old Absinthe House, since we were the first to arrive. By next morning there were 4 of us, and we perused all the art and day stages of the French Quarter Festival and hit Cafe du Monde. As the rest of the girls (women by now, I guess?) arrived at a different time later that day, we all met at Pat O'Brien's home of the hurricane. We had a lovely time catching up and enjoying our drinks (two hurricanes later, I am pretty sure I lost my eyeglasses there...oops). Night out at Mr. B's for supper where we were totally raucous and annoying to every other diner in our vicinity. So it goes when you reunite old sorority sisters. Then wandering the Quarter, dancing to street musicians. I capped off the night at the hot dog stand, which I am sure saved me a massive hangover the next day.

The next day split the group in half. One sect toured the Garden District, and the rest of us checked out the Festival. Tons of fun bouncing from stage to stage. We saw a really talented jazz band of kids age 8-13 who have been accepted to play at next year's Rose Parade. Had a ton of fun cheering our friend Rachel on at the swing dancing stage while she boogied. Saw the super fun Kermit Ruffins and Barbeque Swingers. We purchased a lovely birthday hat, and had so much fun celebrating a collective birthday party as we passed around the hat and gave each girl her "turn" at being 30. The girls were nice enough to let me take it home to HD as a souvenir. Evening was supper at Luke (along with a couple of prom groups, so cute), then a night out on Frenchman Street at several clubs. We were taken around by a local, the cousin of one of the girl's boyfriends. He was nice enough to listen to all my nerdy ramblings about how I boned up on music before the trip out.

Anyway, I'll let the photos speak for themselves, in no particular order. Laissez les bon temps roulez!