We flew down on Wednesday afternoon, February 9th, and checked into the Sheraton on Canal Street. After registering at the Convention Center, Denise and I made our way back to the hotel where we met up with some of her classmates who were traveling with us for the conference. It was pouring rain and quite cold, but we decided to head out for dinner anyway. After a few drinks and some good eats at the Crescent City Brewing Co on Decatur Street, we made our way to Rue Bourbon. Denise and her friends had never been to New Orleans, let alone Bourbon Street. Even in the cold rainy weather - they were in for a treat. We popped into a few bars here and there before calling it a night.
Denise had an early morning, which didn't get started until after 10am due to the escapades on Bourbon Street the night before. I spent the majority of the day walking around the Warehouse District and at the National World War II Museum. Denise attended a few seminars that afternoon, and we met up for her school-sponsored happy hour at Ernst Cafe (corner of S. Peters and Lafayette). We had dinner reservations at Le Foret that evening to celebrate her birthday.
Friday Denise headed back to the conference, and I had a chance to meet up with some old friends. Danny Jacobs, a good friend of mine from high school, was in town for the weekend with his girlfriend Lindy. Danny and Lindy's parents were also in town to visit. The occasion was mostly a chance for all of them to catch-up, but Danny had also entered in Mardi Gras Rock'n Roll Half Marathon taking place in town on Sunday. We all had brunch together at the Ruby Slipper (corner of Magazine and Common). If you ever go - get the Migas and a Bloody Mary.
That afternoon I met up with Joel McIntyre, an old college buddy of mine. He and his wife, Ericka, live in New Orleans and just had a baby girl right before the holidays. Joel swung by the Sheraton and picked me and we met Ericka and Madeline at Parkway PoBoys for lunch. Joel took me back to their house up near the lake for the grand tour before we made our way to this bar called Bulldog's in MidCity.
That night we made our way back over into the French Quarter with several of Denise's classmates for dinner at Pat O'Brien's - Hurricanes all around. We made our way down Bourbon Street and landed at the Old Absinthe House for drinks. We caught up with some friends of Denise's at the Katz Meow. They were in town for the conference as well who live up in Dayton, OH.
Denise managed to get all her requirements completed for the conference on Thursday & Friday, so we had Saturday to do some sightseeing. We hit up Cafe Du Monde and waited in line for about 45 minutes for beignets - worth it. Then we walked around Jackson Square for a bit before meeting up with Danny, Lindy, and some of Lindy's friends for a few drinks. Unfortunately, their parents were unable to join as they had gotten sick the night before from something they ate at Commanders Palace. We left them around 2pm and grabbed some lunch at the Bourbon House (corner of Bourbon and Iberville) only to have them walk through the door behind us about 15 minutes later.
That night, Denise and I decided to venture out the St. Charles Street Car line to the "west end" to an area known as Riverbend. We had hoped to grab dinner at Jacques-Imo's, but there was a 3 hours wait. Yes - 3 hours. Instead, we just made out way back to the hotel and called it a night. Sunday we tried to catch Danny running in the race, unfortunately -we did not. We flew home Sunday night just as the weather was starting to get nice. All in all, a great trip. We look forward to our next adventure 2012 for Denise's annual PT conference in Chicago, IL.
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