A Southern Vacation

Hello Everyone!!

Welcome back! I know this is sooo late but this blog post will be about my adventures through Nashville and New Orleans!

Although I was only able to be in Nashville for one day, I tried to make the best of the time I was there.  This was literally the first time in like 7 years that I actually took a vacation. It felt so nice to be able to get away for a little and explore another place. I had a great time in Nashville but I think this post will be about the time I spent in New Orleans.

This was the first time I had been in Nashville or New Orleans. As I said before, it had been about 7 years since my last vacation and this was the first vacation that I took without my family. It was nice to go on vacation with friends though. We were basically non stop the entire trip. I loved it. I had so much fun.

From the time we landed in New Orleans to the time we landed in Pittsburgh, we explored! Our hotel was right in the French Quarters, which was amazing. The one thing that I was not ready for was the humidity! OH Chile... was it humid. I'm glad I went shopping before the trip and bought some shorts. I don't think I would have survived that week there if I hadn't. There were so many sights and activities to do. Most importantly was the beignets. OMG were they delicious!!!!

We literally had them at least once, everyday that we were there. There were a couple of places that you could get them and they were all over the city. The first night we were there, we actually sat at a Cafe Beignet and listened and sang along with this GREAT musician, Bryan. Then throughout the time we were there, we would go and see him perform again. He would sing everything ranging from the oldies to songs from today. I wish I would have taken some video because it was absolutely amazing! 

Each day we were there had some theme to what we did, except maybe the first and last days of the trip. One of the main reasons we went to New Orleans was to visit the Villalobos Animal Rescue from the show, Pitbulls and Parolees. We had the opportunity to volunteer and walk some dogs there. This was seriously the most rewarding and fun thing I have done. There was one dog in particular that I wanted to take home with me. He was the cutest and walked so well with me. His name was Kirby. 

The second day we were there was our "tour" day. We did two different tours of the city that day. The first one was a swamp boat tour. This was amazing. You know I don't really like bodies of water and boats but this was actually really fun. The tour guide was awesome. The stories he told about his time living in New Orleans, especially during Hurricane Katrina, were so interesting to hear. It made the tour that much more authentic. We saw so many alligators and we were able to see him feed them. There was a swamp hog, which was HUGE. The pictures that I have of that, does not do it justice.

We also did a haunted ghost tour that evening. As many of you know, I am the easiest person to scare. So when I told people I was doing that, they literally laughed in my face. I will say, I was actually not scared. There were so many cool stories about the history of the city. One of the first stories was the story that the third season of American Horror Story is based on. This was what I was really excited about seeing. I had watched this season and was so fascinated with the story so to see where this all actually took place was really freaking cool. I'm really upset because I did not actually get to take any pictures because my phone died. I know...who lets their phone die when you do something this cool but in my defense, my phone battery is shit. This was a really good tour though. I don't wanna tell any of the stories because I don't wanna spoil it for anyone that plans on going but if you want to hear any of them, let me know.

Of course, you can't go to New Orleans and not go to see things about voodoo. The third day we were there, we did a little walk around the city to find all the voodoo shops. Two of my friends actually got their tarot cards read. I was skeptical of doing it so I ended up just waiting until they were done. I did buy some incents while I was there though. The smell of these things is strong but I love them to burn them. The other voodoo shops were actually really cool to see the different things that they had. The different statues and things like that were interesting.

I know this post was really long but the last thing I want to talk about is the food. Other than the beignets, the food was so good there. What I will say is I did not have a lot of traditional New Orleans food but every place that we went to eat was absolutely delicious. I don't know how I did not gain any weight with the amount of food I ate while there. 

After all this, I would highly recommend going to New Orleans. There are so many things to do there. We went to Bourbon Street twice the entire time we were there and it was definitely overwhelming but I would definitely go back again. I haven't traveled a lot but i have the traveling bug now. 

Until Next Time!! :)

KaRon