New Orleans, LA ~ Day 4

April 13, 2013 ~ This was our last full day in New Orleans and we've had a lot of fun! We decided to hop on a open top bus and see some of the different areas they we may not have seen during our stay. It was a beautiful day and the sun felt good along with sitting down for a little while as our legs have covered a lot of ground since arriving!

 We stayed on the bus until we got to the Garden District. We decided to grab some lunch at a little place called Tracy's! It was a great little Irish pub! 

Not sure if there is something symbolic about the umbrellas but it was really cool to see all the neat things around this place. Loved the atmosphere for sure!

Not sure if you can see these or not but I loved seeing the all the beads in the trees! I guess it's safe to say New Orleans loves to party! 

Loved seeing some of the old trollies! 

We decided to check out Mardi Gras World! 

These are just a few of the really awesome realistic floats they have for the Mardi Gras parade! If you get a chance to go to New Orleans you need to stop by and see this place!

 This was a great memorial remembering those from Hurricane Katrina.

It was finally time.... time to go to the main event of this entire vacation... George Strait!

We attended a special VIP Pre-Party where they served us roast beef sandwich, veggies and dips, red beans and rice and dessert! We got to see some of the stuff George takes on tour with him which was pretty cool to see. (Script signed by George for his movie, Hall of Fame stuff and Entertainer of the Year Awards)

Martina McBride was awesome! Love hearing her in concert!

 

Next up was King George! We scored front row seats and during the whole concert you stood up against the railing so you could be within an arms length away from him!

He was awesome! We had seen him 3 other times in concerts but this was even better! He was great with the crowd telling him little stories and sang 2 songs at one microphone and move to the next one. He was really good... but after all it is George!

What was really cool was to see these people get a new home from George Strait! He just came out of the military and has PTSD and couldn't find work. George and this other gentleman (can't remember his name...sorry) gave them a home, has an option for 2 different jobs making between $50,000-$100,000.00, Walmart gave them groceries for a year and they received a flat screen TV. Pretty awesome to see this happen to someone who is very deserving! Congratulations!

George was awesome... and let you take his picture!

My Aunt Judy, cousin Stephanie and her boyfriend Justin were sitting in the front row of the next section behind us! Awesome seats for sure!

He really had a good time and you could tell!

Martina McBride came out to sing a couple songs with George....

http://youtu.be/lQN2aqix32E

If you click on this link you will see a YouTube video that someone else uploaded of George and Martina singing "Jackson". If you look over George's left shoulder you will see Brandon and I! You will also see me taking a picture of them and the picture up above of George and Martina is the one I was taking! How cool is that! They sang one of my favorite songs "Golden Rings" too! Wish they could have sang that in front of us! Oh well... Brandon and I belted it out with them!

What a great concert and one we will remember for years to come! We had never been to New Orleans or even to Louisiana and thought this would be a perfect trip to see someone we both love and experience a great state! Thank you NOLA for all of your hospitality and laughter!

With our tickets we each got a George Strait signed guitar. Of course we couldn't take them on the plane with us but our hotel was happy to help us ship them home! Love these!

New Orleans, LA ~ Day 3

April 12, 2013 ~ We  decided to take a couple of tours today of somethings that seemed interesting. First up we decided to take the St. Louis Cemetery Tour which lead us through some interesting history of what they do with the bodies when those living in Louisiana pass on. Our tour guide took us on a 3 block walk to the cemetery and gave us a lot of really interesting stories/history of those here.

Each of the different mausoleums seen in this cemetery have been purchased. Each of the family members buried in this cemetery are of catholic religion and can hold up to 100 family members. How you might ask.... well it gets so hot here that a casket is placed in the mausoleum and left for 1 year and 1 day. Then it's removed and the remains of the body are placed inside and the casket is burned (so they don't spread disease). Basically our bodies are mostly water/mush. Think of it like a turkey in a 300 degree oven.... when cooked long enough there is nothing left. This is true for the human remains and each mausoleum as a "basement" which the remains are swept into the basement and the next family member is placed in the mausoleum. Crazy yes but true.

This one is owned by Nicholas Cage. Until about 2 weeks ago this was white and now gray.

It was really interesting to see these. One of the tour guides had passed away recently and was buried in this one. He was family friends with the people that owned this mausoleum. So much history here.

 Many believe this is where Marie Laveau is buried. Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo. You will notice all the triple XXX's and gifts others have left for her. This is not where she is buried.

 There were several graves like this one. Some people wanted to have their caskets in the ground and because they aren't much higher than the water level they could put the casket in 1' of dirt and brick the rest in. The tour guide said when they get a lot of rain you can hear a knocking noise which is the casket tapping against the bricks. (Wouldn't that freak you out at night!)

 Another place they think Marie Laveau is buried. You will see more gifts left for her. They have to clean up all of this stuff weekly because there is so much. Our tour guide said they must have just cleaned it up as there wasn't much here. She is not buried here.

I would have liked to stay a little longer to look at all of these and I am glad we had a tour guide to tell us some of the stories and answer some of the questions.

This was the last place people think Marie Laveau is buried. This is the only mausoleum that says "Famille" or Family of Marie Laveau. She is not buried here either. They believe she is buried in St. Louis Cemetery #2.

At the end of our St. Louis Cemetery Tour we walked down the other end of Bourbon Street we saw some people up on a balcony and Stephanie asked if they had any beads. The lady said "You want beads... hang on!" she grabbed a whole bunch of beads and through them to us! It was pretty cool to get all those beads and didn't have to show the "girls"! 

Another Red Bull kind of day for my Aunt.....

We decided to grab a bite to eat closer to the Airboat Tours and found a little place called Boutte's.

Then it was time to head out on an adventure! We took an Airboat Ride to search for gators! Our driver was 100% Cajun and awesome!

This little guy was missing his right front leg but he loved that swamp crack (aka: marshmallows) our guide said they love the sweetness of the marshmallows and once they get the taste for it then they are on the payroll.... (which means that they will come right up to the boat for more)

This little guy was on the ride with us. He was only a year old and I bet those little teeth would hurt!

I thought Bailey and Mattie might have a hay day with this little guy but thought he was bet to stay in Louisiana where he belongs!

After our ride we wanted to take a group picture... then our photographer decided we needed to remember him from our trip! (He wasn't right!)

We decided we better hit the casino for a little fun and just after midnight the machines started hitting good! (I've always said they hit good between midnight at 2:30 am). It was a lot of fun but we needed to get some sleep since we had a date with George Strait tomorrow night!