Louisiana Thanksgiving

For thanksgiving this year, Paul's mom flew down and we drove to Louisiana to spend the holiday with David's sister's family. Paul's mom had never been to New Orleans, and had just one request - to visit a cemetery. New Orleans cemeteries are indeed unique, since the high water table means all of the graves are built above ground. So on the day before thanksgiving we drove into the city and visited Lafayette Cemetery Number 2. There's nothing particularly special about this cemetery, we chose it because it looked typical and was near the garden district. We wandered around for a bit, checking out the spooky (and dilapidated) vaults and graves. From there we drove a short distance away and parked on first street and walked around the garden district, seeing the elaborate mansions. We walked by the Rosegate House, where author Anne Rice used to live, and the 1869 Italianate Carroll-Crawford mansion. We then had lunch at Atchafalaya, a popular spot in a converted house, with a local menu.   

Overview of the cemetery.

A burial vault in the cemetery.

A mansion in the garden district.

Lots of amazing iron work.

Some neat trees in the garden district.

A cool little restaurant!

Lunch time!

David with his brunch waffle.

We then drove over to the famous French Quarter, parking by Washington Square park in the nearby Marigny neighborhood and walking to the heart of the French Quarter. While incredibly touristy, this part of New Orleans is perhaps one of the best examples of urban design in the country. The architecture, walkability, and lively shops and restaurants all add up to an amazing neighborhood. Yes, Bourbon street is a mess at night. But during the day it's nice to wander around Royal street and Jackson Square.

First stop - the French Market. It's touristy but fun.

Walking through the French Market.

Jackson Square and the cathedral.

A band playing in Jackson Square.

A neat little alley.

There are signs throughout the district labeling former names - here, the Spanish name for Royal Street.

Colorful buildings!

Lots of great architecture to look at throughout the French Quarter.

Balconies and narrow streets. They should just ban cars completely here.

Of course we got some stuffed snowballs on the way home.

The next day was Thanksgiving, and we had a deep fried turkey! It was a relaxing day, hanging out with family, watching TV together, and going back for delicious leftovers.

Ricky starting the turkey.

Classic thanksgiving plate.

The day after thanksgiving we started with some coffee from Haven in downtown Covington. It's a delightful cafe and a good place to start the day. Ricky brought us some bikes and we went for a bike ride down the Tammany Trace to Mandeville. The Trace is a bike/ped trail along a former railroad, and cuts through forest and swamps. The rest of the family drove down and met us at the playground/beach in Mandeville. After hanging out for a bit, we stopped by The Candy Bank, a candy store located in a 1907 bank building.

The cute interior at Haven.

David and Natasha biking on the trace.

Mandeville Beach.

Always have to be careful in Louisiana!

Beautiful old tree in Mandeville.

That wrapped up our thanksgiving trip to Louisiana, and the next morning we drove to Atlanta, of course with an obligatory stop at Buc-ees on the way home. Lousiana, we'll be back!

Arizona & Las Vegas Wedding

In late April we took a trip to Arizona and Nevada. David had a work trip to Phoenix, and that weekend our cousin Josh was getting married in Las Vegas, so it was a good opportunity to make a week out of it and drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas via the Grand Canyon. Paul's been to Arizona before, but this was David's first real trip to all but a tiny corner of the state.

The first couple days of the trip David was in Phoenix for his meeting. Paul joined on Tuesday afternoon and together we visited the Arizona capitol building and then drove north to Sedona and on to Flagstaff.

Old church in downtown Phoenix.

Downtown Phoenix is small, but pretty walkable with a new rail line connecting it to the airport.

The Arizona capitol building, just west of downtown.

More like the "ok seal of the state of arizona"

Nice rotunda in the capitol building.

Paul's always giving legislators the side-eye!

David, on the other hand, is going for a more authoritarian state of Arizona!

Leaving Phoenix, it's amazing how fast the landscape changes. It was unseasonably hot in Phoenix while we were visiting, with highs around 100*F. Driving north you quickly start to gain elevation and the desert is replaced by a forest of saguaro cacti. Further north this abruptly changes to grasslands and eventually forests above 7,000 feet. The diversity in landscape is one of the more endearing characteristics of this state, which makes up for the somewhat underwhelming city of Phoenix.

Our first stop was in Sedona. This city is known for its red rock outcrops and canyons. The contrast between the cliffs and the grasslands is beautiful. We took a hike on the Cathedral Rock Trail to a vista near sunset to get a view of the area. There are lots of vacation houses and rentals and a small touristy downtown area with shops and restaurants.

Red rocks in Sedona

Sedona vista

Paul nearly at the top of the Cathedral Rock Trail in Sedona.

Chapel of the Holy Cross blends into the scenery at Sedona.

From Sedona we drove a short distance north to Flagstaff, another climb of a couple thousand of feet in elevation. Flagstaff is a pretty town, with a cute downtown and a university nestled in a pine forest at the base of Humphrey's Peak (Arizona's highest point). The city is very livable with bike facilities, a good bus system and lots of shops and restaurants. The elevation gives the city a cool climate in the summer and snow and cold in the winter. Overall, it was delightful. We rented an AirBnB near downtown for two nights.

Flagstaff is a great base to explore northern Arizona. Numerous sights are located within about a 1-2 hour drive including: Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, Walnut Canyon National Monument, the Grand Canyon, the Lowell Observatory, and lots of other natural and native american cultural sights - some of which are national monuments. We used a full day to explore a couple nearby sights.

Biff's Bagels in Flagstaff. People put up pictures as memorials to their dead pets. It's a little morbid, but they have good bagels.....so, here we are.

East of Flagstaff is a giant meteor crater! There's a science center attached.

Near meteor crater is the town of Winslow, Arizona, famous for the corner from the song .

We crossed Route 66 lots of times driving around Arizona. It still has some touristic charm for mostly retired RV folks.

Just east of Flagstaff is Walnut Canyon National Monument. People lived here in cliff-side dwellings.

Example cliff-side dwelling from 1100 - 1250 CE. Eventually the climate dried and people left the canyon.

You can see how closely the buildings were packed under the cliffs.

Lots of stuff in Arizona is trying really hard to poke you. Be warned!

Due to its altitude, spring had just arrived in Flagstaff.

Lunch and beer at Lumberyard Brewing Company.

Flagstaff also is a local brewery hotspot. Paul was pretty happy with two days of brewpubs. This one is at Dark Sky Brewing, which was Paul's favorite of the trip.

Lowell Observatory just outside of Flagstaff.

This is part of the Lowell Observatory. They discovered Pluto in the building behind David.

Flagstaff has lots of nice local parks, including Buffalo Park which has jogging trails and mountain views.

After a two nights in Flagstaff it was time to head to the Grand Canyon and then on to Las Vegas. We got up around 3:30AM to make the drive to the eastern most entrance point of the south rim to arrive ahead of sunrise. Sunrise at the Grand Canyon is spectacular. Seeing the light move down the canyon walls illuminating new shades of color is a bucket list must-do. After watching sunrise, we drove along the south rim towards the visitor center, stopping occasionally to check out the views and do a little hiking. After around 5 hours in the park we started our drive to Las Vegas to meet up with my family at an AirBnB for three nights surrounding Josh and Yami's wedding.

The first bit of morning light over the canyon, at 5:30AM.

The sunlight hitting the far canyon walls, about 8 miles away.

Paul enjoying dawn at the Grand Canyon.

David didn't get as close to the edge as Paul.

There were a lot of cool shadows as the sun continued to rise.

Remains of a kiva at Tusayan ruins.

View of Bright Angel Canyon later in the day.

Another benefit of going early is avoiding this situation in the afternoon. It gets crowded!

Goodbye Grand Canyon National Park!

Driving to Vegas we stopped for Tex-Mex on Route 66 in Williams.

Finally, we had 2 and a half days in Las Vegas to hang out with family. We rented an AirBnB with David's parents, sister, brother-in-law and two cute nephews. Unfortunately, David's mom threw out her back and wasn't able to go out much, so we ended up spending a lot of time hanging out at the AirBnB or with our Las Vegas family. The wedding was great, and it was wonderful to catch up with family.

AirBnB was on a freaking man-made lake in Las Vegas. That's sustainable!

Gabe is super cuddly!

We made a little time for bingo, of course! Ricky won $250 this game!

Josh has an entire soccer team worth of groomsmen! :)

Alex and Gabe both really loved the flower petals!

It's amazing what random things can lead to that level of joy!

When he wasn't trying to walk into the water, Gabe was pretty fun. ;)

David's Dad and four of his siblings!

Josh and Yami with David's Uncle Rick.

I specifically requested to not be seated next to a child!

There's still a whole lot of Arizona and Nevada we haven't explored. A western road trip is in order!