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!

Soccer Weekend in Cincinnati

Earlier this year we went to an Atlanta United away game in Seattle - and this year we decided to go to another away game, the last Atlanta United game of the season, in Cincinnati. Our friends and fellow season ticket holders snagged some great seats for the game, and we made plans to drive up.

On a Thursday after work we drove part way, stopping for some fried chicken for dinner at Champy's in Cleveland Tennessee. We've been to the original Champy's in Chattanooga, and we're fans! We drove a couple more hours from there, stopping for the night at Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky, where we stayed at the historic Dupont Lodge. The lodge itself is fine (the rooms were last updated in the early 2000s) but it was cool to stay in the state park quite a ways off the interstate. We couldn't see much while driving in since it was nighttime, but the next morning we were treated to excellent views from the hotel's back patio. After breakfast we drove the short distance to Cumberland Falls, the main attraction in the state park. We walked to a few different viewpoints before getting back in the car to head up to Cincinnati.

Champy's is... a bit much. But the food is good!

David with his chicken sandwich.

Paul's dark meat fried chicken plate.

David with the Harvest tree in the Dupont Lodge.

The back patio.

Walking towards the overlook. So much color!

Paul enjoying a harvest/fall scene.

Kentucky is really pretty.

Cumberland Falls.

From the falls, it was a little less than a three hour drive to Cincinnati. The fall leaves in Kentucky this time of year were very colorful and it was a nice drive overall. When we arrived in Cincinnati, we went straight to lunch at Gatherall, a new food hall (still in the processing of opening, with about half the stalls under construction) in a former playing card factory northwest of downtown. It's a cool addition to the city, even though it's a ways from downtown.

Gatherall Food Hall. Nice architecture!

Inside was industrial chic. 

David with his Korean fried chicken tenders and bulgogi egg rolls.

From there, we made a somber trip to bring flowers to David's Yiaya's resting place. The cemetery itself (Spring Grove) is really lovely, especially with all the fall colors and some of the elaborate mausoleums. We've visited a few cemeteries over the years as city parks or touristic attractions and this one didn't disappoint with it's attention to detail and restoration works.

How bucolic.

Flying buttresses on the Dexter mausoleum, built in 1869.

Salmon Chase (a senator, governor, and chief supreme court justice) is buried in the cemetery.

David's a fan of fall foliage.

Little stone bridge to a small island. Too cute.

The leaves were popping!

From there we drove to Paul's step-brother's house and hung out and visited for the evening. We hadn't seen him for a while so it was great to catch up with him and his family, especially his two adorable kids. We stayed at their house while visiting Cincinnati. 

The next day, Saturday, we drove downtown and met our Atlanta friends for breakfast at Maplewood Kitchen in downtown. It was pretty good, and definitely a worthwhile breakfast stop if in downtown. We visited their hotel next, the 21c museum hotel. It was really interesting, as the first two floors of the hotel are an art gallery. Really cool concept! Next we saw more art at the Cincinnati Art Museum. This is a very large, impressive art museum with free entry. It's probably the top attraction in the city, with its commanding architecture and wide-ranging collections of art and artifacts. Paul particularly liked the 18th century Damascus room.

Fountain square in downtown.

David's chilaquiles at Maplewood Kitchen.

We don't what this is, but we hate it. Part of the art exhibit at the 21c hotel!

Downtown Cincinnati has great urban form.

Pinocchio welcoming us to the Cincinnati Art Museum.

The Damascus room. It's actually cobbled together from a few different sites.

David and Arvo enjoy more impressive rooms and arts.

Just some demons chilling.

After visiting the museum, we drove up to the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to be closer to the stadium and grab some food at Findlay Market. I think we've visited Findlay Market every time we've come to Cincinnati, it's in a quickly improving urban neighborhood just north of downtown. Plus there's good food options. From the market, we strolled around the neighborhood, did some window shopping, looked at cute streets and made our way over to Washington Park, where the game day fan zone was being held. There were lots of people out enjoying the nice weather in the pretty park. We sat at a café for a bit before heading over to the stadium.

The Cincinnati Music Hall.

The streetcar runs frequently and connects downtown to some of the urban neighborhoods just north.

We come to Findlay Market every time we visit Cincinnati.

Inside the market, this area is mostly grocers.

Lunch arepa!

Hanging out with our lunch outside Findlay Market.

Lots of cute shops around the market, this area is redeveloping quickly.

There are quite a few nice dining and shopping streets in Over the Rhine.

Paul's here for the fun!

The game was a lot of fun. Cincinnati was the number one team, so we expected to lose, but we pulled out a 2-2 tie even after getting a red card. And the seats that our friends got were primo - front row of the top level, just a section over from the Atlanta United away fans supporters groups. The stadium itself is pretty impressive as well. Worth the trip for any soccer fan.

The line to behold/take a picture of the Supporter's Shield.

The soccer gang at the stadium!

I mean, it's a pretty great pitch/view.

The stadium also had a cool light show around its front when it's dark.

The next morning we had a yummy home-cooked pancake breakfast with Paul's step-brother and family, grabbed some iced coffee for the road at Wyoming Community Coffee, and then headed out to pick up David's Aunt Diane, who we were shuttling down to Georgia to visit with David's parents for a few weeks. We made great time back to Atlanta, and enjoyed the fall colors in Kentucky, a stop at Buc-ee's outside of Lexington, and saw some odd random brush fires near the freeway in Dalton, GA. All in all, a great long weekend in Cincinnati and we hope to visit again soon!