So we got up early on Saturday and drove to New Orleans, which is about 3 hours from Pensacola.
On the way off I-10 is this humongous gas station called Buc-Cee’s! Their little beaver mascot is on everything.
My breakfast, Naked Mango juice and chicken salad in a croissant, which was ok. The bread was too starchy and the chicken not as flavorful. His chili limon pork rinds were alright.
This beef jerky was ok as well. Someone needs to put Lao beef jerky on store shelves. That and sticky rice and Lao tomato salsa (jael) is the ultimate road trip food.
Here’s the cinematic tunnel that goes under battleship park.
We made it to New Orleans around 10:30am. NOLA almost always has flowers in every season. Lots of street corners and neighborhoods in uptown have plenty of places I could use.
Breakfast was at Boulangerie. The earl grey tea was really fragrant and helped my sore throat.
As I was taking a photo of that blueish gray house, a new “Supra” rolled by.
We took our breakfast to the sculpture garden, which is free and on the backside of the New Orleans Museum of Art. The Almond Apple fritter was really good. Chocolate Croissant nice and flaky too. Highly recommend Boulangerie (and tons of other people agree too, judging by the packed place).
I think I was last at the sculpture garden back in the early 2000’s.
This one was new, and tailor made for the “me” generation. 😉 I remember reading an article about how the social media era has really made for an uptick in art museum attendance, especially the ones that are interactive and made to be photographed and shared. I definitely haven’t forgotten my art roots so anything to get folks interested in art is a good thing.
We stayed at this mirror labyrinth for quite some time, simply because it was fun trying to find a good angle with all the reflections.
It was cloudy while we were there, but I’m sure morning light or sunsets can produce some unique photos.
The obvious parallel is the hall of mirrors scene in Enter the Dragon.
This piece is very impressive, all made from small tiles.
This piece invites walking around to shift the colors.
Light lunch was at St Roch Market, basically a food court in a train station type of building. At one table there seemed to be a rival influencer group! 😀 Basically everyone had a camera pointed towards the food and themselves. Now who would ever do that? 😉
This seafood gumbo was pretty good. The crab was all shell and just for show/flavor.
I’ve been to New Orleans probably over 20 times in my life. There’s always some type of zany color scheme or graffiti art to take a picture of.
Next stop was the Elysian Bar, which was just one part of a restaurant/hotel (Peter and Paul) in a former Catholic Church. Very pretty on the inside lounge and courtyard eating area.
Only hot tea for me today (black oolong).
New Orleans is nice in that it has always been welcoming to tourists and photo taking. Here in Atlanta though… 🙁
As we were walking by the former sanctuary being prepped for a wedding, the nice lady let us in and gave us some brief info. Turns out we were somewhat connected in a unique way too, makes you realize how small the world is.
Onward to the Quarter to walk around and people watch. If you’ve never been the various parallel streets all have different personalities, Royal St. being more artsy craftsy and family friendly. Next to it is famous Bourbon St.
There was an Asian family wrapping up a wedding and family photos right in front of St. Louis Cathedral, in the midst of all the craziness.
I don’t know if sifu was giving out spiritual advice or asking for change.
This particular weekend the SF 49ers were in town to play the Saints. Also in the 10 minutes we were in the Quarter about 4 parades rolled by.
The line for Cafe Du Monde was way too long, so Cafe Beignet was a good alternative.
While figuring out where to eat dinner and what places could take our reservation, I figured I could get some newlyweds some photos. The first idea I had was to shoot through the gate somehow. That idea was somewhat okay. There were extra frames with a slow shutter and people going by, but that idea wasn’t as successful.
In New Orleans if you wait long enough a parade will pass by eventually.
So this sequence was somewhat more successful. Again just sitting around figuring out what restaurant to go to while experimenting with photography ideas. For this one, a real wedding party parade did stroll through with police escort, making for some nice unplanned lighting.
I forgot how New Orleans turns into a light show at night all of December. Back in the early days I only had a point and shoot so picture taking wasn’t that big of a concern.
This is a “regular” person’s house. And this isn’t even the wildest one, behold:
I’d forgotten about this insane light show of a house just one block from my brother’s place. I remember trying to capture it way back when I only had a Coolpix camera and Canon Optura pi, walking around “vlogging” before there was even such a term. Crazy how 17+ years can go by just like that.
After this we packed up and drove back to Pensacola and then home to Atlanta the next morning. Just a simple short and sweet weekend getaway.
If you’ve made it this far in scrolling through these photos, thanks! 😀 For this year I thought it would fun to update this blog on a bit more regular basis. These last posts of the year remind me of the olden days, when writing about your day, month, or life was a regular occurring thing. Crazy how all that can change in one short generation, and even something like this, posting pictures and words can seem old fashioned. This trip reminded me of the simpler days, when all you needed was some gas in the car and good friends, and that we really should keep the creative adventuring spirit going into the next decade. -B
New Orleans is nice in that it has always been welcoming to tourists and photo taking. Here in Atlanta though… 🙁
