A Week in New Orleans

Hi friends! It’s been awfully quiet here on Beard + Bloom the past few months, as both Jeremy and I have been burning the candle at both ends in every area of our lives (except blogging, that is!) I’m really, really hopeful that this season, life will slow down a bit and we can get back in the swing of visiting this space more often, as we certainly do miss it.

I wanted to check in and take some time to share a little recap of our visit to New Orleans the week before last!

We were there in May of last year for a work conference and some fun, and it just so happened that the work conference I was most interested in this year was set to take place in the same city in October (for those technical writers and content strategists interested, I attended LavaCon.) We decided to tack on a couple of extra days post-conference to squeeze in as much as we could.

While it was incredibly busy when we visited in the spring last year, it was even crazier this season. Halloween in New Orleans is no joke, and the week we went was considered a “special event weekend” with several Halloween events and large conferences taking place all throughout the city. We really wish we could have stuck around for VooDoo Fest and Halloween Day, but alas, another time!

We got in on a Saturday – the conference ran from Sunday through Wednesday – and hit the ground running.

That evening was the Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade – essentially a mini Mardi Gras. It was such a blast and went on forever compared to the parades we’re used to!

It was fun to see a mix of locals and tourists cheering on and waving at the floats, dancers, horses, and bands, catching candy and beads left and right.

Sunday afternoon, we did a walking tour of the Garden District – starting at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and working our way from mansion to mansion, popping into the Garden District Book Shop along the way. While at the cemetery, we overheard a tour guide excitedly telling her group that we were there to witness a super rare, late-season magnolia bloom!

We utilized this self-guided walking tour and feasted our eyes on the homes of celebrities like Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Anne Rice, Nicholas Cage, and more, as well as homes that have been used in movies and TV shows – like the Buckner Mansion featured in American Horror Story.

Magazine Street is one of our favorite places to leisurely stroll (without the massive French Quarter crowds) and stop into shops and eateries, so we spent some time doing just that (though several are closed up early or for good on Sundays.) We still found plenty of neat places to explore and a few gems to take home.

After the conference on Monday evening, we grabbed dinner and headed to Preservation Hall, which had impressed us so much during our last visit, that I didn’t hesitate for a second before buying front-row tickets this time around. Last year was just as incredible, even though we could hardly see a thing standing in the very back row. Honestly, even if that’s where you end up, there’s not a bad spot in the entire place!

We left in complete awe again this time, and had half a mind to attend another show while we were there (though we didn’t get around to it.) Please, please, if you’re heading to NOLA and wondering what should go at the top of your bucket list, Preservation Hall is a must! It’s such a genuine, intimate, and special experience.

Tuesday after dinner, we visited the Museum of Death (warning: this is really intense – we don’t recommend eating right before or after visiting, and avoid it altogether if you have a weak stomach.) If you’re interested in true crime, the psychology behind serial killers, and the cultural way in which people around the world view death and the customs that follow it, then we think you’ll find this place very interesting.

On Wednesday, we casually strolled around the French Quarter (using this app to educate us about some of the history and landmarks we were passing) and took in the sights as we planned the rest of our trip.

We made our way through the French Market, as we didn’t make it last year. It’s overflowing with trinkets of all kinds, plus sweet treats, fresh-made cocktails, produce, music, and more.

We also stopped into the Historic VooDoo Museum which offered up a truly fascinating look at the history, practices, artifacts, and people tied to the religion. Be sure to bring a little trinket, coin, or photo to leave at one of the altars!

Thursday was a little slow going at first, but we squeezed in brunch, several touristy stops around the Quarter, a quick stroll through Louis Armstrong Park, and a haunted tour in the evening!

We have now used Haunted History Tours twice (last year we did the 5-in-1 Tour and this year we did the Ghost Tour) and have absolutely loved both experiences!

We visited several locations that we’d heard of before and several new ones – including the Andrew Jackson Hotel, Place d’Armes, Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, Pirates Alley, and the LaLaurie Mansion (where both my camera and Jeremy’s phone started acting really crazy, and we witnessed a spooked carriage horse refusing to get too close, which our tour guide said happens often… so spooky!)

We rented a car on Friday and headed for Oak Alley Plantation – which you may recognize from Interview with a Vampire, Beyonce’s “Déjà Vu” music video, or a host of other films and shows!

We started with a guided tour of the mansion, then walked around the grounds of the former sugarcane plantation, including the slaves quarters.

For a place of such beauty, the history here is so heartbreaking. We spent a lot of time reading about how the plantation owners’ slaves lived and what the process and result of being emancipated and “freed” really looked like.

From Oak Alley, we drove over to the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve – a swamp preserve with wooden walking paths that wind through the shallow waters and Spanish moss-covered trees.

This place took our breath away and we could have spent an entire day there. Some people ahead of us spotted an alligator, but it disappeared by the time we made our way to where it’d been seen.

We strolled a couple of different paths before heading back into town for a final dinner and goodbye to the French Quarter!

It was another magical trip in the Crescent City, and we spent our final night there reflecting on it, and making plans to visit again someday.

Last year, I put together a New Orleans City Guide. I’ll update that with some of what we visited and loved this time around soon, but I’ll go ahead and list out this trip’s highlights here as well:

Places & Experiences:

Eats, Drinks & Sweets:

I think that’s the majority of what we can vouch for, anyway! All of the listed restaurants are super vegetarian/vegan friendly.

We didn’t have a single bad meal our entire trip – so all of these are winners in our book! We especially loved Gumbo Shop, Bearcat Café, The Sneaky Pickle, and Juan’s Flying Burrito.

I was a little concerned I wouldn’t love New Orleans as much the second time around as I did the first. That the magic would wear off quickly. But truth be told, I think I loved it even more.

We had a couple of locals ask if we’d been in town before and when we said “yes,” they replied with, “welcome home.”

They knew our hearts. We certainly feel at home in this vibrant city, and will absolutely return for visit three in the coming years. Thanks for treating us so well, once again, NOLA!

xo, Aly