Starring the Stewarts: Road Trip 2012

This year for our family vacation we took a road trip!! Our first day began on the late afternoon of July 3, 2012 with a trip that took us to New Orleans, LA! Sam was the only one of us that had ever visited NOLA, so we were all very excited!! In the first leg of our journey we decided we were hungry, and we wanted to stop at Cracker Barrel in Tyler, TX! However, we missed our exit and we ended up at Bodacious BBQ! I was a little worried when I saw a live bee colony framed on the wall, but it actually ended up being very yummy!

framed bee colony!!

girlies at Bodacious BBQ

We arrived in New Orleans around 1:30 am, and we spent the first night there in the yuckiest La Quinta I've ever stayed in!! We got out of that hotel asap on the morning of July 4, and we headed straight to The French Quarter!

What a great place to spend Independence Day!!!!

We did a little strolling and shopping!

Early in the day there was hardly anyone in The French Quarter!

So happy to be in NOLA!!! I've always wanted to go, and it didn't disappoint!!

We strolled through a couple of cool candy factories!

Look at these chocolate alligators!

We took a guided tour through The French Quarter in a buggy pulled by a mule! Our guide was a retired history professor from a university in New Orleans, and I learned so much from him! Very interesting!!

He gave us all kids of cool facts, and he pointed out things like this building! The oldest bar in NOLA often frequented by a slew of movie stars!

We learned all kinds of cool things about tons of places that lined The French Quarter! All of my kids were so interested!

After our fun tour we headed to find some lunch, and we stopped to make wishes at a fountain along the way!

Our guide had told us where to find the property that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie own in NOLA so we did that on our way to lunch! Sooooo cool!

We tried to eat at this place that our guide recommended, but the line was out the door!

So....instead we ate at The Hard Rock Cafe!

After lunch there was a quick shower that the kids splashed around in! It was over berfore we knew it, so we started walking the streets again!

I found a really cool hotel in The French Quarter that we decided to check out! The building was nearly 200 years old, and it was a private home before it was converted into a hotel 8 months ago.

After a quick tour and the offer of an amazing nightly rate we decided this was the place we'd spend Independence Day 2012!!

The balcony was unbelievable!!! I found out to rent this room during Mardi Gras it'll cost you a mere $500 a night!! Yikes!!

The room was gorgeous!!

We had a grand time making ourselves at home all afternoon!

Look at this bathroom!!

We got akick out of seeing tons of beads hanging from the trees! :)

After we settled into our room we headed out for dinner in The French Quarter!

Here we are in our hotel's cool courtyard!

We saw all kids of neat things on the streets!

We had a yummy dinner, and then we stopped for beignets! Yummy!!

We did a little shopping, and then headed back to our room! We saw some fireworks from our balcony, but we watched most of the fireworks on TV. I heard random popping of fireworks in the city allll night long!!