NOLA NYE

A little bit of a recap post, but fun, none the less. As a group of friends, we journeyed from the cold Northeast to the The Big Easy for three days/nights of debauchery and local flavor for New Years, 2015. While some of our group had been before, and two of our group were natives, I had never been. I'd heard so much about New Orleans, from Mardi Gras tales to culinary appreciations, all of it good, all of it adding fuel to my excitement about finally getting to visit.

To anyone considering a trip there, I highly recommend it. Here's some of what I found awesome:

Neighborhoods:

The house we stayed in was in a neighborhood called the Marigny, adjacent to the French Quarter. We got to spend a lot of time exploring those two neighborhoods, as well as some of the other cool neighborhoods like Uptown and Bywater. Each had its own vibe, good food, cool hang out spots, and great bars. The French Quarter was all I hoped for, with it's charming architecture, music around every corner, and a watering hole inside every doorway.

Our welcoming home.

Beers. Broads. Bourbon Street.

It was in the Quarter, as you can imagine, where we had some of our more drunken merriment. Such as the time we hitched a ride on a bicycle rickshaw living room. Yes, living room.

The ride.

Multiple hurricanes make photos blurry. There are ten of us on that thing.

On our last night in town, we were headed back to our house a little early to snooze before waking up for our 8am flight out. Rounding our corner in the Marigny, we ran smack into an impromptu battle of the brass bands. What else were we supposed to do, but dance our asses off before heading back out for a few more hours to soak up the city's legendary night life?

Bayou:

Early on the second day, we got up, fought our first-night hangovers, and drove across Lake Pontchatrain to the Louisiana swamps for a good, old-fashioned, touristy boat tour. Sadly, we saw no gators, as they hibernate in the winter time. But we did have a brisk, hangover-curing ride on the water, with an eyeful of eery charm, and even met some friends.

Spanish ivy looks blurry.

Raccoons are wily as all hell.

Apparently, all swamp critters love marshmallows.

Bourbon Street on New Year's Eve:

Following a great prix-fixe dinner at Vacherie, as picked out by our local hostess, we spent the countdown to midnight wandering the Quarter, ultimately living out the final seconds of 2014 in the middle of an energized Bourbon Street with thousands of other drunkards. Just past midnight, there were fireworks.

Wall-to-wall celebration

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Food:

The food in NOLA was no joke. Immediately off the airplane, we headed to the first culinary must on our list, and it didn't stop until flying out three days later. Sadly, I only had the wherewithal to snap one photo, of some HUGE delicious oysters from the famed Cooter Brown's .

Dayyumm.

Other notables include:

Jaques-Imo's, in a cool neighborhood call Uptown, had an appetizer called Shrimp and Alligator Sausage Cheesecake. A decadent, almost quiche-like, slice of delight, covered in a shrimp and gator sausage Creole sauce.

Killer Po-Boys, a small take-out window, tucked deep in the back room of an Irish Bar (Erin Rose). Here I got a bomb-ass pork belly po-boy, and my friend got convinced by the girl behind the counter that pickles are, in fact, delicious.

Cafe Du Monde, super famous, super delicious, surprisingly cheap beignets.