Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet in NOLA!

I literally don’t even know where to start. New Orleans was AMAZING. Everything I thought it was going to be and more.

Of all the things I was most excited for on FART, New Orleans was #1. I have been to Houston and Dallas and Austin and Memphis a ton of times - I am lucky enough to have good friends who live in those fantastic cities who I get to visit a lot. But I had never been to New Orleans, and I just KNEW I was going to love it. Seafood, southern people, thick accents, live music, and amazing history all rolled into one city where you’re allowed to drink on the street? How it it possible I had never visited before?

Well, now that I’ve been, I can’t wait to come back. We left Houston early Saturday morning with Julie in tow and set out for Louisiana to see Bragman. We arrived Saturday afternoon and from then on, the fun did not stop!

WE DID SO MANY COOL THINGS. We drove by the AEPhi Tulane house and hopped out to take photos. We went to not one but TWO parades, including the famous Drag Queen Parade where they throw jello shots and stuffed animals to the crowd - I got SO many beads! (And I didn’t even have to flash anyone.)

We ran into our friend Liza and proceeded to spend the afternoon with her on a horse and carriage ride throughout the French Quarter with a horse named Jitterbug and a tour guide named Bob who told us all about the history of the city. We danced to a reggae band at a bar on Frenchman Street and drove through the Ninth Ward and saw for ourselves the damage still left over from Hurricane Katrina.

We shopped on Magazine Street and did karaoke at the Cat’s Meow, entertaining the crowd with a loud and extremely off-key rendition of Sweet Home Alabama. We took turns riding the mechanical bull at a bar on Bourbon Street (I managed to stay on for a few seconds, very impressed with myself) and then ran off to drink frozen alcoholic coffees at Pat O’s Piano Bar.

We even took a swamp tour! Talk about a Cajun adventure. We drove way out to the Louisiana swamps and took a boat tour where we got to see not one but TWO alligators, and we even fed them! For the record, alligators eat marshmallows and hot dogs. Amazing.

And OH GOD did we eat. We ate chargrilled oysters at Acme and Drago’s and drank watermelon mojitos at Jacque-Imos. We ate beignets and threw powdered sugar on each other. I lost track of how many poboys I ate (maybe three in three days?) and I even tried a crawfish (my friends ordered FIVE pounds, how could I not?). And we KILLED IT at Galatoire’s, one of New Orleans’ fancy old restaurants. I had been hearing Bragman rave about it since 2005 and I was NOT leaving without a meal there. It didn’t disappoint - I can’t wait to go back.

The original FART girls in our shirts! DAMN we look good. All four of us wore them on Sunday throughout our adventures through the French Quarter and we got a ton of compliments/questions. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “Does your shirt say... FART? God bless you, sweetheart” in a thick Cajun accent I would have many dollars indeed.

Bragman spent the entire trip trying to teach me how to say “let the good times roll” in French and an hour before we left I finally got it - “Laissez les bon temps roulet!” So New Orleans (and Bragman!), thanks for a REAL good time. I can’t wait to come back again soon!