Houston Trip - New Orleans

Day 3 - New Orleans and the Swamp - January 14, 2017

Yep, I'm a bit behind. But yet I continue.

Once we were ready we checked out of our hotel and made our way back downtown.  We swung through the 9th ward that had been damaged from Hurricane Katrina way back in 2005.  There were still a lot of vacant lots and areas where nothing had been rebuilt.

We visited Lafayette Cemetery.  It was beautiful with the magnolia trees and above ground graves and crypts.

A few mug shots.

Next stop on our journey back to Houston was a swamp tour at Lake Martin.

It was really cool.  We jumped on a boat with about 15 of our new closest friends and motored around the lake.  We saw lots of crocodiles, turtles, birds and spooky swampy areas.

We stopped for dinner in Lafayette at a creperie.  No complaints from the girls on this meal.

No drive in Texas would be complete without a stop at Buc-ee's.  This place was huge.  More than 100 fuel pumps.

We finally arrived back in Houston after 11.  Sleepyheads.

Houston Trip - New Orleans and the Gulf Coast

Day 2 - New Orleans and the Gulf Coast - January 13, 2017

We started the day by hitting the French Quarter.

First stop was at the Cafe Du Monde for some beignets.

With lots of powdered sugar.

Next, we just strolled through the French Quarter.

We ate lunch at Cafe Carmo and the highlight were the pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread).  I've had these at Rodizio or other places and they've always been ok, but they were amazing.  I'm craving them just thinking about it.

It wouldn't be a true adventure if we didn't take a long drive just to check a few more states off the list for these girls.  We stopped at the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi on our way to Alabama.

Lyla didn't want to be in any pictures, so of course it was my personal challenge to catch her in a photo or two.

Caught her.

Crack kills.

Ada and Isaac.

We continued on our journey, but because it was going to be late before we would get to our dinner destination in Mobile, Alabama we stopped at The Shed for some BBQ snacks.  This was the type of legitimate southern BBQ place that you should probably avoid if you don't want to get sick.

We ate dinner at Zea Rotisserie and Grill.  It was good.

Poor Lyla, our picky eater.  She couldn't find anything that she would eat, and was having a bit of a freakout so she had to go in parking lot timeout.  This girl won't eat chicken nuggets, hamburgers, french fries, mac & cheese (unless it's cancerous Kraft), hot dogs (until tonight 7/24), corn dogs, etc.  She's a tough one sometimes.

Tomorrow: More New Orleans!

Houston - DEN-IAH

Day 1 - DEN-IAH - January 12, 2017

Technically, we're on day 2 already.  However, day 1 consisted of flying from Salt Lake City to Denver with an overnight layover in Denver.  Not our favorite way to travel, but even with the hotel our flights on Frontier Airlines (which is a terrible airline, but one that we've flown quite often) are cheap enough to make up the difference.

Kate didn't want any of her hotel breakfast to go to waste.

Riding the shuttle to the airport for our morning flight from Denver.

I love being up in the sky.

Our first stop was at Torchy's Tacos, which is my favorite taco joint on the planet.  Ever since we returned to Utah I've been on a mission searching for some tacos that are even in the same ballpark.  I've had some decent ones, but none that compare (yet).

Look at those beauts.

We had some time to kill, so we went to the girls favorite park in the Houston Heights.  They played for awhile, while Alison and I wasted time on our phones.

Me and Isaac.  This little guy has such a great personality.

We didn't get out of there as early as we had hoped, but we decided to road trip it to New Orleans.  We rented a suburban and the Marstons were willing to join us on our journey.

Tomorrow: we explore New Orleans!