New Orleans Trip Report
 

This Trip Report is for a long weekend I took with my husband 8/9 - 8/12. Kind of late, and the details are a little fuzzy (blame the juleps!), but I will try to remember.

Day 1 - Thursday
I think we were expecting to see a lot of wreckage and damage on the drive from the airport to the French Quarter, but didn't see any. Everything looks the same way it always does (this was our 6th trip in 7 years). We did see a lot of trailers and mobile homes parked in strange places, as if they are the makeshift trailer parks set up. Of course, the major changes we found were with the people and businesses of New Orleans, not the actual structures.

We were too early (Noon) to check into the Dauphine Orleans, so we left our bags and headed into the sultry atmosphere that has a way of getting under your skin. The temp was 92 most of our weekend, with humidity of 90% and a heat index of 110. Wooeee!!! We took things pretty slowly and always had our water bottles with us (yeah right!) among other beverages in our "Go Cups".

We first headed for Maspero's to grab lunch - shared a Muffaletta and had our first Abita Beer in 2 years. It was the perfect amount of food. Walking outside of Maspero's we were really surprised to see that the mall in the Jackson Brewery area was mostly closed down. Even the 3-story Virgin Records was gone!

Went to Jackson Square and there was only 1 Fortune Teller, and maybe 3 Artists!! I know it was August, which was pretty quiet tourist-wise, but we've been there in August before, and Jackson Sq. has been packed with musicians, artists and fortune tellers. Even though there were no empty storefronts there, I did notice that a lot of the shops had changed. We went to the Tabasco store (I have a Chilepepper kitchen - go figure!) and talked to the owner for a long time. Her store used to be located in the Mall on the Riverfront (forgot the name - is it Riverfront Mall?)but she said after Katrina they raised the rent to sky-high prices! Part of the French Quarter is controlled by the state, and the other part is controlled by the city -- I believe it was the city-controlled area that gave shop owners in the French Quarter a really good deal on rental rates to bring shop owners back to the Quarter. (I apologize if I got this wrong, but that was the general gist of it).

After walking around for 2 hours we went back to our hotel to check in -- but first we had to make a detour, and stop in at Acme Oyster House!!! I cannot tell you how great it was to be able to walk in and sit down right at the oyster bar! Usually there is a long line outside, and you have to take the first table available. This was the general theme of our entire stay. No lines! Well, maybe a little one at Johnny's Po'Boys, but when is there NOT a line there?

I digress. The oysters were fabulous!! The guys shucking the oysters are very entertaining, which is a good thing, since they are always on display! :)
I always add the green tabasco to my oysters, and our shucker has us try it with a new smoked tabasco sauce that was really good.

After our oyster fix we checked in at the Dauphine Orleans, which is one block behind Bourbon. Close enough to everything, and still quiet at night. The lobby is small and clean, and if they had air conditioning there, I'd be surprised. Thankfully the rooms did! The room was a nice size, and very clean. Every employee of the hotel was great. We were treated well everywhere we went -- that's not unusual -- but we tipped a lot more than we have in the past, too. When you check in at the Dauphine they give you 2 drink tickets for their house bar, May Bailey's Place. It is connected to the hotel, and is renowned for being the first legal brothel in NO. It still has a red light out front. This was definitely a bar for locals to hang out when the free appetizers came out, and the bartender was probably the only rude person we ran into the entire trip. He let it be known that tourists were to be ignored, and he just wanted to "hang out" with his gang of locals. Needless to say, we didn't hang out there for long.

That night we went to the Red Fish Grill, another old standby for us. I had the grilled red fish, ironically enough. I have no idea what my husband had, but it was some type of shish kabob with shrimp. We used our one and only coupon - for a free bottle of house wine, which was a Ravenswood Chardonnay. Everything was great until dessert. It was some kind of lemon custard with fresh blueberries, and SO GOOD . . . . and I was wearing white! After I spilled blueberries in sauce on my right . . . ummmm . . . chest, I could not get the check fast enough! I had to walk behind my husband out of there, and headed straight back to the hotel! Nobody noticed, of course. I changed, and we headed for Bourbon Street. Luckily we were only about 2 blocks from the hotel.

The strange thing about Bourbon St. was the absence of street performers. There was ONE silver lady. That was it. It really makes you wonder what happened to all those people that you see year after year. Our entire trip I was keeping an eye out for this very tall black gentleman who dresses in a red white and blue suit with a top hat (kind of Harlem Globetrotter type apparel)and walks a stuffed cigar-smoking dog on a leash. You can get your picture taken with him in a frozen "action shot". Our kids love him, and we take his picture every year.

The businesses that closed on Bourbon seem to have been replaced with MORE strip clubs because apparently there just weren't enought already. Ha! And at night I think only a handful of bars were playing the real blues and jazz and zydeco. So many places are playing hard rock - it just doesn't sound the same. Still smells the same, though. :) I am NOT complaining -- but perhaps August is not the best time to go when it comes to heat and smells. The locals have a saying: "It's not the Heat --It's the Stupidity".

We stopped in my favorite little sideways bar where the owner makes mint juleps from scratch. My favorite drink in New Orleans!!! Visited a few more bars up and down Bourbon and then headed back to the hotel to do some late (after-hours) swimming.

We had on-line reservations for the next morning with Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours Air Boat Tour!

We were there in June when there was more traffic in the FQ, but friends were there last month for a conference and reported the same lack of people that you saw. It looks like tourism is up, but not back to pre-Katrina levels.

We saw the guy with the cigar-smoking dog, so he is still around. My husband talked to him for quite awhile - they both happened to be standing at the same corner when some altercation happened across the street. So they chatted while the police came, people got arrested, and so on.

Hey, J_Correa, I was hoping you'd show up on this post! I enjoyed your trip report. Ironically enough, as we were leaving Molly's bar on Sunday to head over to the airport our last day the dog walking street performer walked in right behind us!! My husband and I looked at each other and just smiled. Another trip complete! :)

Glad you enjoyed my report - I was definitely looking forward to yours since we chatted about our trips so much before hand.

A "cajun-fusion" restaurant just opened up near where we live - not sure exactly what cajun-fusion entails, but I am going to check it out soon. Hopefully it will be good and I can get my New Orleans-style cooking fix closer to home :)

Thanks, Ladies. Love your reports and I am looking forward to my visit in three weeks.

thanks for posting your trip report !
I also remember the dog walking street performer too ! We haven't been since pre-Katrina for the jazz festivals.... it was nice to relive walking in the same areas and Johnny Po;boys -
thanks again for the memory jogger !

We'll be there in just 12 days (I can hardly wait!) and my plans were to finally purchase a picture from an artist at Jackson Square, but I have been watching Muriel's web cam and noticed the lack of vendors also. On another forum it was stated that because of the heat lots of vendors have been staying in and just painting, but it surely does seem different.

Thanks for the great trip report, Chilepepper, it makes me even more anxious to get there and see the city again.

I really do think timing has a lot to do with it. We were in New Orleans the first weekend of Jazz Fest (end of April), and the FQ, Garden District and Uptown were alive with people. We had to wait in line at many places, and made reservations for dinners well in advance (and, even 30 days out, I couldn't get a table at Bayona). A colleague went to a conference in June, on the other hand, and found things dead.

The residents and business owners were so thrilled (and surprised) to encounter out-of-towners. There used to a mild indifference to tourists before Katrina, and I'd always toss in the fact that I'd gone to college in N.O. to get a warmer reception. Now that welcome extends far wider.

Thanks for your report Chilepepper. We were in NO sometime in June this year and also noticed the lack of people and lack of blues and jazz. I hope that changes. But loved those Acme oysters!

We were in NO about a month ago for a few hours and noticed that Magazine St was quite busy with tourista and locals.

Hi all,
Thanks for the great comments. I always try to explain to people who have never been to NO how the city just wraps itself around you, and there is no other place like it! The food, the music, accents, smells, steamy heat -- you get addicted! We have been at several different times of the year, and this was definitely the hottest. The good news is that we got to talk to a lot more of the locals this time, which is our favorite part of going there!

At first we didn't want to ask people about their Katrina experience, but once we started, we found EVERYONE very open and willing to talk. Boy did we hear some stories! Nobody we talked to seemed bitter toward the government. Every tourist-trap t-shirt shop had FEMA shirts with sarcastic sayings (some were pretty funny, in a sad way) but I think those are just for tourists.
Most of the sad stories were regarding Insurance companies, and uprooted families. More on that next. Ernie, our Air Boat guide, told us so much about his family's history. He should write a book!

BY THE WAY ---- 4 DAYS UNTIL THE NEW SERIED ON TV -- K'VILLE!!!! I cannot wait for that show to start!! Please tell me you're all going to watch it. We left on a Sunday, and they were already posting signs on streets to notify that some of them were going to be closed for filming on Monday. I had to wonder if that was for K-ville?

Day 2 - Friday

We started by waking up early and going to Continental Breakfast at Dauphine, which was pretty good. The chicory coffee was good, too. I've heard that the Place d'Armes (which is often compared to the Dauphine) doesn't have as good a breakfast (with waffles), but the Place is in a better location, being right in Jackson Square.
Anyway, we kept it light because of the heat.

We didn't have much time that morning because we had to catch our Air Boat tour at 10 (or so we thought). Our online tickets for Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours said they would pick us up at our hotel at 10:00 AM. Well, by some major stroke of luck my husband decided to go to the lobby and check the brochures for something to do, and I was going to use the internet. They do have a computer with internet for your use in the lobby, not in the rooms. While we were there, this guy opens the front door and says, "You all ready for the Swamp Tour?" WHAT??? It was only 9:30!! Husband says You bet! I freak out -- I haven't done a thing with my hair, don't have my camera, etc. so I had to RUN back to the room to grab my stuff. They had 2 other couples from other hotels waiting in the van.

Louis proved to be a very entertaining tour guide, as he drove us to the swamps in Jean Lafitte County. He explained that during Katrina the whole area was underwater, and you could still see waterline marks on the houses. There did not look to be a lot of damage left, though. Everything was so vibrant and green!

He showed us the areas of new development where new homes are being built left and right. That's great except they are moving more and more into the swamps. And yes, they do get gators in their yards! I asked. I don't think I'd ever leave my dog outside. :)

When we got to the first location, our other passengers went on a normal swamp tour with the big boats and a lot of other people. We had to be driven further out in the boonies. There are some BEAUTIFUL houses out there, along the swamps -- all built on stilts. We were on an Air Boat with our guide, Ernie -- remember the name - and a father and son. Very nice to have such a personal tour. We had to wear earphones because of the loud noise part of the time. We were lucky that it was an overcast day because the gators come out more.

Ernie took us down some narrow channels into a "secret place" so he said. He said he doesn't want other guides to know about the place he goes, where his favorite gator lives. Sure enough, a 10-ft gator comes right up to us. Get this -- he named him Teddy Bear. And I swear to you he was the cutest gator I have ever seen! I wish I could post the pictures here, of Ernie holding TB's head up with his hand under the chin! He gave him marshmallows, and while he was distracted we got to pet him. A lot smoother than I would have thought.

The rest of the tour was full of info on gators and the swamps and the hurricane. Ernie's family is so diverse (Acadian, Indian, French, Spanish) and they have lived there for 6 generations. His home was wiped out by Katrina. He paid insurance premiums faithfully every year. His insurance company (you're in good hands with . . .) still hasn't paid him a dime! He pays 2 insurance companies -- He had disaster insurance and flood insurance (I may be getting this a little mixed up) but the insurance copmanies are fighting over who pays him. They say there were 2 different hurricanes, which complicates things, etc. etc. Now he has to get a lawyer like all his friends had to, and if he wins his claim, the lawyer gets a LOT of money. Now his insurance premiums went from hundreds a year to $9,000 a year.

The people he knows that had absolutely no insurance at all -- they have already been helped by FEMA. His whole family is split up now, and they live all over the US because they can't afford to come back to Louisiana. Most of them lost their homes. How sad.

When we got back from the tour we got on the bus, and the other 2 couples (from the big tour boats) asked us how our tour was. I started gushing about how awesome it was, and Ernie was the best, and you see tons of gators, etc. Both couples looked at each other and got off the bus! They asked if they could go on the Air Boat tour with Ernie now (after just getting back from their other one!) The driver was so surprised he called the home base and told them they better come up with a big T-bone for Ernie later! :)

cmcfong and ccolor: You should do yourselves a HUGE favor when you go to New Orlenas, and go on the Air Boat Tour with Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours. It was $68 each for the tour, and that included them picking us up at our hotel. We tipped him well after the tour, too. If you have a car, I'd still recommend having them pick you up! This was our favorite tour by far that we have taken in 7 years! Ask for Ernie.

(2nd favorite was 2 years agon: Southern Comfort Walking Tour by Greyline -- now they call it the Cocktail Walking Tour).

Chilepepper:

Thanks for the heads-up about the tour but this isn't our first rodeo in New Orleans! We've visited the city probably a dozen times and already had our share of swamp tours - aren't they fun?

Mom would be upset for me to be wishing my time away, but I'm SO ready to go.....

Day 2 – Part Deux

After our wonderful Air Boat tour, we showered and headed out for Johnny’s Po’Boys. Wow. Better than I remembered! We had to wait for a little bit, and our mouths watered the whole time. We split a shrimp po’boy and fries, which was just enough. We noticed that while we were there almost every customer that came in had on uniforms or aprons from other restaurants! Definitely some chefs as well. Always a good sign Wish I could have brought a bunch of these po’boys home with us! We did take some Zapp’s chips with us on the plane – they blew up like little pillows and we had to hunch down in our seats and try very carefully to open them up without making them go “BANG”. I was afraid we’d be arrested by an Air Marshall if our bags popped!  Took the risk anyway, and our Cajun Gator Chips were worth it!

Today we walked until we literally dropped. We had to find a tattoo parlor for my husband. I’ve been trying to talk him into getting one for almost 10 years now. I thought he would be discreet and get one somewhere that no one but me could see it (like mine) but Noooo . . . he decides he wants a pinup girl riding a chilepepper of all things on his Bicep! We read about Electric Ladyland Tattoo on the net, and finally found it (way past the French Market). Unfortunately, the guy we talked to was not very reassuring, and his artwork was so far off of what he wanted, we decided not to pay the $300. He’ll get one around here instead (unless he’s just foolin’ with me!).

The French Market was a big surprise for me. One entire half is just gone. The end closest to Café du Monde no longer exists! They are rebuilding it, but all the food area is gone. No more gator on a stick, j_correa! The people we did buy souvenirs from were so nice and kept throwing stuff in for free for us. We are decorating a bar we built in our basement. The entire theme is New Orleans, so we bought boas and masks and more beads (yes, I have tons of beads at home already, but we’ll have a Mardi Gras party in ’08).

We did find a great little dive bar we read about. Strictly for the locals. It’s called Coop’s Place, and I think it was on Decatur, close to the French Market and Margaritaville. Faye the bartender was great, and made a spicy bloody mary for us with these spiced green beans. We actually found them in Wisconsin when we got back home! Good Gumbo there, too.

I did find one great store on St. Louis St. I had to go in because I followed a fairy dust trail that was on the sidewalk, right into the store! The owner told us she visited NO (she was from Massachussetts) on a vacation once, went home for her cat and clothes, and moved there the next week! We heard similar stories from a lot of people. She opened a store with another woman, and they sell mostly local artists’ jewelry. We shopped for our girls at home, and had a really nice chat. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of her shop.

That night we went to Arnaud’s for our big splurge dinner. Made reservations, and regrettably chose the Jazz restaurant instead of the main area. We were dressed up, everyone else was in jeans. There were kids tapdancing with their coke can shoes outside the windows, and once in awhile they would knock on the windows and ask the diners for money! Not exactly what I expected. The Jazz band was great, though. I ordered the Pampano en Croute which was supposed to be a House Special. We also had a variety of baked oysters which was great. My entrée looked great, baked in pastry. I cut into it, and needed a knife. Strange – I tasted it and thought hmmm. . . I didn’t know Pampano was served raw . .. I had 2 bites and couldn’t eat it. A different waiter came by (they notice EVERYTHING) and I asked him if it was supposed to be raw . .. he whisked that plate away so fast it was a blur! We had 3 waiters after that. They kept talking to us and giving us free wine, etc. Then they had to come and tell me the Pampano would take another 15 minutes! I said I didn’t really want to wait that long – my husband was halfway done. They recommended the grilled Redfish topped with shrimp – it was ready in 4 minutes. Oh My God. The BEST redfish I have ever had! I’m not high maintenance, not a complainer, and never said anything negative to the wait staff, but they really went out of their way to make sure we had a good dining experience anyway. They did not charge for my dinner, they gave us free dessert (ice cream in port wine—wow) and then they took us upstairs for a tour of their private Mardi Gras Museum! All outfits worn by the Queens of the Krewe from Arnaud’s family dating all the way back to the 50’s I think?? It was amazing. They did a great job with service!

After that we headed down Bourbon to my favorite house band: Big Al Carson at the Tropical Isle – Home of the Hand Grenade. Husband tipped Al $10 to sing Georgia for me, and boy did he sing it to me! He’s about 400 lb and has been singing there maybe forever. I feel band b/c when the band takes a break he has to sit there – it’s too hard for him to get up. I have to see them every time I’m there, and I have several CDs of his. One lady made a request for a song, but didn’t tip him. He made her pick up the Tip Bucket and take it around to every single table at the place! Then she got her song. It was great. That’ll teach her.

Later my husband bought me a rose from a street vendor, and til the day we left it looked absolutely perfect! Like deep red velvet—so we gave it to the lady at the front desk when we checked out. I’m pretty sure we hit some more places that night, but I don’t remember exactly which ones  Last drink I remember was the Purple Zombie slushie thing at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. I did say I was going to go into the Exile Bar (in Boys’ Town – by Bourbon and Orleans streets) but I decided not to when I saw the “show” they were putting on! ; ) Went in there once on the Greyline Southern Comfort (Cocktail) walking tour, and the bar is beautiful. They have an eternal flame burning (ironic?) and beautiful woodwork everywhere, as well as fishbowls of colorful condoms. They have a great SoCo based shot called a Cowboy !@#$%. Maybe I’ll go back in next time! Time for bed . . . .

What a neat swamp tour. I might have to look them up next time we go. We had a really great tour several years ago with Captain Nick's Safari Tours - something like that. And this last time we had a good tour our near New Iberia.

You are right about the breakfasts at the Place d'Armes hotel - not a lot of variety. Basically coffee, juice, and crossants. I think some fresh fruit would be a nice addition, and maybe some yogurt and additional types of bread/pastries. I didn't really mind though since at breakfast I basically just want something to get me going - at home I usually have juice, coffee or tea, and cereal.

ccolor, do you have any trip reports posted? I will definitely be looking for yours when you get back! Wow, you are a veteran. So when are you moving there? We sure did see a lot of real estate and rental signs for apts in the Quarter. So tempting . . . So what are your favorite haunts? Speaking of . . we were going to do a haunted history tour but decided it seemed too kitschy and theatrical so we passed.

chilepepper, what a great report. As others here know, we were supposed to leave for NO (my husband's first trip; I've been once before) 3 days after Katrina hit. Recently, I asked whether it was time to go back and everyone enthusiastically reported "YES". With your trip report, planning will be much easier!! (BTW, talking about the heat in NO, my best memory of NO was that it was the hottest most humid place I've ever been (been higher temps in the desert, but you know, "dry heat"; and stopping in a a shack with a screen door to get a huge hunk of watermelon for $.25 --- this was the summer of 1963!!)

Chilepepper:

Nope, no trip reports. We tend to be very low-key, no fancy restaurants or side trips since before Katrina. Our big thing is to stay at the Inn on Bourbon in a Bourbon St. balcony room and get up early to watch the city come alive. Don't we sound boring? *grin* I guess too many years of enjoying the night life on Bourbon St. has finally caught up with us! I was hoping the French Market was back up to speed, but kinda thought it might still be too early. Last year when we were there it was MIGHTY slim pickings so I'll be excited to see how much has been able to reopen so far.

Your trip report was just fantastic - I could see where you were and what your thoughts were the whole time. Thanks again for the great input. I'm ready to go!!

Have you seen the web cam for Muriel's?

http://muriels.com/camera/cam.html

This will bring a smile to your face!

I have never seen that webcam at Muriel's before. It's raining! I only saw one person,and it looked like he was picking stuff out of the garbage. If I had known it was there, I'd have made a fool of myself in front of the cam! How about this. You will be there in what, 12 days? Let's say you arrive on Tues, 9/25. On Wednesday 9/26 pick a time (Central Time) for you to be in front of the cam, and hold up a big sign that says "Hey, Chilepepper!"

How funny would that be?

Day 3

This morning we went to the Gato Negro for breakfast. Chorizo omelets! It was pretty good, but not great. The good part was when the door opened and 2 women came in with slinky red dresses and crazy wigs – followed by a guy in a slinky red dress and a cowboy hat. He was very manly looking . .. well, except for the dress. I happened to be talking to my 10-yr old daughter at the time, so of course I had to tell her what just happened. She got a good laugh out of that. Being New Orleans, we didn’t give it another thought. Until later.

We did some more walking around this day, went shopping and went to Acme Oyster House again. The heat was really high this day so we went to the hotel and spent a few hours at the pool. This is the kind of heat where you had to spread 2 towels on the lounge chair to cover all the fabric because even that was too hot to touch! We were very relaxed when suddenly we heard a lot of screaming, whistling and laughing. We looked through the alley beside May Bailey’s Place and saw nothing but red. What the !@##?
We wrapped ourselves in towels and went out to the front sidewalk of the hotel. Oh My God. A sea of red that lasted much further than we could see! Men and women alike were all dressed in red. Mostly red dresses, hats, crazy wigs, you name it. It was like Halloween, and they were running or walking, pulling wagons of water and beer, some of them even had Go Cups of beer or hand grenades. We waved and asked them what this parade was for. Someone came over and shook his “sock” at us and told us they belonged to the (something)-street running club. Harrier? It was an annual run/walk. I can only assume it was to raise money. We stood there for ½ hour cheering for these crazy people running on the hottest day (HAD to be locals) and we still didn’t see an end in sight! Finally went back to the pool and could still see them for the next hour. All Night you could see red dresses throughout the town as well.
** I just found the website. Apparently this is a Hash Running Club. As they say, it's a Drinking Club with a Running Problem! http://members.tripod.com/~NewOrleansHash/


Went to Pat O’Briens and looked at the drink menu. I hate hurricanes. I found out that if you sit in the main bar the prices are the lowest. They get more expensive in the courtyard, and even more expensive at the piano bar. Weird, huh? Must be for the overhead. Found out they make the best Lynchburg Lemonades. Mmmmm . . .

Did some more shopping – found a great porcelain doll for my daughter’s collection at a very whimsical store. It was a fairy princess doll with a very realistic face. We had it shipped home for Christmas. Also found a blood-red wine decanter with 6 triangular shaped glasses – all with little pewter fairies on the front. Couldn’t resist!

Had dinner at Tony Moran’s. We were casual and didn’t really want to go into a nice place, but that little devil Tony himself said “No problem, why don’t you just come in to cool off a little, and take a look around?” (Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly). He was so nice. We looked at the menu, and couldn’t resist. He took us to a Mediterranean room upstairs with a balcony. We ate inside, but had a great view. Turned out to be fantastic food. We both had Fettuccine Carbonara with Shrimp. I make spaghetti carbonara at home a lot. It is my family’s favorite! This dish put me to shame, let me tell you! It was amazing so I had to know what was different about his. We talked to Tony, and he brought the chef out to meet us. He was very happy that we loved it, and he told me the recipe. Ah, real cream, and a lot of it! He also used prosciutto sautéed in olive oil, not just bacon. I tried it at home. Still can’t get it right.

Day 4
Our last day was uneventful and we were not in good shape. Too much wine, too much rich food all caught up with us. We spent the day walking. Well, breakfast was a Po-Boy at Johnny’s. Later (much later!) we walked the Central Business District and went down Tchoupitoulas to Lucy’s Bar for Retired Surfers. We were disappointed because they had such a great Po-Boy there last time, but it is not on the menu anymore. They are limited now, because only some of their employees returned after Katrina. The food was mediocre there and we just weren’t in the mood for drinking. We grabbed more water and did some more walking. I tell you, it was SO HOT that I didn’t even feel like trying on shoes at the Nine West store!!!

One thing I did keep seeing in the tourist shops: there are several books all about Katrina – filled with graphic pictures. I know it’s important to know what happened, and I honestly tried to look through the books but every time I did it made me cry. It is so surreal to be standing in a spot on VACATION that held so much tragedy only 2 years ago. I can’t imagine how much some of those people suffered. It really was a reality check.

After we checked out of our room we had 2 hours to wait to get a cab to the airport so we headed over to Molly’s Irish Pub. The bartender was very nice, and she made a great bloody mary – I know, there we go again, right? As we get up to leave, the dog-walking street performer passed us on his way in. My husband and I both dropped our jaws b/c we had been looking for him the whole weekend. How perfect to end our trip on that note!

Until next time . . .