{Recap} Weekend Getaway:: Avery Island and New Orleans

The summer Michael and I were married we committed to take one trip together each summer to commemorate our anniversary. Our first summer we went to Dallas. Our second summer we went to Denver. This year we chose to stay closer to home so that we could bring Maylin with us. I'm not sure that we'll take her on every future anniversary trip, but we were intrigued to see how well she would travel. So on Friday morning, we crammed our jeep with necessities for the weekend and drove out of town.

(Did I mention that "necessities" includes a pack-n-play, activity mat, nursing pillow, stroller, diaper bag, car seat, a bag for Maylin, a bag of snacks, an ice chest, and a suitcase for our clothes?? Yeah. Crammed.)

Here are a few highlights from our trip.

Stop 1: An hour away from our home so that I could feed Maylin

Her face says it all...

"What do you mean I pooped on my clothes, Ma?"

Hence, the sudden sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that maybe, just maybe, I didn't pack enough changes of clothes for her after all...

Stop 2: Avery Island, Home of Tabasco Pepper Sauce

We rolled into the parking lot just in time to catch the next tour around the Tabasco factory. We learned a lot about how the peppers are grown and how the hot sauce is made. We even got to peek at the bottles on the assembly line.

We also visited the Tabasco Store right beside the factory. There we sampled different favors of Tabasco Sauce, jalapeno ice cream, and raspberry chipotle ice cream.

Maylin was in excellent spirits the whole time. We were so impressed(and relieved!) at her stamina after being on the road for much of the day.

Friday night we ate at a renowned Cajun restaurant nearby and were in our hotel in our pajamas with Food Network on the t.v. by 8:30 PM. Funny how much our idea of vacation has changed now that we have a baby!

We spent a gorgeous morning on Saturday driving several hours through South Louisiana to get to New Orleans. The sky was sunny with huge cotton ball clouds, the road was lined with miles of sugarcane fields, and the road was wide with little traffic. I should've grabbed a picture of it, but I didn't think about it at the time. This actually became one of my favorite parts of our trip due to the peaceful drive (Maylin was asleep in the back!) and the opportunity to talk and laugh with Michael.

Stop 3: New Orleans

We arrived in the Big Easy around mid-day and sought out a place to lunch. We walked for a while, and took a few wrong turns, before settling on a seafood grill on the corner of Canal and Bourbon. The atmosphere was fairly family friendly. There were quite a few families with young children in the restaurant, and we were able to escape an afternoon shower while munching on swordfish tacos and oyster po-boys.
Maylin was hot and tired by this point.

After catching an afternoon nap back at the hotel (remember how I said our vacay has changed) we drove out to the ballpark to watch minor league New Orleans Zephyrs play.

We were fortunate to have seats on the second row behind the plate, but ended up leaving at the bottom of the sixth. Maylin by this time was just too hot and fussy for us to enjoy it much. Don't she and her daddy look cute though?

Back at the hotel we all had baths before bed. M snapped this picture of us right after I dried Maylin off. Girl loves her bath time. And when Maylin is happy, Mama is happy.

On Sunday before driving home we had an early morning stroll through vacated streets to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and cafe au laits. We escaped another shower while eating warm fried dough dusted with mounds of powdered sugar and sipping on hot milky coffee. Heaven.

While we loved our trip, we decided that next time we want to get away we'll pick one destination and stay there. Driving for several hours three days straight pretty much did all three of us in. Overall, we made wonderful memories for Maylin's first vacation. It was refreshing to get away for a weekend!