Heading back to Dallas

Unfortunately, we had such a ridiculous drive to get back to Dallas, we had limited stops along the way.
Another "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" place we stopped was Rivershack Tavern at 3449 River Road in Jefferson. As before, the food was good (again my favorite is still Surrey Cafe).
The next morning we knew the car was due back by noon. So, of course, we tried to squeeze one more thing in prior to returning the car. We stopped at the Twisted Root Burgers place at 2615 Commerce Street in Dallas (another "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"). This place actually opens up at 11:00 and I figured we will grab the food and go...of course, Terrell is having a minor coronary that we will be late with the car (she was o.k. however, for stopping earlier at an antique place :). We got in line at the counter to order and turned around...the line was already to the door.
The service was quick (they use children's books characters to call you up for your order...I was "Little Red Riding Hood" and the guy sang to me :)...the mushroom burger was fantastic. I ate pretty quickly since we were in our time crunch.
Incredibly, we got the car back with about 15 minutes to spare...and actually ended up getting on a flight back to Phoenix through Las Vegas. Terrell decided to head home to Fresno out of Las Vegas.
For a whirlwind tour of New Orleans, we packed a lot in...Carly felt like the only thing she missed was getting to see a plantation.

Garden District/Mardi Gras World

At my insistence, we went back to the Surrey Cafe for breakfast. Afterwards we drove down to the Garden District, which is bordered by St. Charles Avenue, 1st Street, Magazine Street and Toledano.

This area is so gorgeous to walk around...a former plantation area and now just beautiful homes. A couple of interesting things about this older area, some of the streets have tiled signage on the sidewalks and there are areas where you can see seashells in the asphalt on the road.
Within this area is the Lafayette Cemetary, which we walked around. Carly and I hid amongst the above ground crypts and tried to scare Terrell. She did not think it was funny, especially after she stepped in some mud.
Next stop...another "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" place, the Creole Creamery at 4924 Prytania Street. They had great home made ice cream. We had to be quick, since we wanted to get to Mardi Gras World.
Mardi Gras World, 1380 Port of New Orleans Place, is a great place to tour. First off, I had no clue they reused so many floats every year...and they have full time float builders working on creations as you tour. Since I love giant stuff, this place was a favorite for me. I got to "kick" a giant football and spent a lot of time trying to grab Mardi Gras beads that were still stuck on the floats. The tour guide had said, "As you pass these floats you'll notice beads hanging there that got stuck when being thrown during the parade, help yourself." Of course, that became my focus and I kept getting behind the tour because of it.
Before we headed out of town, we stopped at Ted's Frostop Burgers, 3100 Calhoun Street, to see the upside down root beer mug. Apparently this mug had been on top of the pole outside the restaurant until Hurricane Katrina hit. The wind toppled it over and it landed perfectly upside down and didn't break. The owners decided to leave it that way. Another pretty cool oddball roadside attraction.

French Quarter

After leaving Cafe Dumonde, we walked up the stairs to look at the Mississippi River. It is just plain weird that you walk up steps to look at a river (actually a little creepy). I sang a brief chorus of "Ole Man River" of which I know one verse.
We then walked around the rest of the French Quarter, and down Bourbon Street, which Carly really wanted to see. We came across a Clover Grill (maybe we have New Orleans relatives???) and took some other photos. We decided to head back to the car and check out a dinner place further down Magazine Street.
Joey K's at 3001 Magazine Street was another "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" place. Terrell and I had the shrimp magazine, which was featured on the show. It was great. Surrey Cafe is still my favorite.
Terrell spotted an antique store she wanted to check the next day and we decided to head to our hotel that night, a La Quinta Inn (actually should have been named the Kakhooey Inn...you know you are in trouble when what you thought was your shadow was one of many gross stains on the carpet). We tried not to think about it and quickly got in bed.

Exploding Beignets (Ben-yays)

New Orleans is a fantastic place to walk around...even when it's drizzling. We headed down Magazine Street till we reached the French Quarter. Our first stop was the Cafe Dumonde at 1039 Decatur Street for some hot chocolate and beignets. This place is really amazing...with a huge covered patio area and every table taken, even though it's 3 in the afternoon. And, the place is opened 24 hours a day!
We got a table and ordered our hot chocolate and two orders of beignets to share. I need to forewarn you that this is a heavy powdered sugar experience, not to be taken lightly. I wish someone had given me that info prior to my first beignet encounter. Of course, when these tasty treats arrive at your table, under a heavy layer of powdered sugar, most people would have a clue. But not Terrell or I. The only one with common sense was Carly, who tapped off most of the powdered sugar onto her plate prior to taking a bite.
Maybe I was just a bit overly excited, but I opened my mouth wide, inhaled, and took a bite. Unfortunately I inhaled about a pound of powdered sugar and proceeded to have a major coughing attack. Meanwhile, I glanced over at Terrell, who, at that moment took a bite of her beignet, resulting in a small explosion of powdered sugar all over her face and jacket.
It was as if we had a powdered sugar volcano erupt at our table. The powdered sugar seemed to be everywhere. The more you tried to wipe off, the more it spread. Terrell, already distressed with another bad hair day, was now looking like a Cover Girl model for their new line of ghost makeup.
My jeans seemed to act as a magnet for all remaining airborne powdered sugar, even on my butt (have no clue on how that happened).
Of course, we all started laughing, which is not good since I think I inhaled even more powdered sugar, and resulted in me having to use my inhaler. When the storm cloud finally settled, we did enjoy these warm tasty treats and were thrilled that we had stopped at this charming place.

Hangin' with Kate Hudson

By the time we got to New Orleans, we were pretty hungry. We decided to try one of the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" places...Surrey Cafe at 1418 Magazine Street. Since I have parallel parking deficit disorder, it was a relief that I could just come in for a landing right in front of the place.
For some unexplained reason, we all walked in separately. I was lagging behind, having stopped to see if there were any brochures of things to do that would spark our interest. Meanwhile, Terrell and Carly had grabbed a table. I looked up to head to the table and this girl looked right at me and then away. I thought, where had I seen her before?
I wanted to ask her if she worked for US Airways. She looked so familiar. Then it hit me...she was Kate Hudson. When I sat down at our table (about 10 feet from her), I whispered this new tidbit to Terrell and Carly. Terrell about peed her pants and insisted on me taking a photo. I thought she wanted to be in the photo so the picture has Kate Hudson in the background...on her cell phone...leaving the poor guy she was with just hanging there watching her on the phone.
Meanwhile, the waitress informed us that she (Kate) frequently eats there. After we ate there, I could see why. I had a crabmeat omelet that was unbelievable. The waitress, Gretchen, was a doll and gave us the scoop on how to easily navigate down to the French Quarter and check stuff out. The Surrey Cafe is great...and you can leave your car parked right there all day and go check out the French Quarter, an easy walk down Magazine Street.

Elsie the Cow truck sighting

We stayed in a Comfort Inn in Alexandria, which was great (since the drive was ridiculously long). We now got our caffeine fix with our sodas and quick breakfast at McDonald's when we spotted the Borden's truck.
"I have never seen an Elsie truck before...you have to take my picture," said Terrell.
The truck drivers were bewildered, but posed anyway. For trivia buffs, Elsie was created back in the 1930's for the World's Fair to promote the Borden's product. As for the truck, we've never seen them before, so it may just be a Louisiana thing :)