We woke up around 7:15 am to say goodbye to Vanessa and get an early start to NOLA for the weekend. We got ready in record time and were on the road by 7:35 or so. The drive to Mobile, Alabama was fairly uneventful, except for driving through the time zone line in Louisiana, which was pretty cool (we watched our clocks change from 8:30 am to 7:30 am). The scenery was standard. Not much to report.

We hit Mobile at 10:30 am. We attempted to see the USS Alabama but there was a fee to get in, so we passed that up. However, we snagged a few pics of the ship from the highway. We then went to downtown Mobile and drove through aimlessly to explore. I had looked up some info on Mobile before arriving and Dauphin Street kept popping up, so we parked on a street off of Dauphin for about 2 hours to walk around and get lunch.

Downtown Mobile looked like a scene out of a movie. It felt like we were in To Kill A Mockingbird or some movie from the 50’s. It wasn’t super crowded, not was there a ton of stuff to do, but it was just really pleasant. Cathedral Square was great, and I got a video of a really nice fountain.

We landed on Panini Pete’s for lunch after walking most of Dauphin Street with big eyes and bigger stomachs. Turns out that place had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Specifically, their house roasted turkey Panini, which I ordered, was featured on the show. Absolutely fantastic, paired with their sweet tea of course. Alex got the Black and Bleu burger, which also was great based on the bite I took and his silence while eating. Also, our waitress was really cool and had a great accent.

After lunch we walked around some more. 2 highlights – the Reese’s Senior Bowl Hall of Fame was an unexpected gem. Nobody was working downstairs though the doors were open. There were also free Reeses cups at the front desk so that was awesome, in addition to a lot of history and memorabilia about the game. A homeless man came in to find me standing alone and attempted to sell me on of his drawings he created that morning. Hard pass. The second was less of a highlight and more of a point of interest. There was a funeral for a public servant of some sort at the Archdiocese of Mobile, based on the large amount of cops and firefighters dressed in uniform in attendance.

We left Mobile around 12:15 and started the trek to NOLA. When we hit Mississippi we saw signs for gas for $1.84. WOW. We stopped off at the NASA Infinity Science Center in Mississippi while it started to rain. The center was alright, so we passed on the $10 tour knowing we would be going to the LBJ Space Center in Houston. Alex got some astronaut ice cream, which he loves. We visited for maybe 15 minutes before heading out to drive in the pouring rain to The Big Easy.

Jay Lapin, the lad who agreed to house Team Handsome for the weekend, had work until 4 pm and it was pouring rain, which had us adjust our tourism plans considering our 2:45 pm ETA. I did some research while Alex drove and found a rum distillery tour on Tripadvisor.com that had great reviews. So after “much discussion” we booked a tour for 4 pm. We arrived early and explore the fairly sketchy area near the tour and got some snacks at Walgreens before getting to the Old New Orleans Rum distillery at 3:45.

The distillery was in an industrial area, essentially in an old warehouse. The tour lasted about an hour and was really informative and engaging, though our tour guide was a bit dorky (local actor, go figure). The tour started with a cocktail that we later learned was their crystal rum mixed with peach tea. Neither of us liked it because it was too watered down. However, we got to taste their rums at the end of the tour, including their Cajun spice rum, which was fantastic. The tour included an 8-foot high watermark to indicate how Hurricane Katrina affected their business, a full rundown of all the equipment and ingredients needed to make their rum, the bottling room, and a hint at future flavors. I definitely recommend going on the hour or so long tour for those about to go to NOLA.

After the tour we went to Jay’s house, who had recently moved there from Boston to start working for the St. Bernard’s project. We met his roommate, Tanya, who was awesome and also in the same program as Jay. After hanging out at his place for a while – btw he lives in what is called a shotgun house, named that because the house is a single floor with all connecting rooms designed to fire a shotgun from one end to the other without hitting a wall – we made our way to Ignatius Eatery on Magazine Street for dinner at 8.

I got the Bayou sampler, which included red beans and rice, jambalaya, and crawfish etouffee. All were very very good. We split bananas foster for dessert and then walked that section of Magazine Street, which I believe was in the garden district. After our quaint New Orleans stroll we went back to Jay’s house to pick up Tanya and head to a house party for somebody who had just graduated Jay’s program though Jay had never met her.

There were A LOT of people at the house party. Rather than being awkward while Jay worked his magic on a lady of his interest (yep, called out on our blog) Alex and I decided to make friends with everyone in their program by introducing ourselves as John West (who we learned was in charge of the program that all of the party goers worked for) and Bernard (from the St. Bernard project). We were a big hit! And by that I mean we made some people laugh, isolated ourselves from others, and really clicked with a couple people who hung out with us the whole night. Huge shout out to Casey! Somebody had a birthday, and when we left the party at 12:45 am Casey stuck her finger in part of the blue frosting and enjoyed a healthy helping of birthday cake frosting. Good times.

We got back to Jay’s at 1 in the morning. We hung out for a bit while I assembled a comfy chair and footrest into a bed, and we were asleep by 2 am. Tomorrow we’re being ultra touristy and seeing the Rebirth Brass Band! We’re also meeting Robbie Kaufman at Tulane. So excited to get another shirt for the collection! Great 1^st day in NOLA.

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