But not before we wrapped up some loose ends in New Orleans of course. Having been recommended by nearly every person with a functioning vocabulary, we stumble down to the iconic Cafe Du Monde.
Right off of Jackson Square and steps from the banks of the Mississippi River, this outdoor cafe opened its doors in 1862. I know for some of my Europeans out there, you have pairs of socks older than that, but for America, thats basically ancient Egypt.
Either way, I came to the conclusion on the walk over that I was not going to be taking off my sunglasses for the remainder of the morning. We are briskly sat at an outdoor table, and I'm finally relieved of the responsibility of keeping myself up-right. Also the table had a nice spot for me to rest my head. Thats all anyone could ask for at this point.
So we ordered their famous Cafe au Lait and two orders of beignets and sat in total silence. It was golden.
But then our luck started to change as soon this glorious sight appeared before us:
I die.
This was everything and more that we needed. Two sips of that coffee and a bite of the beignet and our morning haze quickly became an after thought. Coffee's always been old go-to of mine after long nights but I've NEVER had a quicker turnaround than this morning. Both things you see in that picture were unreal. Absolutely blew me away. I want to wake up to those two things every morning, long night or not. I think they possibly have magical powers. And it occurred me, OF COURSE THEY DO. They've had 150 years to figure out what cures a hangover the best. And in this city, you've got plenty of patients.
Deep breath. Today will be great after all. Not sparing any time we head back to the hotel, pack up, and head out! Not before swinging by the famed Garden District just southeast of the French Quarter. Lined with gorgeous mansions and towering Oak trees, this neighborhood is every bit as impressive as its slightly more famous neighbor to the North. The only thing I didn't like about it was that we didn't get more time there. But one last time for good measure: New Orleans is Magnificent.
Back on the road! We had a long day ahead of us, headed to the place where everything is bigger: Texas!
But it wasnt without its trials. Passing through the NOT pretty town Baton Rouge (where literally every street was being torn to all hell) we come to find out our highway is just flat out SHUT DOWN. For a good 90 miles. Awesome. So, after spotting LSU's not-as-big-as-Michigan's-football-stadium, we are rerouted to some ungodly stretch of pavement the state of Louisiana calls "the 190". Awful. It passes through nothing and you gain nothing. Except back spasms. I got those alright.
And since everyone and their mothers are being detoured on this Road to Sodom, the tiny confines of its two lanes are quickly jammed and we're in bumper to bumper traffic in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Hey! Guess who's back!?!
My hangover.
Sean's too. Though it becomes clear his maybe had never left. Give it about 5 more minutes, we're officially pulled over on the highway and my road trip companion was bent over on the grass, ready to pull that trigger. [fill in details here]. What a rock star.
It was nice to see the verbal encouragement from the cars slowly passing by us too. It really became a group effort for everyone. You're support means everything Louisiana.
We had circled this day of driving as one that would probably suck and it more than lived up to its expectations. Finally getting back to actual interstate, we get our bearings and start in on our next food mission.
While New Orleans is all about Creole, its south central Louisiana thats the real CAJUN COUNTRY. Going off a recommendation from a bartender in New Orleans, we pit stopped in the capital of cajun country: Lafayette, Louisiana. Oh Lordy was this a treat. No tourists here folks. This was at its very core real Cajun, served by locals and eaten by locals. We wind our way through the ruggedly rural streets of Lafayette and land here.
Johnson's Boucaniere. The fact that its called a Boucaniere speaks for itself but walking into this place was stepping not only into another era, but maybe another country. The biggest culture shock we've encountered thus far. The workers behind the counter had a slang term for everything and I didn't know a single one of them. Both parties realized quickly that we come from two VERY different America's and that thats awesome!! They were elated to have us and we couldnt have been happier to be there.
The place was essentially a general store/deli for the community with several different cajun foods to order. But we came for ONE thing: Boudin. Whats that? Well, we still couldn't really tell you. Its sausage...lets leave it at that. But this type of Boudin is not only unique to Louisiana but unique to Lafayette. This is the only town in the world that makes this Boudin. And it was unlike anything I've ever had.
So not the most appetizing looking thing we've posted on here, but make no mistake, it was AWESOME. The texture of the sausage was completely different. It was softer and smoother. Not crunchy. And thats more gumbo to the left. And I gotta hand it to them. It was better than Parkway. But to Parkway's credit, they were the ones who told us to come here for the gumbo. Good food knows other good food.
Back on the road!! We quickly make it into Texas state borders and head to that steaming Gulf metropolis locals call Houston.
Sean's family is from Houston so he felt immediately at home. Though we were just passing through, we had to stop at the one place Sean couldn't go without seeing:
Reliant Stadium. Home of the Houston Texans. Most famous for the Packer beatdown that occurred here just last Sunday. So, I was equally as starstruck. The structure is MASSIVE, as you can see, and we got the deluxe tour right to the field. It was awesome.
Well that was a fun change of pace. But our eyes were set on our final destination for the weekend: AUSTIN, TEXAS!!!!
Another amazing city I have never been to, I can already say I'm stupidly in love with it. Utterly exhausted from the day and double digit drive time, we kept it quiet tonight. But we were OBVIOUSLY still hungry for dinner. So off we went to Magnolia's! Known as probably the most famous breakfast place in all of Austin, we decided to beat the morning rush and go get some breakfast for dinner! Why the hell not! So we take the quick drive down Congress Street and across the river. Is there ANY neighborhood in this city that isn't cool? Its seriously mind-boggling. Everything has an identity, a pulse, and more character than you know. Also food trucks. But we'll get to that tomorrow. In the meantime, we had arrived!
We're in central Texas y'all, and that means one thing: Tex Mex!! And at Magnolias, that means MIGAS.
"What the hell are migas?!?"
Well, THIS:
Basically egg-slop-mexican-goodness.
It was exactly what the doctor prescribed. You basically make your own breakfast taco out of it, so the slop factor is completely up to your own discretion:
Enough said.
The interior of the place was so cool, our ultra-hipster waitress helped us plan out our nightlife for the weekend and, come on, WE HAD BREAKFAST FOR DINNER!!
I'd recommend doing this because word on the street is during actual breakfast hours, the wait time can be in the hours. YEESH!
Alright folks, I think we're all caught up!! Another day in the books and tomorrow is a biggie. We're staying here in Austin but we've got ALOT of cool things planned. STAY TUNED!!
Bye now!
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