Turns out, we really love New Orleans…
We started our Saturday with a walk around the Quarter, checking out street art. We have a collection of local art from all the places we’ve traveled together, and we’re always keeping an eye out for new pieces to add to the collection. We’re definitely going to need more wall-space soon.
We shot a wedding… you guys have seen that by now, right?? Scroll down a ways if you haven’t, it’s worth a looksee.
We walked into a restaurant at 11:30 p.m., saw that everything on the menu looked incredible, and told the waiter that we were down for anything. His eyes positively lit up… we could tell he appreciated the opportunity to be creative. He worked with the chef to create a custom 6 course menu for us, including drink pairings, and every single bite was so delicious we alternated between laughing maniacally and being MAD it was so tasty. We marveled our way through a summer vegetable medley with grapefruit hoisin, face bacon with herbed pate, sweet-tea poached chicken wings with sorghum sweet potato butter & biscuits, scallops smoked in a cigar box, short ribs in a clay pot with pear umeboshi, panna cotta with pepper ice cream…. mostly, our taste buds dance, and we laughed and snuggled, and rolled back to our hotel thoroughly thrilled with life at 2 a.m.
We talked about how important it is to adventure. How we love to allow professionals & artists to do what it is they were made to do. How we so appreciate clients that give US that freedom in creating images for them. How that’s the way we want to live life.
(by the way, the restaurant is called ROOT. Go there. Get the sweet tea chicken wings. Thank me later.)
We slept in, and enjoyed our lazy Sunday.
We watched a family band entertain a crowd of people, sat on a dirty curb and sang along. I can’t decide what’s more fun… watching the musicians themselves, or watching people from all walks of life be helplessly drawn in by the music, and dance like it’s being played just for them.
We struck up a conversation with a street poet, a thoroughly fascinating individual. As I wandered away to shop, Mack stayed to talk to him. And then, dragged me back to the stand 15 minutes later.
Apparently, Mack told Tristan the Poet our love story. Tristan was inspired, and wrote about poem about us, on the spot. The way it talked about our adventures together, our struggles, our triumphs, our children… it’s like he’d known us our whole lives, instead of just from a 5 minute conversation. He didn’t want to take any money for it, but Mack sneaked some into his type-writer anyway. This scrap of paper will remain one of my cherished possessions for my entire life.
We watched the sun come up over the Mississippi. We looked at the city behind us, and couldn’t believe all that beauty being under water. We were floored by power of nature, and by how fragile our lives really are.
We took a detour on our drive home, because Mack is wonderful and doesn’t say no to me when I ask nicely. 😉 We got a little lost, then got completely found again, and explored the swamp. We saw cranes & lizards & gators (yes! Really!) and the sounds & smells were so amazing. I just love that ecosystem so much… I’m so glad we set aside just a little time to visit all that green.
Another final thank you to Brad & Amanda, for bringing us to NOLA. Thank you to all the McG clients who, year-after-year, invite us to their favorite places around the world to explore with them, and capture special times in their lives. When we set out on this journey years ago, we had no idea we were signing up for a life that included so much travel & adventure… but believe me, we don’t take one second of it for granted!
Glorious, all of it!!! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
You guys have the coolest adventures!
LOVE this type of blog post!! So cool that you share your stories and “behind the scenes” pictures 🙂 looks AMAZINGLY FUN!