Day 12

June 19, 2012

Day 12

Day 12 was our 19th anniversary!! That sounds like we are so old, but really we were so young when we got married ;). I love Harvey very much and feel blessed to be his wife. He has the best smile and still makes me smile!

We drove into Louisiana on our anniversary and toured a plantation. He knew this would be just the thing I would love on our special day and he was right! It was a beautiful plantation that had stayed in the original family until the 1950's. Therefore, everything was carefully preserved, including hundreds of papers and documents! We asked about the Civil War, and since it was far enough away from the Mississippi River (about 2 miles or so on foot), it was basically untouched!

The front of the plantation looked Tara in the movie "Gone With The Wind." Gorgeous! There were many gardens with most of the original plants still blooming that the family had planted. In fact, they had seed catalogs and receipts in the home.

They were also able to restore the original wallpaper and flooring. It was so interesting. Fortunately for us, they had installed air conditioning in the home, which was nice during our tour :).

The original family piano, the family's rocking horse, and a needlepoint gift from the lady of the home's great grandmother...maybe you have heard of her? The great grandmother's name was Martha Washington!!

Afterwards, we ate lunch at a local restaurant with amazing sandwiches. Yes, you read that correctly! Usually, in my book, "amazing" and "sandwiches" are two words that typically do not go together. Especially when we eat sandwiches almost everyday here at home. But, this place was great! Rebekah even commented on how amazing her B.L.T. (without the T) was :).

We drove from there into New Orleans. Lake Ponchartrain was beautiful and unbelievably big! We ate dinner at Mulate's and enjoyed some yummy cajun food. The gumbo was so delicious and not that spicy. They had a live band. Elizabeth wanted to dance so badly, so she and I went out during their last song and danced :).

We were going to take a train, but after waiting for quite sometime, decided to drive to Cafe DuMonde. We enjoyed beignets and their yummy Cafe Au Lait (1/2 coffee & chicory and 1/2 half and half). So yummy! I could not get over how crowded it was. A gentlemen at our hotel said that no matter what time of day or night you go there, it is always crowded. There were a lot of girls working there from Thailand, our waitress was one of them. She was 22 years old, but looked much longer. She told us she had just come over several weeks ago and missed her family very much. It made me sad and, honestly, a little scared for her safety. She was living with another girl from Thailand who worked at the Cafe as well.

Cafe Du Monde was so crowded and lively. The beignets were worth the wait :).