Earlier this month I packed up my trunk and hit the road for a 3 day road trip adventure to Austin, TX for the
SXSW Renegade Craft Fair. Day one was an 8 hour drive north to Tallahassee, the following day was a 6 hour drive to New Orleans and day three was 8 hours further to Austin.
This was my first official visit to New Orleans and I have to say that I truly fell in love with this city. I knew I had two visits to plan (coming and going) so I spent the first visit exploring the French Quarter (steering clear of touristy Bourbon Street) and the Ninth Ward, where I was staying. Everything in this city is so perfectly dilapidated. If you're an abandoned building junkie, New Orleans is the place for you.
Recommendations:
Adolfo's for dinner (maybe the best meal I've ever had),
Cafe Du Monde for beignets (believe the hype!), Frenchmen Street for good music and
R Bar for a friendly dive with some yummy drinks.
Next up: Austin, TX! Renegade was so much fun and I met a lot of really great people. Of course I ate a ton of tasty Tex-Mex, drank my weight in Topo Chico and went to some fun shows.
Recommendations:
Torchy's Tacos (try the Migas taco for breakfast and the Fried Avocado taco for lunch...yum!),
Maudie's for great Tex-Mex,
Kerbey Lane Cafe for brunch and
Uncommon Objects for some picking. Can you tell I spent most of my time eating my way through Austin?
New Orleans Part 2 brought me to the Garden District where I continued to eat and thrift my way through the city.
(For the record, I did not eat that entire plate of fried shrimp and mac n' cheese alone!)