Lorraine and I woke up early this morning to head to the French Quarters with Judi. We took the cable car to avoid the long walk in which my left side would probably would not have been able to handle. We had a few hours to do the major points that Judi had listed out. It turned out great since we haven’t gone to the places before on our first trip.
Our first stop was The Cafe Du Monde World famous for its cafe’ au lait, beignets! A funny story here, when we arrived the line was super long! It would take about an hour to get seated. As we stood in line a lady came and “I want to help you” after a little confusion we understood that she wanted to get us a table in the patio! We went from the end of the line straight to our table. How funny was that? Out of all the customers waiting she picked us! We had the cafe’s special menu and enjoyed it laughing about how fortunate we were.
After our snack we went on a walk up and down the French Quarters taking in the sites. There is so much to see in the little time we had. We stopped and had a few craw fish samples by a nice cook in front of the restaurant. It was the first time for me! spicy and delicious!
The next stop was to find the Central Grocer Store Company, they are famous for a Muffeletta sandwich. They are known for the original recipe, we bought one and split it three ways to get a taste of unique classic.
It was pretty good I’ll admit I wasn’t into the different vegetables added and seasoning but it was a good experience to try out the different taste New Orleans has to offer. One thing about visiting NO you will try dishes just to try it out!
After checking out the open market a place to get your souvenirs at a discounted price we took the cable car back towards hotel but not before stopping at Mother’s again for some more Jambalaya and fried chicken!!! Yeah, that’s probably one of my dishes, good fried chicken and Louisiana knows how to cook it real good!
We went back to the hotel and rested up a bit and started to get ready for the reason of this whole adventure Mallory’s Graduation!
Mallory came and picked us up at the hotel and she was completely nervous! I held off messing with her since she was already frazzled. The traffic in town was slow and to top it off there was an accident on the freeway that delayed travel even more. Even after the not so smooth ride over to UNO’s indoor stadium we made it with plenty of time to spare. I helped Mal put on her cap and gown and all the while thinking how it was an amazing event that I will remember for the rest of my life. Looking at her with the cap and gown attire made me so proud!
There were 800 students that were to be graduating this evening and I cherished each minute as I sat there anticipating the moment they would call out Mallory’s name. All her family was there and when they announced her name through the P.A. system we all yelled together “We love you Mallory!”. Another huge milestone had arrived and it was the beginning of a new chapter in her life.
After the ceremony we headed off to Mallory’s place so she could change into her party dress and then take off to the bar she works at. She wanted to introduce her family to her friends at “Cheers”.
This whole trip was based on Mallory’s graduation the other part was saying goodbye to my “Big man” Drewber’s. This is especially hard for me, Andrew and I have never been apart this far away and for any long duration. I’m going to miss him so much but I know he’s making a move to experience life. I’m proud of him for wanting to look further then the comforts of Stockton but at the same time I can’t believe he won’t be near by his daddy. I know life has changes and the family you love must move on to their lives, it’s just hard when that day is actually here.
