New Orleans - Round 2.

Several weeks ago we returned to New Orleans to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday.  It was quite a bit different than the trip we took back in June to celebrate our anniversary, which I blogged about here and here.  It was fun to see different parts of the city, and we had a blast celebrating Jeremy's birthday with a group of friends!  

We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel, which was a block away from the French Quarter.  It was absolutely gorgeous on the inside.  In fact, the hotel's lobby is an entire block long!  Fun fact: in 2005, the hotel underwent a $145 million restoration.

Since there was seven of us, we had two connecting rooms.  Here are some of my favorite parts of the rooms:  There was a television in both of the bathrooms.  It was nice to put on makeup/dry your hair and have the TV right there. 

The claw-foot tub.  (For the record, I don't take baths in hotels, but I can still appreciate a pretty tub.) 

The embroidery on the sheers.  So fun! 

Check out the chandelier over the table.

The gold-toned striped couch (it had a vintage-vibe to me).

We also had some pretty great views from the rooms:

Okay, so we didn't spend all of our time enjoying the luxurious accommodations.  Once everyone got into town on Friday night, we headed out for dinner.  And we got to experience the craziness that is Bourbon Street.  Wow -- there is some great people watching.  A quick rain shower came through as we were walking around, but lucky for us, we sought cover in a daiquiri bar.

During the day on Saturday, the group did some touring around the French Quarter.  Meagan (with the help of Kevin) designed some pretty sweet t-shirts as party favors.  Look how cute the guys look in their matching shirts!   Too bad Justin didn't get the memo to wear gray shorts.

A little later in the day, we hung out at the hotel's pool.  I have no idea what they were doing, but I thought it was funny they were doing a similar pose.

That night we went to Mother's for dinner.  We had plans to go to Upperline, but the birthday boy decided he preferred something a little more low key.  And of course that was fine with us -- we went to Mother's during our last trip and loved it!  Seriously, it doesn't photograph well, but their jambalaya is so tasty!

Here we all are at Mother's:

(Despite how he looks, Sean is happy -- he just refuses to smile in pictures.)

After Mother's, we cruised over to Harrah's for a little gambling.  Neither Jeremy, Meagan, nor Amanda had ever been to a casino before, so we had to go!  I am still trying to block out how much money Justin and I lost in a very short period of time at the blackjack table.  But we had a blast anyway.  After some casino-action, we headed to back Bourbon Street for round two.  First stop, Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane (and singing happy birthday to Jeremy at midnight).

It is hard to get a good shot of a group of people on Bourbon Street.  Here's Justin's best attempt. 

And the craziness that is Bourbon Street. 

The next morning we headed to Oceana Grill, a place nearby the hotel, for brunch.  Evidently, Adam Gertler (from the Food Network) featured the restaurant on his Fine Living Network show, Freakiest Foods, for their nutria and ghost pepper caviar.  Thankfully, no one ate either of those things.  After another delicious meal, we had to catch our flight back to Houston.

We had a great weekend celebrating Jeremy's birthday!  On a sappier note, it was also our last weekend with Meagan and Jeremy before they moved to Austin.  But we made lots of fun memories!  And we are already thinking of places for the next big birthday!