Life on the Hill: New Orleans

Happy New Year everyone!

Already the new year seems as if it is flying by. We are finally back to having our "normal" schedule again...busy. We had a snow day on Monday, so that was a welcomed surprise, but now everyone in the family is begging for a beach and flip-flops. Today it is about 14 degrees and miserable. It looks like, according to the news, unless you are in Florida, you know what we are dealing with.

Over the Christmas break we headed south to New Orleans for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The kids had never been to New Orleans, so we weren't too sure how they would like it. We took our time getting down there and spent our first night in Vicksburg. We stopped earlier in the day to exchange Christmas presents with Joe's family in Warren, so it was a pretty busy day.

Once we got to New Orleans, we checked into our hotel and were told that if we wanted to eat, we better RUN to a restaurant, because the Saints would be getting out of their game in less than 30 minutes....needless to say, we threw our stuff in our room and RAN to Deanie's to eat.

Deanie's Seafood

Joe's Oyster PoBoy

My Catfish Dinner

It was a really good meal, or maybe I was just really hungry! Anyway, once we got back to our room, we unpacked and went downstairs to check out our digs for the next couple of days. I asked the concierge about the history of Le Pavillion and if he had a written history. Boy, was I surprised when he excused himself to a back closet and handed me a sealed 7 page History and Paranormal Investigation pamphlet. When I peeled back the seal and read the title, I IMMEDIATELY felt a little anxious. Anna loves this kind of eerie thing, but Jake....well, let's just say....I knew he wouldn't deal well. Thinking that I might just hide it for now and peek at it later was, at this point, only wishful thinking. Both kids were looking at me as if I had been given a prize and they deserved to share it. Hoping that Jake would bore with the word HISTORY (and see flashbacks of a dreaded classroom) I just stated the title of the paper. There. It was out there and maybe he would just say, "Boooooring!!" and run off to find his Dad in the bathroom, but NO. He looked up at me, helplessly, and softly said...."Does that mean.....ghosts?" The cat was then out. of. the. bag. It was a long night. We (Anna and I) would read a little, then close the papers...then read a little more....and close the paper again. Jake was, on the other hand, SCARED TO DEATH! Anna said he held, tightly, to her arm and shoulder all night as they slept. In summation, the history stated that 5 total entities were found in the hotel. One young couple, along with a child, was found in the dining room. A man was on the 3rd floor and a young girl in suite 930. "None of these spirits are malevolent, a little mischievous, but do not disrupt the operation of Le Pavillion." What an adventure!!!

The subject of ghosts continued throughout the entire stay at our hotel.

I love the architecture of New Orleans. I love how there is such a mix of old and new. The town is filled with such history and culture. Here are a few pictures...

The Cornstalk Hotel

I love this building and the history is fascinating. You can read all about it on their website. We rode a horse and carriage and the man that was driving was kind enough to give me a little extra time to change out my camera lens for this shot.