I’m here for a recap of this past weekend!! This was a weekend that had been on the books for quite awhile that my Brother and SIL had planned and we were all super excited about. We were headed down to Tampa for a 2 day/1 night adult weekend to go see the Gasparilla Music Festival. I have never been before, but I love some good outdoor music and we had a really fun dinner planned at Berns Steakhouse. There ended up being some maintenance issues on the plane, so our flight to Tampa was cancelled. Eight adults were all sitting in the airport (with all of our kids already taken care of for the next 36 hours) and collectively saying, What’s Plan B?? haha!
So like any fun group of mature adults would do, we hopped in two vehicles and took a 3 hour road trip to New Orleans!! We laughed that it had been quite awhile for all of us that we had been on an adult road trip. It was quite fun!
So within a matter of two hours, we had new hotels booked (cancelled old hotel), new restaurant reservations made, and a game plan for our new weekend getaway.
We decided to stay at the Ace Hotel in the Warehouse district of New Orleans. The price was right and we new the vibe would be young, fun and was set in a great location. The lobby was super hip, great bar, and they have a coffee shop connected to one side and a fun Italian restaurant (which we didn’t get a chance to dine at this trip) on the other side.
It was about 2pm or so on Saturday when we arrived to New Orleans. We were all pretty hungry and ready for some lunch. We walked right out of our hotel and two doors over was a fantastic seafood restaurant called Seaworthy. We sat outdoors in the patio area and had the whole place to ourselves. It was so lovely!
Our lunch was amazing and we all over indulged. So we walked it off by headed down to Canal St. and taking a stroll through the Quarter. We started at The Ritz Carlton, so Matt and I could take a walk down memory lane. We got married at this hotel in April 2012!! It was a BLAST of a wedding.
This was the courtyard area that we took a ton of our family photos and bridal party photos before the wedding. You can find a bunch of those fun photos in this blog post!
Then we headed onto Bourbon Street and ended up at the French 75 Bar at Arnauds Restaurant. Arnaud’s is where Matt and I had our Rehearsal Dinner. That was such a fun night too. You can find photos and blog post from that here.
After drinks there, we headed back to our hotel rooms to regroup and shower for dinner that night. I didn’t do a great job of taking photos of our hotel room but they are definitely very hip. Black bathrooms, full bars set up, funky decor, low beds, dark linens, etc. It was perfect for one night.
Our dinner reservations for Saturday night were at Commander’s Palace. This is a super fun spot in the garden district. Always lots of people celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Matt is sooo excited for the table side Banana’s Foster!
We closed the restaurant down and had a blast. On our way out the door, we accidentally exited via the kitchen and it was so cute. All the chefs were a hoot and cheered us on!
Sunday morning was Day Light Savings Time and we all got to sleep in which was so nice. We had brunch reservations at Luke’s at 11am as our last hoorah before heading back home.
We decided to walk off a little bit of that heavy brunch and headed to the Roosevelt Hotel to check out the Sazarac Bar before hitting the road home.
We were sad to say goodbye, but we fit so much into our quick 24 hours that we had in New Orleans!!! I would do it again in a heartbeat!!! It is always one of my very favorite places to visit and holds such a special place in my heart!!
I am obsessed with your friends white dress! Do you happen to have details? Thank you!