Day trip to the Eastern Shore

What started out as a weekend getaway turned into a day trip to the Eastern Shore. If it wasn't for a bit of planning ahead of time we wouldn't have been able to explore as much as we did considering what would happen later that day!

The original plan started not long after my daughters wedding. I wanted to spend a weekend with my cousins, girlfriends and mom (the wedding crew). What started out as an invitation to eight ladies would eventually just be four.

One of my friends lost her father the week before the trip and because of that I decided to make alternative arrangements for her and my other BFF to get away later in the year.

But my "sister" cousins and I along with my mom still planned to go for a bit of sightseeing and girl time! Early Friday morning my mom, and my cousins Pat and Barbara (Bab's as we call her) picked me up and home.

First stop for us was breakfast at the local Egg Bistro.

The meal was ok but didn't really compare to our family's favorite breakfast spot in my hometown. 

We then prepared to make the trek across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. 

My mom the driver!!

My cousin Pat was our navigator!

Cousin BABS was our "secretary"! She was to keep a tally of all our expenses so that we could divvy it up at the end of the trip. 

Yours truly was the special event planner!! lol 

Land!!! lol 

At the welcome center! 

1st stop on this adventure is the winery. This was for my two cousins ( I don't drink at all and my mom was the sober driver lol)! 

Day 4 The French Quarter and Cable Cars!!

Ok I have to say other then the wedding itself the highlight of my trip was the French Quarter and the Cable cars!! The one thing I wanted to do for sure was ride the cable cars. lol

The view from our room (ummm yah...you didn't miss much lol). 

We got up that morning, packed our bags and stowed them in the car and headed for the river line!! It took us a minute to figure out where to catch it and how to purchase a pass but we did!! Marc had figured out that this trail would take us to the French Quarter and since the market was on my list of must see that's where we headed first! 

I have to say it made up for our Bourbon street experience lol.

How much you want to bet she was texting B?? lol 

I loved riding on the cars, and if time had permitted I probably would have rode even longer and explored a bit more! It felt a tad less scary during the day time to walk around NOLA!

We found the market right away. Almost got run over though by a group of teens looking for Pokemon (insert side eye and shaking of head)! 

Since our new hotel did not include a meal and we were already starting to feel the effects of the heat Nicki offered to buy everyone a fruit smoothie!

I will admit it kept us cool for a little while as we explored the shops.

We got stopped by one vendor who asked if he could read us a poem. Eventually he and Marc started a conversation (my husband has never met a stranger). When he found out Marc was a veteran he gave him one of his poetry book marks for free. Turns out he's a pastor as well so as you can imagine it took a minute for us to say out goodbyes. Lol 

I loved the atmosphere of the French Quarter ( I imagined it to be sort of like walking through Disneyland. And yes I realize I managed to drag Disney in somehow lol).

We picked up a few souviners and even back tracked to the market so that Marc could get a New Orleans cap. Q went off to try and find some seafood but ended up coming back empty handed. By this time I was burning up from the humidity and the heat so I sat on a bench and people watched. lol (I had already picked up a t-shirt and a refrigerator magnet on one of the little side streets).

Some of my 757 people (or even some Disney folks may recognize the whale artwork on the side of this building near the mall). I love this artist work and we try to visit his gallery every time we are on the Boardwalk at Disney! 

This was my first time eating here. Wish they had one at home because they piled this thing up high and it only cost $7.00! It was so large I couldn't eat even half of it! 

We headed back to the cable cars (after we made the stop at the mall to pick up some food) and then back to the hotel to pick up our car before heading back to Bama for our goddaughters last pageant before she started her senior year in high school. You will be able to find pics from that on my personal blog real soon! 

I missed a few places on my list but I checked off s few boxes as well so overall I will say it was a successful two day trip. The girls are considering going back next year for some festival but unless Marc and I take a cruise out of NOLA I can at least check this one off my list of places I've visited at least once!! 

Day 3 After the wedding

We actually moved to a different Marriott after the wedding that day.Somehow Nicki booked a room at a completely different Marriott and unfortunately the one we were at wasn't willing to transfer her to ours (it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for the place after that). Not to mention the fact we would later learn that the walls of the hotel were extremely thin and that they even had earplugs available for guest in their rooms! Marc had an issue with the valet people as well so needless to say if by some remote chance we are ever in NOLA again ( which I highly doubt), we will not be staying at this particular Marriott. It was a stark contrast to our welcome from the other one! 

After we checked in, and Nicki had a chance to check in (and Marc took a cat nap)..we headed down the street to check out the Riverwalk Mall. At the top of my wish list was trying Cafe De Monde and I had been told I could find one there. 

When we headed out we realized we were literally around the block from our original hotel! Which was across the street from the convention center.

I have to pause here and say...yes they were good, but I think my family somehow expected something more!! I did remember the tip about not wearing dark clothing because of all the powdered sugar! lol 

Speaking of sugar!!! We had a ball exploring this place!!

Other then a small purchase at Wilsons Leather we did not do much shopping on this trip! 

We walked from the entrance of the mall and came out at the other end. You can still see the effects of the flooding on some of the buildings and on the ground.

This interactive portion reminded me so much of Epcot!! 

We walked down the steps from the mall area and crossed the tracks to one of the main downtown areas which we had been on the night before.

After a while the day (and the heat), plus a bit of rain started to catch up with us and we decided to go and check out Nicki's hotel and figure out where we could eat so that Q could get some New Orleans style food . I'm not a seafood eater (and Nicki is allergic to it). So it took a minute for us to find a place where we could all eat.

Little did I know our excursion would take  us to Bourbon Street! Ok, I'm just going to say it...I did not like the experience!! 

We did find a nice place to eat and Q got her seafood!

Nicki and I split red beans and rice with sausage!! lol

After we finished eating we hightailed it off of Bourbon street as fast as we could and after dropping Nicki off at her room caught a über back to our hotel! Marc and I established after that, that this would probably be our one and only NOLA trips. lol 

Dat 3 The Wedding Ceremony

The beautiful couple and our extended family. You can see more pics on my personal blog.