New Orleans, Louisiana

So back home from NOLA.  Let me just say, if I never go back there again, it won't bother me.  Here's a run down of some of the business' and experiences I had while there that made me come to this conclusion. 

Huck Finn's Cafe, 135 Decatur Street, New Orleans French Quarter, Louisiana 70130

My husband and I sat at a table for 10 minutes without anyone coming to even ask if we wanted a water.  After we finally got a waiter at our table, we, of course, ordered everything we wanted all at once since we had time to decide and study the menu.  Appetizer of
cheese fries, 6.95, piled high and layered with a medley of 3 cheeses: monterey-jack, cheddar, and pepperjack. Topped with bacon, fresh green onions, and a side of ranch.  Sounded good.

I ordered the turkey po-boy sandwich with fries, 10.50
Thinly sliced smoked turkey breast stacked high with melted swiss cheese on fresh baked French bread.  Also sounded good and how could someone ruin a turkey sandwich?
He got the Honey Island Gator Platter 19.95
Fried or Blackened Alligator, Alligator Sauce Piquante and Smoked Alligator Sausage. Served with fries and accompanied by a side of tangy Huck Sauce.  He loves alligator and went with the deep fried version.

So a few minutes later we got our drinks.  15 minutes after that we got our appetizer and I said if the entrees come out within a few minutes of our appetizer I will not be surprised.  Guess what? A couple minutes after we got our cheese fries, our entrees came out.  Not only did we have a small table full of food, but the waiter only checked on us once during our meal.  I'm glad I drank my water very slow.  So the food....
The cheese fries were ok but nothing to write home about.  The fries were just your standard small cut Burger King/McDonald's style fries covered in what looked like store bought cheese shreds.
My turkey po-boy wasn't so good.  The bread was hard, the turkey was salty, and it was hard to eat. 
My husband said his was ok, but that he should've ordered the blackened alligator, not fried.  So we paid up and left as fast as we could.  Overall, I rate this place 1 out of 5 because the service was terrible (they weren't that busy that night either) and the food was mediocre at best.  Do not eat here.

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cafe beignet 311 bourbon street, new orleans la (the location I visited) &
334-B royal street, new orleans la

This place is tiny.  Think a street car converted into a restaurant, and man oh man is it busy!  Be prepared to wait in line sometimes up to 20 or 30 minutes (in cramped close quarters) but the beignet's are worth it!
Big fluffy pastry dough encased in powdered sugar, that's basically a beignet for you.  IF you get to NOLA you have to have a beignet before you leave.  We paid about $5.00 for 3 beignets and they are huge so it's a good deal.  They also offer breakfast and sandwiches and I would've loved to have eaten here again, but I just ran out of time.  Go if you get the chance.  Based on the service and beignets alone I give them a 4 out of 5 for keeping the place clean, and moving the lines of people fast....plus nothing on the menu is over $10.00.
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Atikki Bar & Grill
230 Decatur St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Oh where do I start?  This place was close to the hotel and it was quiet when we passed by so it was a magnet for me.  We sat down and the wait staff was anticipating us getting rowdy and drunk (as it was BCS game night in town) so they were not super excited to see us.  Granted after we finished our meal, a lot of drunks did filter in so I'll give them some slack.  I ordered the starter of kibby - 6.95
2 little pillows of cracked wheat encrusted onions, pine nuts, and seasoned ground beef.  We didn't really like it.
Next I ordered the entree of chicken artichoke pasta, 16.95, grilled chicken breast, artichokes, asparagus, mushroom, sun dried tomatoes served in a creamy white wine sauce over linguini.  Sounded good anyways.  Well, the artichokes hadn't been washed well enough because they were wayyyyy too salty, and overall, the dish was lacking any balance.  I think the chicken and asparagus were delicious, but the pieces of them were too far and few in between chunks of mushroom and artichoke.  Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't order this one again.
My husband ordered the calamari as an entree and didn't like the spicy sauces they served with it, instead of the traditional marinara.
Overall, I give this place a 2 out of 5 for a little less than average service, and food that's best skipped all together.  I can't recommend them at all.  I should mention I should've researched this place more before I went.  They offer belly dancing entertainment on Saturday nights and hookas all the time.  It's really just a sports bar in the end.
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Chateau Dupre Hotel
131 Rue Decatur, New Orleans, LA 70130 (Formerly Ramada Inn French Quarter)

Here's the review I posted for a travel website on this place, "I just got back from staying at this place for 3 nights and it was terribly overpriced for what you get. The bathroom was moldy. The windows are paper thin so you can't possibly sleep with all the noise that fills your room all night. It's just like there isn't any windows at all in your room. A few of the lamps did not work, and the drapes were busted so you couldn't open them. The elevator was broken and kept getting stuck on the 2nd and 4th floors. Our door lock broke the minute we got into the room for the first time and there was someone else's clothes still left in the drawers (Rm. 400 is someone missing a grey sock?). We paid 330.00/night for this dump and I would never stay in it again. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone and we are trying to get a partial refund currently. The woman at the front desk was rude about the broken elevator and not really friendly. The reason we chose this "hotel" was because on the hotel's website they call themselves a "fine hotel" and a luxury boutique. This is complete false advertising. DO NOT STAY HERE!!!"
So let me elaborate because this place was atrocious.  On the website neworleansfinehotels.com they describe their establishment as a "Luxury Inn located in the heart of the French Quarter".  This statement cannot be further from the truth as far as the definition of luxury is concerned.  It is true though, that they are located in the French Quarter.
I wanted to include a small portion of the actual website itself, so here that is:

Hotel Chateau Dupré is an intimate hotel offering 62 elegant rooms and suites. Each guest room includes fax, data ports, cable television, and safe deposit boxes. The hotel occupies a historic building dating back to pre-Civil War times. Built in 1845, it has in its illustrious past been home to statesmen, magnates and matriarchs of New Orleans society. This hotel is 100% non smoking!

In-Room Amenities

• Hair Dryer
• Full-length mirror
• Iron & ironing board
• AM/FM/CD Alarm Clock Radio
• Remote controlled 25" - 42"-inch television
• In-room personal combination safe
• This hotel is 100% non smoking!

I have underlined a few things that I think are humorous. 
First off, this is not an intimate hotel unless they are referring to the fact that you can hear anything down on the street below you and feel very close to those people.  Also, this isn't an elegant place, it's a dump.  There was no full length mirror in our room, nor a functional remote control.  The control had a piece of duct tape covering where there should've been a plastic door to keep the batteries in and you couldn't do anything with it except turn the tv on and off.  Volume control and channels had to be operated by hand on the television, which was also not a flat screen, but a late model of old style tv from the 1990's.  There's so many things that this place could've done to improve itself, but from the reviews I read recently, it looks like people have been complaining about the same issues I had with it since 2009.  Very sad that we had to learn the hard way, so don't stay here please!
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Pinkberry
300 Canal St P
New Orleans, LA 70130
P 504 899 4260

Alright, so I know Pinkberry is not exclusive to this area, they have locations all over the country, but this was the first time I tried it, so I'm reviewing it.  This place was very close to the hotel and we visited it about 2 times in 3 days and would've attempted a third had I had more time there.  The first thing I have to say is that the frozen yogurt they serve is very good and not too bad for you either.  A lot of the ingredients are fruit based and frozen yogurt is already so much better for you than ice cream to begin with.  They only have a few flavors, but the chocolate and the salted caramel are my favorites.  While I was there I also tried the original, which is almost vanilla, but it has a fruit end note to it, either raspberry or lemon, I couldn't tell, and I also tried the blood orange, which tastes like a orange creamcisle.  So you order a size of bowl, or in a cone, you can get one flavor or a swirl of two, then you can put two toppings on it before they charge you extra (unless you're ordering the luxe toppings which are .50 each).  So the first time I got chocolate with peanut butter crunch and that was delicious.  My husband got the original with regular granola.  Next time, I got a swirl of salted caramel and chocolate with crepe flakes and toasted almonds on it.  SO SO GOOD!  You should try this place out if you get a chance.  They are expanding, but do not have enough locations yet for my tastes.  They are a bit pricey, but I think the service and the food was worth it.  Oh, and pictured above is the fruit parfait made of the original, granola, pineapple, strawberries, and blueberries.  Yum!
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Dickie Brennan's Palace Cafe
605 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA
This place was down the street a bit from our hotel, but it looked promising so we stopped.  We got a table right away, even though they were really busy and got 2 waiters assigned to us.  Also should mention they have seating inside and out, but we got a great table along the wall to wall windows to look out on the traffic and pedestrians on Canal St.  This was our first night in town and probably one of our best meals.  They started us off with a delicious thin loaf of French bread with butter, which we devoured since we hadn't eaten all day while flying in.  I ordered the BBQ pork po-boy with seasoned thin chips 12.00, and he ordered the Shrimp & Alligator Etouffee (pronounced Ay-two-faye) it's just Gulf Shrimp and gator sausage simmered in a rich shrimp and Creole tomato sauce served with popcorn rice 20.00.  He thought his was very delicious and I tried it for the first time, alligator, that is.  It was interesting.  Tasted like a gamey kind of seafood.  Very unique flavor to it though.  You'd had to have had it to know what I'm describing.  My bread was soft for the sandwich and there was a big splash of BBQ sauce in the middle of the sandwich so it wasn't dripping out too badly.  The potatoes were cut super thin, so think, potato chips with a little bit of seasoning and a bit of a burn to them.  It was good overall.  We even had room for dessert that night.
I ordered the dark chocolate and walnut brownie 8.00 (sans walnuts) and it was so so thick and dense I couldn't eat it.  I traded with my husband who got something I normally don't like....white chocolate bread pudding 7.00.  I've never liked bread pudding before but this one is something really special.....The original- White Chocolate baked inside bread pudding, smothered with a warm white chocolate ganache.  It was very very good, and so much better than that super dense brownie.  It was more like solid fudge inside that thing so I can't recommend that, but get the bread pudding, even if you normally don't like bread pudding.
I give it 5 out of 5 and do you know why?  The food was good (not spectacular), the dessert, well, my husband's was delicious!, but the service is what made this place great.  That night they were very, very busy as I said and they had a sidewalk cafe as well as the inside to take care of, but the wait staff was super.  They didn't charge us for the brownie, even though, my husband ate half of it, and they never let our glasses go empty.  I was super dehydrated since I hadn't drank anything but a little sip of water early that morning before I left the house, so by the time we got here (around 6) I was dying of thirst.  I must've had at least (I'm not kidding here) 8 glasses of water including drinking my husband's for him and they never let my glass go empty.  They were so on top of that and I was really impressed.  If you get the chance to eat in NOLA, go here.
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World Famous Bourbon Street
Yes, this is the street that has all sorts of bars, restaurants, and strip clubs on it.  The place where people really go nuts on Mardi Gras.  We went during the day and passed by it during the night.  It is closed off to traffic and is strictly for pedestrians so at least the drunks don't get run over.  This place is dangerous, overall the city is as well, but here, you have a lot of bodies all pressed together and loud drunks yelling, kids running around (when they shouldn't be here at all), cops spread out all over just watching for something to happen.  It's just a bad place to be if you don't like drunks or crowds.  I think the crowds are what really put me in a bad mood roaming around the streets.  I didn't think this street was anything special really.
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Extra's
Well, I knew when I was going here that I was going to hunt down a voodoo doll for one of my Halloween decorations and whatever else cool stuff I could find.  We went looking down Canal Street and couldn't find anything that didn't look touristy, but I did find a little hole in the wall scary store that sold authentic looking voodoo stuff....so I got my doll and pin, plus a cool little candle holder with a pentagram on it, which will look great with my witch display. 
They have horse drawn carriages as well, and lots of balconies with pretty hanging baskets of flowers in certain areas.  I went to the Audubon Aquarium and enjoyed the sea otters and jellyfish, as well as the sea horses and lots of other sea life to look at.  They also had a Harrah's casino across the street from us, so we stopped there and I got to play a few games.  Lost all the money and then won it all back so we stopped while we were even.  That was fun. 
The bad stuff -
Well, what really killed the town for me was A. the level of drunks that were EVERYWHERE (along with the noise they make). B. The level of ghettos that were EVERYWHERE, and C. the level of crime and lack of cleanliness of any of the areas we saw while in town.  And before I get a whole bunch of mail or comments, yes, I knew there was going to be a TON of drunks here before I got here.  I know of NOLA's reputation, but I still was not prepared for the level of drunken loudness everywhere in the entire city.  I thought that was going to happen around Mardi Gras time, not in January.
I suppose at other times of the year (not spring break, not summer, not Mardi Gras, and not big bowl games) the town might be much quieter, but I know for a fact that the French Quarter alone has 350 places to drink in it and a curfew for 16 and under kids to be gone by 8pm.  The noise did not stop outside until about 3:30am and then it started picking back up again around 5am so my husband and I were very very tired even though we went to bed around 10pm most nights.  There's a lot of strip clubs there (which I don't mind) but the drinking and drunks just are so annoying and LOUD.  My husband and I were constantly getting yelled at by drunks, harassed, or someone was trying to pick pocket us.  So that doesn't speak well of the town.  On our way (and I mean all the way) from the airport to our hotel you could see impoverished areas fulls of trash and bad looking neighborhoods.  That was about 10 solid miles of dirty ghettos.  Usually in any town you can see where you would like to live and at least one good, clean looking neighborhood, but not here.  Plastic bags lined the streets, trash everywhere, and just a sense of old run down everything, everywhere.  It's too bad, I know that this town has a lot of history and great music, but the other things overshadowed that for me.

So have you been to NOLA?  Am I missing something?  Did I forget to mention your favorite spot?  Let me know.

St. Augustine, Florida

I really do love this place.

 There is an amazing amount of history in this city.

First off, historically, this was the first city established in the entire country.  First city establishment, according to them is meaning plotting roads. Granted, it was by the Spaniards, not the English, and they didn't stay here too long, but since 1513 this place has been full of activity.  In 1513, Ponce De Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth.

From 1565-1763 it was a slow paced Spanish Military Outpost fighting off invasions and pirates. 

September 8, 1565 the Spaniards made peace with the local Native American tribes and shared a feast together.  This was our actual first thanksgiving.  Some people in St. Augustine are trying to get this date recognized as the real thanksgiving.  I'm not sure how far they will get with that, but I wouldn't mind having 2 thanksgiving's in a year.  It's always delicious food at my mom's house! 

St. Augustine's beautiful, wild, interesting, and educational.  All of the pictures of the sun rising over the Atlantic in this blog, I took in St. Augustine on my last day there.  It was pretty sad, after 8 days, I felt spoiled and did not want to go back to real life.

Ok, so on to the stuff to do.

First off, their are 43 miles of beaches in this area.  St. Augustine is at the very top Eastern North corner of Florida, very close to Jacksonville.  This area is jutting out from Florida kinda' like the thumb off your hand, so there's even more beach to explore than if there was no bay.  The city is full of bridges to get around and there's water everywhere, so sometimes getting around by car can be tricky.

We stayed at a hotel right off the beach.  All I had to do was walk through the lobby and 2 minutes later I was sitting on the beach.  It was a wonderful location and I could not have asked for better views.  Along the coast are jellyfish, seagulls, pelicans, ducks, sandpipers and crabs.  If you like watching animals, I highly recommend going to the beach at sunrise or sunset when most of the critters are out.



We visited the Alligator Farm.  That was a bit scary at times.  Lots and lots of alligators just hanging out in the swamp-like terrain waiting for someone to accidentally fall off the bridge into the water.  I was eager to leave this zoo.  I enjoyed the turtles, birds, and other non life-endangering animals, but not those damn alligators.

 

The Fountain of Youth was a lot more fun that I thought it could be.  I was there with a history buff so I went there for him mainly, but I ended up really enjoying it.  We drank the water from the well and it smelled and tasted like hard boiled eggs.  Supposed to be really good for you and full of minerals so I couldn't complain.  Hey if it helps me stay young, it's worth a shot right?



The "fountain" where you get your drinking water from.




A mock up of when Ponce De Leon found the spring




They also have about 25 wild peacock that do what they want there



The Mission of Nombre De Dios.  This place has an impressive amount of solitude and quiet if you need a moment out of the busy sightseeing tours.  We stopped here for the history buff again.  I didn't find too much interesting except for the large amount of squirrels and the 150 foot tall cross that was on the property.  We left a donation at the donation box, but otherwise this attraction is free.  At the very top of the cross, a couple of nesting Bald Eagles were living there.  It was amazing to see them there.

Took a boat ride around the bay to see the wildlife including lots of birds and some dolphins. 

It took us about an hour and a half to tour everything by water, but it was relaxing.  Nice to see things without having to worry about navigation or parking and such.

Ripley's Believe it or not Museum and trolley ride around the city was a lot of fun. 

The trolley ride is nice.  It takes you looping through the city and allows on/off access for up to 3 days.  So if you decide to get off at one of their stops another train will be by in about 20 minutes to pick you up.  It was a fun way to see the city and not have to worry about parking or walking miles to get from one attraction to another.  Since it's a Ripley's Museum run thing, they happen to have a stop right in front of the museum.  The museum itself is really interesting.  There's so much to look at, it'll probably take you about 2 or 3 hours to get through everything.  They have some really bizarre stuff in there including the world's smallest domino set, the first vampire killing kit, and the biggest erector set Ferris wheel. 

Ripley's somehow inherited a rooster that lives outside.  They say he just flew in about 4 years ago and they've been feeding him ever since.  He usually hangs out in the parking lot and stops cars, if you see him, say hi for me!

One of the coolest attractions was the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy enjoying myself here but you can do things like fire a cannon, read log books from actual pirate ships, see the weapons they used, and see outfits they wore.  I say this is a must see if you are in the city.

Ahoy matey!

We also visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  Very stunning view of the surrounding area if you can make it up the 150 stairs to the top of course.  I got lightheaded near the top and had to sit to catch my breath, but it was well worth it.

There were so many things to do and just not enough time.  I enjoyed all of it and the restaurants in the area are good as well.  If you get the chance to visit this place, I say go for it.  You will not regret it.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I know it's pretty funny this is the first spot I pick in my vacations section, but really I wanted to get it out of the way.  There's not a lot to do here and having spent so much time here I can say do NOT come to Wisconsin.

Mostly here, I'll cover the bad things about this place and then finish with a few bright spots of the city.

Half of the year this place is a frozen tundra.  Very cold temperatures and blizzards with winds that cut right through you.  Do not come anytime from November to roughly May.

Crime - there's a lot of people that are down on their luck here and the government pays them i.e. welfare.  For the ones not on welfare a lot of them turn to less legal ways to make money.

There's simply not a lot to do here UNLESS you're a birder - then I hear it's one of the best places to see lots of different types of birds.

The night life is lacking.  The shopping is lacking.  The restaurants are lacking as well.

On to the good stuff.

There's a place outside of Milwaukee on the way to Chicago really (just off exit #335 on the I-94).  It's called the Apple Holler restaurant and orchard.  A cool place to pick some pumpkins in the fall, and other fruits during the year like apples.  The restaurant is awesome, expect a full house on the weekends when they serve a tasty all you can eat buffet.  If you go, you MUST drink some of the many different variety apple ciders they have.  MMMM mmmm yummy.  Biscuits with white gravy, pancakes, and french toast are all very delicious.  Besides the orchard, restaurant, and gift shop, they also have a petting zoo and a few fun things to do with the kids here.  Oh, and the parking lot, it's pretty small.  A LOT of people park on the side of the road on the way to this place.  If you see a long long line of traffic around the side of the freeway, you know you're getting close.
The address:
5006 S. Sylvania Avenue Sturtevant, WI 53177
www.appleholler.com

Next up for places that do not suck in Milwaukee -
The Milwaukee Art Museum
This place I love because of the exterior and architecture.  Very well done - it's abstractly a boat with a sail, though some people might see a butterfly or a bird that opens it's wings.  I suppose it depends on your point of view.



The wind speed makes the wings come out



The designer, Santiago Calatrava calls it the Burke Brise Soleil, referring only to the 217 foot movable sunscreen.  Though the building and grounds were a 3 part endeavor added to over time the space really does flow together.  The other 2 designers that did separate parts of the area are world famous Eero Saarinen (who I studied in college), and landscape architect Dan Kiley.  Saarinen did the majority of the building in 1957 and Time magazine gave it high praise.
The address:
700 N. Museum Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53202
http://www.mam.org/

Another place to have a bite to eat:
Classic Slice

Wow, the pizza is huge huge huge here.  Just one slice is comparable to about 2 or 3 slices of other pizzerias.  They don't weigh down the pizza with a ton of cheese that disconnects and slides off on your first bite and they don't put some gourmet tomato sauce on it either.  It's just really tasty pizza. 

It's also the only place I've ever visited that offers mac 'n cheese on your pizza.  Trust me, it's really good.  If you go make sure you are very hungry or have about 2 friends with you to share a large pizza.  They have 2 locations.  Pictured here is the one on KK ave.
Bayview area
2797 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. or
East side area
1609 E. North Ave.
www.theclassicslice.com


A pizza of a different kind:
Edwardo's Natural Pizza

If you like things a little upside down - here's the place for you to get your pizza fix.  They also serve gigantic pizza's but the crust is soooooo flaky and buttery, it could be a meal all by itself.
They throw all the conventional toppings on the bottom and mix the cheese somewhere in there as well, but put the sauce on top.  The slices are very heavy and it's more like a pie really.
I'm not sure what the name means by "natural" but it's damn fine pizza if you are really really hungry.
The address: (they have locations in Indiana and Illinois as well, but for Wisconsin)
Wauwatosa
10845 Bluemound Road
Wauwatosa, WI 53226
www.edwardos.com


I might add a few restaurants here later, but for now, that's all she wrote.