Honeymoon

I loved our wedding! <3 

You know what I love? Air conditioning. It is arguably the best invention after indoor plumbing and lungs.  Yes, I love A/C.  I was very glad for it during the honeymoon.

My view from Oklahoma to Louisiana

We drove 12 hours to New Orleans.  It's hot as hell in the summertime and only just hot in the winter.  It's also one of the most beautiful and historic places in the U.S. Set among the salvia, wisteria and hydrangeas, one would do well to set out early in the morning and return to the indoors from about 10 until sundown.  Then the warm evenings encourage outdoor dining and long strolls amongst the revelers, charlatans and purveyors of vice.

We didn't really follow that.

Grey is a great researcher and we picked a hotel in the Garden District.  It was gorgeous and quiet in a historic district.  There was still some reconstruction going on in surrounding streets but the Prytania Oaks Hotel was everything we had hoped for.  When I made the reservation, I let them know it was our honeymoon and they had champagne waiting for us in the room.  Nice touch!  Oh, and an expanded continental breakfast was included in the (totally affordable even for a teacher) price.

Cafe au lait and beignet at the Cafe Du Monde

We ended up sleeping in every day and taking off about 10 in the morning.  We did an awesome walking tour of the French Quarter, staying on the shady side of the street.  And we ate at the famous Cafe DuMonde.  I didn't like it as well as some other places, but I have been there before.  All tourists are required to eat there at least once.

Black coffee, spinach quiche, cheese danish and blueberry croissant

I liked the Croissant D'or better.  Welcoming, local and with pastries that Grey says rival even those in Paris.  I agree, and I have only ever been to Paris, Texas.  Way better than the food there...

We also visited some museums, taking in the only known decoded message to Jefferson regarding the Louisiana Purchase, the World War II Museum, visited a cemetery, Jackson Square, The St. Louis Cathedral and the Louisiana State Museum.  Awesome.  I had the best guide in the world- my husband armed with three separate guidebooks and our iPad.

I get to live with this guy! 

I saw this guy on the streetcar.  Kindred spirits. 

Streetcar!

The food was no slouch affair either.  Being vegetarians, we looked up several places to eat and picked the mostly likely ones.  This involved some travel as they were mostly in the French Quarter or downtown.  One place, the Bacchanal, was two buses and a walk through a residential neighborhood.  They were all totally worth it, with the Bacchanal being a clear standout.  But The Coops Place and The Green Goddess were also pretty awesome.  We ate outside at both Bacchanal and Green Goddess and at the latter, a little sparrow decided to join us.  She moved from begging by my feet to flapping a wing on my leg to hopping up on the table with us for a couple of crumbs.  The food was great, especially the caramelized heirloom tomatoes, though I could have done without the meth-sore waiter.  That's not hyperbole.  However, the chef himself came out to say hello and ask how we liked the food.  We had planned a special evening out, dressing up and the whole nine yards.  I was just so tired on that night that we stayed in and fell asleep early.

I was so damn tired because we walked everywhere.  Once we parked that car, that was it.  We didn't get into it until we left.  The rest was public transportation, either by bus or streetcar.  Only once did we take a cab and that was to get home from Bacchanal because it wasn't safe to go out that late in an unfamiliar area.  I loved the streetcars and the bus system.  It took us everywhere we wanted to go and there was no pain in the butt parking to do.  Just hop a bus and we are on our way.

Speaking of on our way, I wonder how I ever got married. I am terribly difficult to live with. I don't watch tv except for sometimes on my computer.  I own a giant dog and an aging and cranky cat.  I walk a lot and work too much and don't often eat meat.  I have strong left views in a highly conservative state.  I prefer pickup trucks to cars and public transport to most other stuff and find it highly entertaining to visit museums in New Orleans rather than party.

I totally scored with this guy.  He's weird like me.  No t.v., loves to read, loves to travel and use public transportation and was a little concerned that I wouldn't be interested in using it in NOLA.  And a vegetarian. And funny and he tells worse jokes than I do.  And we get each other's obscure literature references.  Perfect.

Acutally, he may be weirder than me.

We had a discussion about who is weirder to live with.  I said him because the other night he started petting me with his foot.  On my head, in my hair.  I was weirded out.  "What?", he said.
"Dude. Toes. Hair."
"I showered."
"Mmhmm."

So what's weird about me? I guess I squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom up only and will fix it if anyone squeezes from the middle. But I don't complain about it.  I also let my cat drink from the faucet in the bathroom, though she isn't allowed on the counters or table.

Nope. None of that weirds Grey out.  Nor do the bales of hair that come off of my dog.  Nope, what weirds him out is that I will occasionally pet Eleanor while she eats her cat food.

That's it? Really?  Of all the personal habits a woman can have that are gross, smelly or otherwise strange, that's the one that weirds him out?

Ha! Jackpot!  This living together and being married thing is going to be an adventure...