i had quite the adventure for halloween, let me tell you about it :)
some of my engineering friends from college decided to plan a little get together. when we started planning this rendevous, i had halloween weekend off (who would book a retreat over halloween weekend?) so we started planning. megan lives in georgia, and it's only about a 7 hour drive to new orleans for her. it's about an 8 hour drive for me, so we thought, hey, let's meet in the middle. so then she started planning it. we weren't really planning on hanging out on halloween, but hey, it works.
so at noon on friday i hop in my car and start driving for new orleans. it was a pretty uneventful drive. about 6 hours into it i was pretty much bored out of my mind, but by that point what was i going to do? haha. luckily i didn't get stuck in houston traffice (which is pretty much a guarantee) and i think i hit traffic only once for the whole trip - amazing! ended up that megan had driven to baton rouge the weekend before, so she didn't feel like driving and so she caught a flight instead. we didn't really plan it very well, but i ended up getting to the airport 15 minutes after she landed - crazy! she was just going to take a taxi, but our timing was perfect.
which turned out to be a pretty good deal because the place we were going to was a little sketchy. alex (lives in new york) had found a place for us to stay on craig's list, so it was someone's vacation apartment that they rent out every once in a while. a pretty good idea, but we weren't really sure what we were going to find. megan and i were the first ones there and it was dark and it was halloween and we didn't know where we were going in down town new orleans...not a good combo. but, we found the place just fine and it was actually really cute.
so megan and i got moved in and then we decided to go find dinner (this is at like 9 pm mind you). so we go walking. turns out our apartment was only a few blocks from bourbon street, so it was a pretty sweet deal. we found this fun little greek place and got something to eat. it was delicious. we watched all the different costumes come in and out of the restaurant and it was pretty great. from there we called mike (lives in nevada) and jonathan (from new orleans) and tried to find a place to meet up with them. we ended up at the cat's meow which was a karaoke bar. it started off pretty great, but as the night when on it got worse and worse and worse. as megan said 'i think my ears are bleeding.' so when mike and jonathan finally caught up with us we were ready to go. but, by that time alex had landed, found our apartment, and started heading out way, so we waited for him. let's just say there were some interesting characters performing, including cher (ask me about this guy later), snow white and the seven dwarfs, and indiana jones.
from there we bounced around to different locations. jonathan is from the area so when bourbon street got a little too crazy he took us to the 'local' part of new orleans which was a little more relaxed. there we saw my favorite costume of the night - wilson from home improvement. he even carried around a huge piece of fence with him! alex's favorite costume was a dead 401K - just a lady with 401K on her shirt and her eyes ex-ed out. there were also some twister board costumes, 2 whoopie cushions, and just about anything else you could think of.
we ended up at patty obrien's which is a piano bar. there we saw the greatest forest gump costume ever. he even stayed in character all night! he was pretty impressive. we closed that place down (bars close a bit later there than in boulder....haha!) and then decided to go home. well, the girls decided to go home and the boys went back out again after we were safely home. the boys didn't get back til the sun was coming up...
the next morning megan and i went walking while the guys slept in. we went to cafe du monde and got some fabulous beignets (french donuts) and walked around the town. we went to the river walk and the french quarter and just all around. alex met up with us a few hours later and we got some po boys which were delicious! then we went to the french market and alex was a little tired of shopping with the girls, so we eventually made it back to our casa. carl (from colorado) ended up missing his flight that would have landed in new orleans at 2 and didn't get in until 7 pm. that's kind of a long messy story, but at least he made it.
me and megan hanging out by the river
a cute couple in the park. yes, i'm a stalker and i admit it.
and a statue with cool lighting
for dinner, we made reservations at the red fish grill (no, not the same red fish as in boulder, this is a local deal). it was fantastic. by far the best fish i have ever had in my life. the six of us had a grand ole time and racked up quite a bill - but that's what you do on vacation, right? then back out to bourbon street. this night started off a little slower than the night before, but what night can compete with halloween??
we went down pirate alley, then stopped to look at st. louis' cathedral. of course this group of people survived all of dilaura's lighting classes, so of course they start analyzing the lack of facade lighting on this church (don't judge!). although it was nice to hang out with engineering people, that got to be a little too much for me, so we moved on. we went back to patty o's but sat outside by this sweet fire and water fountain thing. (i didn't take many pictures this weekend, sorry! but here's one from my phone...and i'm sure you're wondering if the water gets hot - cuz i did - and it doesn't...just so you know).
we got pretty bored with patty o's so we left for greener pastures. we found this crazy place which turned out to be a lot of fun. i'll just leave it at that and you can ask me about it later :)
then on our way home i convinced them to stop for breakfast and i got grilled cheese - YUM! then we made it home safe and sound. i got to wake up after a few hours of sleep and drive all the way back to la grange. that was a way longer drive than the first trip, but isn't that how it always goes? you're super excited to get there, and not super excited to get home. so i stopped at rei in houston to get out and stretch my legs.
i made it back in time to help lead confirmation class which involved running around the neighborhood collecting canned goods for the local food pantry. then i had to go to a phoneathon for work (let me tell you what a blast THAT was...) and then i got to go home in time to watch desperate housewives :)
and that was my halloween weekend. pretty sure you can't top that...ever. now i leave for tahoe on wednesday for a week, but this trip is for work. i just looked up the temps and i'm going to FREEZE! the high will be about 55 to 65, but the lows are around freezing! i haven't seen those temperatures since...christmas?? (minus that random snowy day in colorado in august..haha).
alright, that's all i've got for now.
Uncle Ron and Michael
Uncle Ron and Aidan
Me and Michael
Rachel and Michael
Rachel, Seth, and Katelyn
Jonah
Seth
Most of the Witte Family
The "adult" kids
Just the boys and the parents
