French Quarter

 Iconic cast iron railing on a French Quarter balcony.

On our final full day in New Orleans, we took a walking tour of the French Quarter through the Nola Tour Guy. Dave, a history major, gave an excellent tour of the area as well as a nearby cemetery. The tour group was small, and we were able to ask as many or few questions as we were interested.

 French Quarter apartment front.

Royal Street is closed to traffic during the week, and there were several street performing bands that were busking for tourists as we wandered our way down the road. One of the bands even had a lady who was tap dancing along to the music.

 A glimpse down Royal Street.

We had several delicious meals while in New Orleans. One that stands out in my mind were charbroiled oysters and po' boys at the Acme Oyster House on Bourbon Street. Tom and I tried to go to this restaurant the night before, but eventually went elsewhere because the line was too long. We arrived the following day at 3pm, and STILL found a line outside! Fortunately, we did not have to wait outside long before we were ushered inside. I had a softshell crab po' boy, and Tom had a spicy fried oyster and fried shrimp po' boy. We also devoured a platter of 12 oysters, which were a little bit gritty with sand. Bleh.

Fried softshell crab po'boy.

Charbroiled oysters and French bread.

On our final afternoon in New Orleans, we went to the National World War II Museum. The next morning, we caught a flight to Houston. We stayed in Sugarland for two days visiting Tom's friends, where Tom succumbed to the flu. We brought the bug home with us, and both of us dealt with it in turn, right up until Christmas.

This concludes our travel adventures for 2014. More to come in 2015!

Happy Holidays, and all the best in the New Year to everyone!

Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation.

On our third full day in Louisiana, we took a tour to Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. Oak Alley was a fully functioning sugar plantation in the 1800's. The property was founded in 1830, and was purchased by Jacques and Celine Roman in 1836. The mansion was built in 1837, designed in a Greek Revival style, with 28 columns to match the 28 oaks creating an alley up to the property from the river.

The Jacques and Celina ran the plantation until 1848, when Jacques passed away from Tuberculosis at the age of 48. His wife, Celina, then proceeded to drive the plantation's business into the ground, until her son, Henri, took over management in 1859. Celina passed away from pneumonia in early 1866. Later that year, due to the Civil war, and lingering debt, Henri was forced to give up the plantation. It was subsequently put up for auction.

In the intervening years, Oak Alley changed ownership over a half dozen times, and fell into disrepair. It was purchased by Andrew Stewart in 1925 for his wife, Josephine. The couple began the long and laborious task of restoring the house to its original glory. Josephine Stewart created the Oak Alley Foundation in 1966, which allows the house to operated for educational purposes as a non-profit organization.

Tom and I on the second floor veranda.

Oak Alley is not actually considered to be a large plantation house. Although it about 18,000 sq. ft (with the veranda included), it only contained between 6-8 rooms inside. Some plantations houses in the area would have had upwards of 100 rooms in the big house.

Tom and I enjoyed some mint juleps while we were taking our tour through the big house. I think they had real sugar cane syrup in them-- they were delicious!

Reconstructed slave quarters.

The grounds also featured six reconstructed slave quarters. These quarters served as a slavery exhibit that covered the history of Oak Alley from the 1800's through to emancipation. The exhibit features information and artifacts that help depict the lives of the approximate 200 enslaved people who lived and worked at the plantation.

 

Ladybug crawling up a doorframe in the slave quarters.

 

Oak alley.

The oak trees lining this pathway are over 300 years old. Some of the limbs are so large and unwieldy, they are essentially resting on the ground.

Oak leaf.

Tom and I noticed that many of the oak leaves on the ground had these weird fuzzy puffs on them. I'm not sure if it is mold, or some sort of insect egg sack. Either way, we didn't touch them-- just looked!

 Butterfly in the garden.

 I wish we had had a bit more time at the plantation to look around and roam the grounds. We were on a relatively tight timeline since we had taken a bus tour. We missed a few of the stops on the grounds, and we probably would have stopped for a second mint julep, if we'd had the time!

Oak Alley Plantation was definitely the "Grande Dame" of the area.

Southern Louisiana Swampland

On our third day in New Orleans, we boarded a tour bus that would take us to Jean Lafitte Tours for a swamp and bayou tour. Although the bus driver was giving a narrative of some of the local history as he was driving, there was a wheelchair ramp at the back of the bus that was folded up against the wall. The ramp was making such a racket banging against the wall, we couldn't hear most of what he was saying.

Nevertheless, when we disembarked from the bus, we boarded the Swamp Queen IV for our tour.

The Swamp Queen IV.

The swamp was actually not exactly what I had envisioned. It was much more watery than I had pictured in my mind, and it was much more open. A few of the channels that we travelled down were old man-made channels that were dredged out by energy companies so they could bring drilling rigs and platforms to various drilling locations in the swamp.

The first 100m was by far the most disgusting water. Green algae and slime floating on the surface, but the water cleared up as we moved away from the dock.

Surprisingly, there have been a lot of movies and television filmed in this area of Louisiana. Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, Interview with the Vampire, CSI: New Orleans are a few of the most recognizable titles. 

Swamp shack-- a prop left over from a movie set.

December is the off season for swamp tours. Alligators become less and less active as cool weather moves in and water temperatures drop. In the coldest months (December - February), alligators are more likely to be dormant, burrowed into dens in the muddy banks of the bayou. However, we happened to be out on a relatively warm day (around 20 degrees), and there were quite a few creatures out sunning themselves.

Turtles sunning themselves on a log.

Our tour guide told us that in his 15 years of giving swamp tours, there had been several occasions where he had stopped the boat so tourists could take a look at a turtle, only to have a gator jump out of the water to eat that very turtle. We did not see anything like that on our tour, but there were many turtles out in the sun making easy targets of themselves.

Large alligator sunning himself.

Above is one of the largest alligators we saw on the tour-- probably five or six feet in length. Our tour guide tried to get the boat as close as he could so we could take some photos. Eventually we got too close, and the gator slipped off his (or her) log into the water, and swam away. Apparently it is impossible to determine the gender of an alligator without a thorough physical examination.

  The tour guide was quite a character. He openly expressed his opinion that energy companies should continue to "drill baby, drill," in the Louisiana area. He also warned us that he would be handing around a baby alligator at the end of the tour, and if anyone was "one of those people who think that animals shouldn't be handed around and handled by people, then you should keep your opinions to yourself. Because the alligator is getting handed around anyway."

Overall, the alligator seemed pretty indifferent to being held.

Tom and baby alligator.

Me and the baby alligator.

Some parts of the swamp are actually quite pretty. I especially liked the area where Spanish moss was dangling off the cypress trees over the water. I imagine it would be a little spooky looking at night.

Spanish moss dangling from cypress trees.

Here's a good shot of Tom and I. Hopefully this will be the last you see of his bushy red beard... It looks particularly out of control in this photo...

 

Me and Thomas "Redbeard."

In addition to reptiles, the swamp is also home to a plethora of avian life. We saw buzzards , blue herons and egrets wading around in the shallow water, or perched on tree branches.

Ugly buzzards waiting for a meal.

On our way back to the dock, we spotted one more large alligator resting on a log. He (or she) was not particularly pleased about us snapping photos, and swam away quite quickly.

Big boy alligator #2.

We took one last look back at one of the channels we had travelled through before disembarking from the tour. See what I mean about being more open? I had envisioned there would be trees lining the bank, and Spanish moss as far as the eye can see. Maybe there are areas of Louisiana swampland that actually look like that... I'm not sure!

 More swampland.

Local cat.

And while we waited for the bus, we made friends with this cat that was hanging out by the ticket booth.

Next stop, Oak Alley Plantation.

N'Awlins, Louisiana

I can hardly believe we've already reached December of 2014. The year has, without a doubt, passed faster than any previous year I can remember.

With Tom starting on a new team at work in April, and him working through his drilling season from September to the end of November, we were not able to go on our annual fall trip as we have in previous years. Instead, we decided to take a week off near Christmas to check out New Orleans, and visit his friends in Houston. We figured that this trip would revolve mainly around eating and sightseeing (as any good holiday should!), and so far, we have been correct.

We are staying in the Warehouse District, which is full of art galleries and trendy little shops. We spent the morning of our first day in New Orleans getting our bearings, and wandering around in the French Quarter. We eventually made our way to the Audubon Aquarium where we spent a few hours enjoying the displays of marine life.

 

A white crocodile (not a true albino, his eyes are not pink_

Little shrimpy, giving me the eye.

 

Creepy cuddlefish. Not at all cuddly.

 Lionfish.

Blue shellfish.

When we were finished at the aquarium we made our way back to Jackson Square, and to Cafe Du Monde. We had passed the cafe in the morning and had been horrified by the gigantic line. The crowd was a manageable size in the middle of the afternoon. Cafe du Monde is known for it's coffee and beignets. So, surprise, surprse! We enjoyed lattes and piping hot beignets, covered in a gleaming mountain of icing sugar.

 Tom's steaming latte.

Beignets, french doughnuts.

We headed to Bourbon Street for a seafood dinner, and finished booking two sightseeing tours for the following couple of days. A swamp tour, followed by a plantation tour.

More to come later!

Chistmas Bakeathon V5.0

Christmas is inevitably one of those times of year when you find yourself reflecting on family and friends. This is the fifth year (ha! I had to go back in my blog to confirm the date) that Paige, Mallary, Jasmine, Jill and I (or some combination thereof), have gotten together to bake up a Christmas cookie storm. But before I get into the baking, let's consider the randomness, and series of individual choices that led us all to this baking moment.

Us five girls are from all over the country. We grew up, in no particular order, in Regina, North Bay, Brampton, Calgary and Sherwood Park. We chose different Universities, and varying career paths-- but they all led us to one single company. Here we crossed paths, forged friendships... And five years later, we're carrying on strong! A lot of things have changed over the past five years. Some of us married, some of us started new jobs, one of us is a mother... Yes, lots has changed, but some things remain the same. The baking tradition carries on. Thanks for the good times, girls!

And... Because we like to go big or go home, we outdid ourselves this year with 11 different recipes, packed with sweet sweet deliciousness.

Check out the variety of goodies I am now hoarding at home...

 Goodie-stuffed Tupperware.

1) Lemon Ricotta Cookies
2) Chocolate Chip Coconut Caramel Pretzel Cookies
3) Salted Caramel Chocolate Squares
4) Ginger Corgies
5) Fudge
6) Coconut Snowballs
7) Chocolate Truffles
8) Chocolate Bark
     - Chocolate, white chocolate, candy cane
     - Bitter chocolate, white chocolate, salted peanut
9) Chocolate Sparkle Cookies
10) Strawberry-Raspberry Cheesecake Squares
11) Yum Yum Squares

Ahh... The majestic corgie...

Nothing says "Christmas" like Ginger Corgies.

And yes, this chocolate bark is as delicious as it looks...

Chocolate, white chocolate candy cane bark.

Hope this is helping you get into the Christmas spirit.

Happy December!

Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Photo Credit

Race morning! Tom and I awoke to see the message light on our hotel phone flashing. This was a wonderful sight, because it meant that our luggage had been delivered to the hotel sometime during the night. Tom is not exactly what you'd call a morning person, so while he burrowed himself into the bed covers, I went down to the front desk to collect our bags. And then I reveled in having all our stuff again!

The race didn't begin until 4:30pm, so we spent a quiet morning and afternoon trying to find a healthy breakfast, and drinking lots of water. Andrew and Ashley (aka Crazy and Crazier) arrived on an 8am flight, after celebrating at a wedding until 2am that morning. They stored their luggage in our room until theirs was available, and then attempted to have a quick nap before heading to the start line to pick up their race packages.

Wings and race chips.

Tom and I laced in our shoe wings, and attached our race chips. Then the four of us headed down to the start village around 3:15pm. The strip (Las Vegas Boulevard) had been closed to traffic since 1:30pm, so we took advantage of the shuttle Aria/Vdara was offering to their guests.

While it had been a balmy 22 degrees the day before, race day temperature had a high of about 13 degrees, and was about 10 degrees while we were waiting for the race to start (or 11 degrees if you trust my Garmin watch!)

We all ended up running the race individually, so we snapped a quick family photo before splitting up to check bags, hit the port-a-potties, and pick up race packages.

And then began the waiting game... Good God! It was cold, waiting in the start corrals. There were something like 35,000 people that ran the race, and we were divided into about 40 start corrals. In theory, the crowd was divided by expected finish times, with the fastest runners at the front. Tom was in corral 6, while I was in corral 19. They staggered racers by letting runners go in start waves. About 1000 people per start wave, and 60 - 90 seconds between each start wave release. So Tom waited about 10 minutes in the cold before he started, and I waited about 30 minutes-- with shattering teeth! When we finally took off, it took about 3km before I warmed up, and then I was relieved that it wasn't any warmer out. 10 degrees it great weather for running, but not for waiting!

The race route started near McCarran airport and Mandalay Bay. We first headed south out of the city, and the looped back around so that we were running the opposite direction past all the remain racers in their start corrals. It took awhile for my eyes to adjust to running in dark. In some of the early sections of the race, the road was not very well lit, and the shadows of other racers around me kept tricking me into thinking I was going to run into someone!

Race route.

Running down the main strip was definitely the best part of the race course. The sidelines were jammed with spectators cheering and ringing cowbells, and the lights of the casinos and hotels were quite a spectacle. We progressed down to the old Las Vegas strip, and I began to see racers coming back towards the finish line on the opposite side of the street. I tried to keep an eye on their race bibs, in hopes I would be able to see Tom. At first, there were race bibs in the 2000's and 3000's, and I knew that Tom would likely be in a pack of 6000's. But my multitasking was not very successfully, and almost collided with several people when I kept checking the other runners for Tom. Eventually I told myself I had to focus on what was ahead of me, and stop looking! But wouldn't you know it? A few minutes later, I glanced over at the other side of the road, and saw Tom running past! He killed it, coming in 1090/25215 participants-- the top 4% of runners!

This race was less of a mental struggle for me than some of the previous races I've run. It was (of course!) challenging, but I trained hard for this race, and I felt good when I crossed the finish line. I think, if (or when) I run a race again, I will try to focus more on strength training. My cardio was telling me I could go faster, but my leg strength started to fail me in the last 4-5km. I finished with a time of 2:04:21. I didn't break that elusive 2 hour mark, but it was still a personal best.  Overall, I am quite pleased! I finished in the top 19% of participants, and the top 12% of female competitors.

Finishing medals and race bibs.

Following the race, Andrew, Ashley, Tom, Jasmine and Joel (who also killed it in the race!) and I gorged ourselves at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. Mmm... Margaritas!

The following morning, we hit the hotel hot tub to ease our aches and pains, before catching our flights home.

And that's it! The 2014 race season has come to a close.

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

Saturday morning in Vegas. Having arrived in town the night before with no luggage, Tom and I attempted to execute our Saturday plans as we had originally hoped. We picked up a rental car just before noon, and headed to the Las Vegas Convention Center to pick up our race packages. It was a ZOO inside, so we worked our way through the crowd as fast as possible, and got the hell out of there! Our next stop was the Fashion Show Mall, so we could pick up some fresh clothes for our day trip. But it was not meant to be... We drove around and around in the packed parkade, and finally gave up. Instead, I navigated us out to Red Rock National Park, just a short 30 minute drive out of the city.

Once in Red Rock, we took a 13 mile scenic drive in a loop around the park. If we had been dressed appropriately (i.e. had our luggage), we probably would have done a short hike, but that was not going to happen in our grungy, day-old plane clothes.

One of the first things we noticed was how busy air traffic was in the area. There were at least 6 contrails visible in the air overhead, with more planes coming and going. Our first stop was at Calico Springs, a beautiful outcrop of sandstone that was covered in rock climbers and tourists like ourselves.

Calico Springs, Red Rock Canyon.

We walked down to the base of the rock formation to take a look, and took a walk through a relatively narrow canyon.

The name definitely delivered-- we saw a LOT of red rocks.

Our next stop was at Sandstone Quarry, which gave us good views of an interface where the lower red rocks were exposed to an iron solution that caused them to turn red when the iron oxidized. The rocks directly above were not exposed, and remained a dull white.

Of course, a stock selfie of ourselves in Red Rock Canyon.

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On our way out of the scenic drive loop, we got a great view of some of the limestone mountains to the west. Tom managed to capture this great shot, with the sun streaming over the mountain.

Afterwards, we headed back into the city and stopped at an outlet mall on the way, where stocked up on some clothing essentials. Our luggage arrived in the wee hours of the morning that. And up next, a recap of race day!