Expo Day & Exploring the French Quarter // Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon Weekend Day 2

This post is part of a series about my trip to New Orleans February 7-10, 2020. 
Make sure you check out my day 1 post first!

Day 2 of our trip started out a little rough. Due to the travel and stress of being in a new place, I woke up with an extreme tension headache at about 4AM and was in a ton of pain for a while. It really sucks having to deal with my stupid headaches and they always seem to roll around when I'm trying to have a fun weekend! I was up sick until about 5:30 or so before I could finally fall asleep for a couple more hours. Once we all woke up Erin, Cullen, and Brett headed down to the grocery store to get some healthier foods to keep in our AirBnB for the weekend (need dem pre-race snacks!) and I took off on my last shakeout run before the big day. I went a bit faster than I probably should, but the sun felt so good and I was so excited to be feeling better that I let myself go as fast as I wanted!

We were all ready for some brunch and some exploring by the time we all got back to the house, so we headed to this restaurant called Jimmy J's which had fantastic reviews. Of course, everyone else in NOLA that weekend had also heard of their great reviews and we had to wait in line for a solid 45 minutes before we got a table. Let me tell you -- the wait was SO WORTH IT. All the food we had was fantastic and we all chowed down. I had blueberry brandy glazed French toast stuffed with brie and a side of homefries and I gobbled the entire thing up. SO good. Totally recommend waiting in line for this gem of a restaurant!

😍😍😍

After getting sustenance it was time to make our way to the expo! Race expos are usually so fun but we had to walk through the *entire* convention center to get to the hall that the expo was in. That convention center was easily the biggest one I've ever been in and I swear we had to walk a solid mile from the entrance to the race expo. By the time we got there we were all so pooped from walking that we did not stay for all that long! It was not a big deal, though, because we were all super excited to get down to check out the French Quarter.

We made the most of our short time at the expo!

Bib acquired!

We opted to Uber back over to the French Quarter. The city was PACKED with folks in town for the marathon as well as a few Mardi Gras parades that were happening that evening, so getting around was a bit of a challenge, but we had a great time exploring different bars, art vendors, and shops on foot. Knowing that I had a big ol' race in the morning, we were strategic about peppering plenty of walking breaks thoughout the day, which I totally appreciated! After exploring for a bit, we wound up grabbing dinner and listening to a blues band at B.B. Kings.

We knew that one of the parades was going to be coming through the street we were eating on, so we opted to stick around a while longer to watch it. When else are you going to get to see a Mardi Gras parade, right? Welp, the parade was supposed to start at 6:30 and we waited for an hour and it never came down our street! We weren't sure if it got re-routed or what, but it got to the point where we really had to start heading back home and getting ready for the big day, so at 7:30 we made our way back to the AirBnB. Such a bummer!

#disappointment

We got back to where we were staying around 8:15 or so and we immediately got to work planning the next day. Erin, Cullen, and Brett studied the course map and made their plan for #cheersquad-ing, and I gathered everything I would need for the race. Of course, I made time for a flat runner pic! You might notice I tried to incorporate Mardi Gras colors in my race outfit. I feel like you kind of have to, right? 💜💛💚😜

Brett did a good job of staying on top of me getting in bed and getting to sleep. I feel like the night before a race I can just be buzzing and staying awake for no reason, but he made sure I got in bed and got to sleep as early as possible. I want to say I was asleep by 9:30, which is perfect! Go Brett! 😂 We were all looking forward to a great race day. More to come on that in my next post!!! 😉

Don't forget to watch the below vlog to see day 2 in action!

Flying South & Surprising Erin + Cullen! // Rock n' Roll New Orleans Marathon Weekend Day 1

Like any good trip, I took WAY too many photos and videos and have decided the best way for me to chat about our trip is by designating one day per post! I usually try to cram everything into one long post or video, but that will take me FOREVER and I cannot wait to share with you what I got up to in New Orleans. So, without further ado, let's hop into our first day!

Brett worked on the day we left for New Orleans (Friday) so it made the most sense for me to wake up and commute in with him in the morning. Brett starts work at 6AM so that meant an early wake up call! Luckily I had the day off so I treated myself to a DELICIOUS breakfast at In a Pickle while I waited for him to work his shift. I also paid a visit to Cassie who had just returned from her cruise to chat and catch up. It was great getting to spend some time with her before we headed off to the airport.

Brett finished up work around 11AM and we hopped in an Uber to the airport. One fun thing about our trip down was that Erin & Cullen had absolutely 0 idea that Brett was coming on this trip! We didn't know ourselves until about a week before we flew out, and once we finally figured out that he could make the trip we decided for it to be a surprise for Erin & Cullen! I played coy all week with them, texting them all about *my* travels and just conveniently omitting that Brett was joining me. 😇

We did decide to have a bit of fun on the day we were travelling and sent them a few photos with Brett hiding somewhere in the background to see if they would notice. We had so much fun figuring out what we should send them! The first photo happened at the airport. Can you find Brett?

Unfortunately because Brett and I booked our tickets separately, we had to sit apart for the 4 hour flight to NOLA, and on top of that there wasn't a whole lot of in-flight entertainment options. I kept myself busy by reading Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor (GREAT pre-race read, btw) and eating some Sour Patch Watermelons which are totally my candy of choice at the moment.

We got to the AirBnB around 6PM and had some time to kill before Erin and Cullen arrived. We mostly just tried to relax for a bit, but we also wanted to send them at least one more picture with a hidden Brett to see if they would be able to notice. We tried a few different options but ultimately decided the below picture was the safest thing to send them without totally ruining the surprise! Can you find Brett?

We set Brett up in the bedroom that Erin & Cullen would be taking so that when they arrived he would be the first thing they saw. I think it's safe to say that they might not have caught the hidden Bretts because they were SO SURPRISED! I will never forget their reaction because it was SO good! 

I also had to share the photo of the surprise on Instagram, of course. 💗

View this post on Instagram

Gotcha! 🥰 Our friends @emobrosher and @culco_101 were planning on joining me during my #RnRNOLA Marathon weekend. Little did they know, @coachbrettangel was joining us for the ride! #DoodieGang reunited once again! 🤗💩💕 • #surpriseguest #NOLA #JAM

A post shared by Riley (@rmfickfack) on Feb 7, 2020 at 9:29pm PST

We were all pretty hungry for dinner by the time Erin & Cullen arrived so we walked down to this restaurant right down the street from where we stayed called The Bayou Bistro and everything we ate was FIRE. 🔥🔥🔥 Our server was hilarious and actually ended up naming a cocktail after Brett (the Raspberry Brett Bomb 💙) and giving us a plate of crawfish on the house. It was such an incredible start to our trip and I loved every minute of it. #JAM

Outside of the restaurant there was this statue of a Sasquatch so of course we had to pose for photos with it before heading home for the night. 😂

I did vlog this trip and I'm so happy that I did! If you want to see behind the scenes of our travels and our surprise, check out our Day 1 vlog below. 

Our first evening in NOLA was such a blast and was a great sign for the weekend to come!

Stay tuned for more photos and videos from our trip tomorrow!

Po' Boys, Pralines, and Parades: New Orleans (Vacation 2015, Part 1)

Hello everyone! I have finally returned from my family trip to the Western Caribbean and after a week to get my bearings back to the real world, I'm ready to share with you all what we got up to! Apologies for the two weeks of silence, but we had such a blast! We did so much and I have so many photos that I'll have to break up my trip into a few different posts in order to fit it all in. This post will be dedicated to day 1 - New Orleans!

Our cruise left from NOLA at 4PM on Sunday afternoon, but since we all wanted to experience the city of New Orleans, we decided that we wanted to spend an extra day exploring. We woke up at around 3:00 AM to make it to the airport for out 5:55 AM flight (ouch) and start our journey to warm weather! We flew Manchester to Tampa, then Tampa to NOLA, where we would meet up with my sister.

Of course, I've never been one to sleep well in moving vehicles of any kind, so I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep on the first flight down to Tampa. When we arrived the sun was up which helped me wake up a bit, and we also found some food in the form of a breakfast burger (scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, on a brioche bun). My dad and I really wanted an actual burger because at that point we had been awake for 6 hours and we were ready for lunch, but it was only 9:30 so we couldn't find anywhere that was serving lunch quite yet.

We arrived in New Orleans around 11:30 AM (Central Time, meaning it was really 12:30 PM to us... time travel is confusing, as you'll see a few different times in this series of posts!) and met up with my sister at the airport! We all jumped in a taxi and got a bit of a tour from our driver, Big E, who reminded us to laissez les bons temps rouler!

Once we got to our hotel to drop our bags, we were in immediate explore mode. We stopped by PJ's, a Louisiana coffee chain, got a praline with cream coffee, and set off on our walking tour of the French Quarter. In our travels, we stopped by Jackson Square, Cafe Du Monde, tried out some pralines (HOLY DELICIOUSNESS), spent some time by the Mississippi River, and stopped in the Market Cafe for a snack of fried crawfish and gumbo, washed down with some Hurricanes!

After our snack, we ventured down Pirate's Alley, where we came across a wedding! From there, we found Royal Street and Bourbon Street and started to get the real flavor of how New Orleans got the reputation it has. Live music on every single corner, impromptu parades every 30 minutes or so, street performers, hand grenades (the drink, not the weapon), and just people all over the place. You really need to watch my vlog (included at the end of this post) to get a real idea of what it's all about, but it. is. AWESOME. There was so much to do and see and try that you couldn't possibly do it all in one visit.

For dinner we stopped by a restaurant called Oceana where I tried a shrimp po' boy (YUM) and fried gator bites (ALSO YUM). If you're a seafood fan, New Orleans is an awesome place for some unique foods to try. And no worries if you're not a fan of fish, there are so many restaurants that all have a ton of different options that will absolutely suit your needs!

 My dad and I headed out on our own after dinner, and decided to do some after-dark exploration of the city. There is SO MUCH going on on a Saturday night in New Orleans. We walked up and down Bourbon Street and stopped into about 10 different bars with a new band playing live in every one, each one with a different style of music! This city really comes alive with people who are just looking to have fun and enjoy what the city has to offer them, which is always so amazing to experience. It's safe to say that NOLA stole my heart, and I hope to return one day very soon!

We ended our stay in New Orleans with a breakfast of beignets and coffee from Cafe Du Monde, enjoyed in the warm Louisiana sunshine next to the Mississippi river. YUM.

We seriously had so much fun in the short time we were in the city, and I definitely fell in love with everything that New Orleans has to offer. If you consider yourself to be adventurous and love to immerse yourself in unique cultures, then I would 100% recommend a visit to the Big Easy. I can not wait to go back!

Check out the vlog from our stay in New Orleans below. 

The city really is so much better when you can see it in action! :)