PART 1 Of Our Mardi Gras Vacation
WOW…this Mardi Gras 2020 is so different from our NORM. For the past 14 years…I don’t think we have ever stayed in NOLA for Mardi Gras. This is our FIRST year ever staying for Mardi Gras (well until Fat Tuesday) 😉 …we actually got to enjoy 3 days of parading. Even though this year there were a few accidents that happened at the parade. All in all my kids and I had a great time. We caught so many things at the Muse and Endymion parade. We didn’t really catch much at the Metairie parade though. On Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) we got up early and left for Austin, Texas. We wanted to leave early because Metairie had a parade at 10:00 AM and we didn’t want to be caught in that traffic.
We got to Austin around 5:00 pm and we hit our FAVORITE place…GARBO’s for their LOBSTER ROLL. Madison wanted to eat there tonight because tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) she was giving up BREAD for LENT. The lobster roll DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!! It was so delicious….my kids also LOVE their LOBSTER BISQUE. I can eat at this place every week and WOULD NOT get tired of it.
Lobster roll
lobster roll
Lobster Bisque
fried calamari
After DINNER …of course we had to hit up our favorite dessert place….ANDY’s Custard for icecream 😉
strawberry and banana ..our usual
my 3 girls and I always get the same thing
We made it an early night because my SIL had to work the next day and we were tired from the long drive.
WEDNESDAY ….we didn’t wake up until almost 11:00 am. We woke up and went get our ashes at the church near by. After mass…we went to Salt Trader to grab some seafood since we couldn’t eat meat. This place is so CUTE 😉
They came out with complimentary goldfish for the kids and some fish dip with chips for us to enjoy. I ordered the shrimp and lobster roll (which wasn’t as good as GARBO’s) but it was still good. They have this $6.00 small plate items on the menu so we ordered 2 of those items and some fish and chips for the kids.
Goldfish
Kids making heart shape with their goldfish
complimentary appt/snack
complimentary app
oyster $6.00 menu
$6.00 ceviche tostada
Shrimp and lobster roll
fish taco
For dinner we went to this sushi restaurant …to be honest…I haven’t found a place in Texas that has sushi like NOLA!!
Sushi is whats for dinner…my hot tea
Rainbow Roll
different variety of roll
Udon (kids meal)
THURDAY….we went visit to the cemetery to visit my IN LAWS then we headed to lunch. We wanted to just sample many things so we hit this dumpling place first….called Julie’s Noodles
The cutest little dumpling and noodle place
Fried rice
dumpling soup …so good
beef burritos
pork potsticker
After we hit Julie’s Noodles…we went get some desserts and some sushi and popcorn chicken and fried tofu. We hit up SNOWY VILLAGE for some shaved ice and some rice ball. They had these Taikaki but we didn’t get a chance to try them.
we had these yummy little deserts
RICE BALL
We grabbed some popcorn chicken and fried tofu from 101 teahause
Dinner was at one of my favorite restaurant ever…Tumble 22 (T22) in Austin, Texas!! They have different levels of spiciness so that you can choose how HOT you like it. My kids always get the “WIMPY”…last time we were there we had the “HOT” this time got he “MO HOT” which was a little too spicy for me LOL talking about spicy…the good part is only the skin was super spicy..the meat wasn’t as bad. They serve the chicken with sliced bread. They also give you a couple pieces of butter pickle on top which gives it the perfect combo to the chicken. I actually like T22 fried chicken more than GUS because its not as oily as GUS chicken.
Our spread
“wimpy”
“MO HOT”
Coconut Pie
I had to have a piece of this pie…its so creamy and delicious
FRIDAY ….we headed to Mount Bonnell also known as Covert Park its along Lake Austin. You can see some of Austin and Lake Austin at the top. The view is very beautiful!!! Just a SHORT HIKE up the flagstone staircase (106 steps) and you can have this amazing view. Even though Mount Bonnell is often described as the highest point in Austin. It doesn’t take long for the hike and the viewing of the summit..took us about 30 minutes and we stopped for many photo ops. Definitely doesn’t need a whole day to explore Mount Bonnell. You can take longer if you want to pack a picnic basket and have a little lunch up there…but there is NO PUBLIC RESTROOM.
The entrance
Right before you start walking up the steps …you see these sign
Top of Mount Bonnell
my 4 littles
The View
So beautiful
Covert Park
For LUNCH we stopped by this local little gem called Greenhouse Craft. Once we were inside I remember that we were here before. Ethan remember the delicious BLT burger but today we couldn’t have meat so we had to eat seafood. Their seafood menu is very limited. We order the fish dish SPECIAL and it was DELICIOUS!!
After our little hike we grabbed a quick snack and headed back to my SIL place to rest a little before we went out to DINNER. I been hearing about that restaurant that serves up Louisiana FOOD….so I had to give it a try…and I HAVE TO SAY!! OMG everything was DELICIOUS!!! If you are in AUSTIN and want some DELICIOUS New Orleans type of FOOD…you MUST TRY Louisiana Longhorn Cafe.
The special..so good!! Curry sauce over rice
Fish and chips
Tomato Soup
Kids grill cheese sandwich…my kids didn’t really fancy this at all ;(
All of these restaurants that we ate during this trip was all delicious!! I think I gained 10 lbs from this trip 😉
Tomorrow, I will do PART 2 of our trip. As you can see…all we did on this trip was EAT EAT EAT !!! We actually hit some dessert areas that I have missed in this post. There were some dessert places THAT we actually HIT 2 times. LOL
