New Orleans, LA

Okay, I LOVED NEW ORLEANS!! The diversity of cultures and history make it such a unique city. We spent a long weekend there. I am not a huge city person, so 3 full days in the city was good for me, but I would have loved to do a swamp tour and spent some time outside the city.

Where we stayed: The Hyatt Regency by the Superdome
It was a beautiful hotel and perfect if you are seeing an event at the superdome. However, I spent most of my time in the French Quarter and it was a bit of a walk or trolley ride to get there.

Inside the Hyatt

View of the Superdome at night from the hotel

Inside the Hyatt

Rooftop Pool at the Hyatt

View of the Superdome from the Hyatt Exercise Room

View of New Orleans from the Hyatt Exercise Room

What to do:
There is so much to do in New Orleans. I spent some time walking the city myself as the hubby was at a conference. The shops at Riverwalk are indoors and it was great to spend some time shopping while it rained. There were many stores and a nice food court. The mall is rectangular building therefore it takes a long time to get from one end to another. It is right along the Mississippi River. The French Quarter is a beautiful area to walk around. Jackson Square is a nice park in the city. My husband loved Frenchman Street. There are many cafes with live bands and the music just pours into the street. I wasn't quite as impressed as he was. Near Frenchman Street is the French Market, I enjoy markets so it was fun to walk around. Bourbon Street was fun to walk through, many dinner options along the road. I took a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking and it was so great! It was my first cooking class and I loved it. The food was delicious, our teacher was so fun, and I learned a lot. I did make one of the dishes myself after getting home, it didn't taste quite as good as hers did : ) One morning we took the street car through the Garden District all the way to the end of the line and then back again. On the way back we got off and walked around through the Garden District. The houses are gorgeous and not being from the south the style is so different from what I am accustomed to seeing. One of the highlights of our trip was going to the World War II Museum. It was incredible. You began by purchasing a ticket and boarding a train where you could pick a person from WWII or could be assigned one. I was a nurse. Then as you walked through the museum there were stands where you scanned your dog tag and could hear about your person at that stage in the war. I was amazed at how well done the museum was, lots of artifacts, interactive, video footage, to name a few aspects of the museum. While we were in New Orleans the King Cake Festival was going on at the Superdome so we walked around there for a bit, it was really cool to see the Superdome in person. My hubby took in a Pelicans game against the Lakers. While he was there filming was going on for Daddy's Home so he was able to see Mark Whalberg and Will Ferrell, I was so jealous! Finally, probably my most favorite thing was Cafe Du Monde and its beignets. They were delicious! 

Riverwalk, The Mississippi River

The Mississippi River

French Quarter

French Quarter

French Quarter

Jackson Square

French Market

Bourbon Street at night

Bourbon Street at night

MY COOKING CLASS!!!

The class

Our trolley through the Garden District

The beautiful homes in the Garden District

Garden District

Garden District

Garden District

WWII Museum

WWII Museum

WWII Museum

King Cake Festival

Will Ferrell

Pelicans vs. Lakers

Cafe Du Monde

Cafe Du Monde

Where to Eat:
Obviously, the Number 1 place you should eat at is Cafe Du Monde. The beignets are INCREDIBLE! I ate there every day and sometimes multiple times. It is super crowded there most times during the day unless you go at off hours. The menu consists of beignets, coffee, and tea. Oceana's on Bourbon Street was good. We had dinner there one evening, it was very crowded of course, I had a shrimp po'boy and it was pretty standard. We did try alligator there, it didn't taste too different from other meats, a different texture! Le Bayou was a good restaurant on Bourbon Street as well. I had a cup of gumbo there that was delicious!

Beignets and Coffee

So I LOVED NEW ORLEANS!! The mixture of history, culture, music, and food was so unique and different than any other place I have been. I would definitely recommend visiting and really engaging in the culture of New Orleans, eat out, try food that is unique to the area, spend time just walking the city, and if you have time head out of the city and do a swamp tour in the the bayou.

St. Lucia

One thing you have to know about me is that I am a doer. I can only take about one day of sitting on the beach sleeping or reading a book before I need to spend my day doing something active. St. Lucia was my honeymoon destination and it exceeded all of my expectations. It was the perfect mix of relaxation and activities. St. Lucia is such a beautiful and lush island. In the Caribbean I have been to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Mexico and St. Lucia was by far my favorite. It is such a different atmosphere than the other islands I have been to. There are the beautiful Piton mountains, lush vegetation, blue waters, and sandy beaches.

 

The Piton Mountains

Where we stayed: Sandals Halcyon
We were so happy we went with Sandals. There was a room at the airport for all the Sandals visitors where they had our names and took us right from the baggage claim to our shuttle to the resort. We did not have to deal with contacting anyone to pick us up. Once we got to the Halcyon we were given an overview of the resort and shown our room. Sandals is all-inclusive which is incredible because you can just eat whatever you want whenever you want and don't have to worry about spending the money. We loved the Halcyon, it was a smaller resort perfect for a honeymoon because there were not too many people there and it was quiet. Sandals allows you to visit any of the other Sandals resorts on  your island. Our resort provided a shuttle to the other two Sandals La Grande and Sandals La Toc. The Halcyon was in the middle of the two resorts so it was about a 15 minute drive to each of the others. The Grande is HUGE! There were people everywhere, it was a much larger resort so there were more pools, restaurants, and people. La Toc seemed to be right in the middle size-wise. La Toc is built on a cliff providing a different feel from the other two resorts.

Sandals Halcyon at night

Sandals Halcyon

Sandals Halcyon Rooms

The room type we stayed in at Sandals Halcyon

One of the two pools at Sandals Halcyon

The second pool at Sandals Halcyon

One of the restaurants at Sandals La Grande

Sandals La Grande

One of the pools at Sandals La Grande

Sandals La Toc

Sandals La Toc

Sandals La Toc

What to do: 
Since Sandals is all-inclusive you can kayak, paddle board, hobby cat, and do many other non-motorized water sports. I suggest you take advantage of that! We enjoyed trying out the different water sports. Beside Sandals La Grande is Fort Rodney, a historic fort. It is off of the resort grounds but we just walked to it from the resort. The fort is on a hill and at the top we were able to see the island of Martinique which was about 300 miles away. On the beaches there are people selling jet ski rides and tours. We did both, however they are not associated with Sandals but we had a great experience with the one we went on. The excursion we did was so much fun. We took a boat ride to Marigot Bay which is considered to be the best bay in the Caribbean. The original Dr. Doolittle was filmed here. We went snorkeling where we were able to see a lot of coral and many colorful fish. Once our boat docked our tour group was split into two different groups. Our group traveled to the sulfur springs first where we covered ourselves in the hot clay and then rinsed off in the scorching springs...they were HOT! We then saw the world's only drive-in volcano before heading to eat lunch at a local's house. After that we went to the Torialle Falls where we were able to swim up to the waterfall. Then we stopped in town and were able to do a little shopping. We boarded our boat and on the way back to our resort we stopped at the location where a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.

The beach at Sandals Halcyon

The beach at Sandals Halcyon

The top of Fort Rodney

Fort Rodney

Fort Rodney

At the top of Fort Rodney

Overlooking Sandals La Grande from Fort Rodney

Marigot Bay

Sulfur Hot Springs

Drive in Volcano

Toraille Falls

Toraille Waterfall

Where the Pirates of the Caribbean scene was filmed

Where to Eat:
With St. Lucia having three different Sandals Resorts we had a whole variety of places to choose from. Our absolute favorite was Kelly's Dockside at the Halcyon. We also had a breakfast buffet in the mornings at the Halcyon. We also enjoyed a pub, a french creperie, and a beach side lunch at Sandals La Grande. At Sandals La Toc we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant on the cliff where we were able to watch the sunset over the side of the island. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from the restaurants!

Kelly's Dockside

St. Lucia was such a beautiful island with so much to offer from relaxing on the beach or by the pool to exploring the mountains and a historic fort. Our Sandals experience was incredible. The people who worked there were so helpful and friendly. They were extremely accommodating and made our stay so enjoyable!