Before we get into our week in New Orleans, we must first describe the drive from the tippy top of Alabama, all the way down to the bottom. Recently I reread To Kill a Mockingbird and became slightly obsessed with small, sleepy southern towns. At one point we were planning on doing a road trip that covered only the back roads of the south, but life got in the way. So when I found out that Harper Lee was from Monroeville, Alabama- which was sort of on our way from Chattanoonga to New Orleans, I knew I wanted to stop. Besides, after reading the town’s tourist information, how could we not want to go (I mean there is a painted birdhouse walking tour?!). 
As with any sleepy southern town, there wasn’t very much going on when we got there- but really that’s what I was most interested in seeing: people sitting the day away on porches, little stores shut up and closed for the weekend, and empty streets to walk along. 
From Monroeville, we drove to Mobile Alabama and stayed the night- incidentally we also had some of the best Mexican food we’ve ever had in our lives (the best being in Chattanooga of all places). Sunday we headed through the southern, coastal portion of Mississippi and onward towards New Orleans!
Vera is loving spending so much time all together. We were so happy that she was starting to act like herself, because at the end of our stay in New Orleans we experienced our first, and only NoLa low. A woman we met there told us that New Orleans is the land of ‘high highs and low lows’- but up until Thursday, we experienced nothing that could be classified as a low. That morning, however, when Adam was walking Vera, another dog ran up and bit her- the laceration was really bad and we had to take her to an emergency vet. She stayed there all day for surgery and to be stapled back up. 
She’s been doing much better since Thursday (as the former picture suggests) and has moments where we think even she forgets that she has such a huge cut in her side.
The beginning of our week in New Orleans was a totally different story- we love that city! It might, of course have had something to do with the fact that we missed the city life- but the houses! How can you not fall in love with all the adorable, colorful, tiny houses? We spent the week choosing our favorite and landed on the following house: 
Of course we can’t really be sure. Though we walked around endlessly, exploring as many of the neighborhoods and backstreets as we could, there’s no way of really knowing if this was the best- but it would definitely end up in the top five.
Aside from choosing our favorite houses, we also used the walks to see as much of New Orleans as possible- checking off as many recommendations and obligatory tourist stops as we could.
First, we ate beignets (which we could eat every day forever.)
We walked along the Mississippi River. We went to Siberia, a metal bar, and ate a beet burger (it was the best food we’ve eaten at a bar, ever.) We walked on Bourbon Street for one block and took this picture, then promptly exited. 
We rode our bikes in City Park and walked all the way from the 7th ward down to the Lower 9th to check out how far the development has come along since Katrina. 
We ate gumbo and po’boys and even saw Uncle Dave! We checked out the street art and found Adam’s favorite. 
We got to stay in a super cute, awesome house in the 7th ward and met the neighbors (the people in New Orleans are so much friendlier than anyone else- we had conversations with neighbors that lasted multiple hours). 
We didn’t really get to see any parades (just one tiny one that was more like a bunch of people from some company walking the same way on the street than a parade). I found out that it was because parades happen every month of the year except July when I went to the Backstreet Museum in Treme. We definitely need to go back to New Orleans, but we’re happy to move on to the open country of West Texas.
earth's sweet gas 