Jazzfest in NOLA 2017

Jazzfest was so amazing. It was truly a GOOD time. Mom invited us last fall and we quickly accepted. New Orleans is Michael's power spot and we both LOVE New Orleans music. Plus, being shown around by my mama is the best.
Martha and Clark flew in on Wednesday to take care of our boys while we were gone. I was so happy to see them as it had been a long time without a visit. The boys were thrilled to see them too. Late that night, Michael flew in from Boston and the next morning we left for the airport.
We flew in to New Orleans and met mom at the condo. We were so HAPPY. After we quickly unpacked, we headed for Bachannal to see the Roamin' Jasmin. This was a new place for us and we loved it. It's a wine bar, cheese shop, tapas restaurant with a gorgeous shady courtyard and fabulous New Orleans music. It was made for us. We polished off a bottle of Rose and lots of food and then hopped in a Lyft to Frenchman to go see Miss Sophie Lee at the Spotted Cat. It was great to catch up with our friends in the band and shop a little before the show. Sophie was perfect and we happily enjoyed her set. After a while, we crossed the street to the DBA to see John Cleary. We just made the end of his set, but he was fantastic! Then we came back to the condo and continued to drink wine and laugh and talk.

The next morning we woke up and went over to have breakfast at Coulis. Then we walked back and took a Lyft over to Jazzfest! We parked our chairs at the Fais do do stage and then walked all over the fairgrounds. We saw so much good music and ate so much good food. The festival is amazing and there is good music at every stage. We fell in love with a great new band called Soul Brass band and had raw oysters and jammed out to so much good New Orleans music. It was great. We left a bit early and went back to the condo to shower before heading over to Miss Sophie's uptown restaurant. It was very delicious and there was live music there, too! I love being with my mom and Michael. They are my favorite people and having them to myself was the best.

The next morning we headed back to Jazzfest and set our chairs up at the Gentilly Stage. We stayed there most of the day as it was much more crowded than it had been on Friday. We met our festival neighbors and ate and drank and listened to AMAZING music. Eventually it got too crowded for me and we left. I don't do well with huge crowds, but we made our way out and slipped into a taxi with no wait, so it was perfect timing.

That evening we walked over to Superior for dinner. It was delicious. We had more oysters and they may have been the best oysters I have ever had. We went to bed early and slept and slept. I think my fitbit said I got ten hours that night.

The next day it was stormy and dark. We decided to go on down to the french quarter for a bit since it looked like the festival might be rained out. We bought some chocolates at Sucre and then had brunch at the Green Goddess. It may have been the best meal I ate the whole time. I love their sweet potato biscuits. While we ate, the skies opened up and rain POURED down. It poured and poured big gushing sheets of water with thunder and lightening. We got a text message that the festival was CLOSED until further notice. We sat and watched the rain for a bit and then caught a cab back to Frenchman. We rushed into Maison through the rain and got a table and lucked out by catching two amazing shows. We drank prosecco in darkness and it was hard to tell whether it was day or night. We stopped by the Spotted Cat, but it was too crowded. Just as we stepped out to decide what next to do, we got alerts that the gates had re-opened at Jazzfest. We leapt in a cab and headed straight there.

It was cool and there was hardly anyone there! It was perfect. Not even too muddy. We watched John Boutte and the Mavericks and a bit of Tom Petty. We stopped at the Jazz Vipers and ate more festival food. We finally left and headed home, but we were so happy we got one more day of the festival.
We stayed in that evening and went to bed early. All that fun was exhausting!
The next morning we had to fly home. It was an eventful flight as they spent almost two hours dithering about whether our plane was flight worthy and loading us on and off, but we made it home just fine. It was so hard to leave my mama. I miss her so much and being with her is so fun!
Jazzfest is the best and most wonderful and I want to go every year! It was such a joy to go and be there and be with my mama. It was absolutely an amazing vacation.