Luckily our travel was smooth both ways...I always hate connecting flights and Atlanta is not a very reliable airport, but we had great flights! We've been wanting to visit Casey and Matt for a while and it was a perfect long weekend on Martin Luther King weekend!
We got a great tour of Milton, FL...love seeing where they work and live! Friday night we went to a "winging party"...a party to celebrate all the flight school students who just got their "wings"...aka became official pilots! We got to meet some of Casey and Matt's friends...people are from all over and have different reasons for being in flight school. The next morning we went to the Pensacola base to see the helicopters Matt has been flying and hear him use all his flight jargon - he's learned a lot!
Then Matt went off to study for his flight on Sunday and Nick, Casey and I headed to the Big Easy...road trip to New Orleans! We crossed through Alabama, Mississippi, and finally into Louisiana. As we drove over Lake Pontchartrain (which is HUGE...you care barely see the coasts) we could see the Ninth Ward and some destruction still left from Katrina...really sad. Before we knew it we were on Bourbon St!! We walked up and down and picked a restaurant with some Louisiana creole cooking...and had a table on the balcony! Great view. The rest of the night was filled with Hurricanes, Hand Grenades and bar hopping along Bourbon St. Of course we went to Pat O'Briens which was a go-to for the Virginia Tech Sugar Bowl...once again it was a great time.
Sunday we lost a little money at Harrah's casino, walked around the French Quarter, saw Cafe du Monde, Mothers restaurant, got a few tourist items and ate some more creole food before hitting the road back to FL. That night Matt was back and we hung out over pizza, beers and games...perfect way to spend the night with our friends.
Monday we did some sightseeing in Pensacola and saw the infamous FloraBama bar, which was cool to visit even if it wasn't open....plus we got to the beach...I went home to the snow with a little sand between my toes :)
Although it's hard sometimes not to see your best friend for a while...it makes for really quality visits. Casey and I talk all the time, but it's really cool to visit each other in new places. I can't wait to hear in 2 weeks where they will be headed next...cross your fingers for San Diego! But even if it's Hawaii or Japan we'll make it there somehow!
Pilot Swartz
feeling cool...
Pat O'Briens
First Hurricane of the night...but not the last!
New Orleans balcony! (our dinner spot)
We survived Bourbon Street...barely.
sharing the border
Flora-Bama
No comments:
Post a Comment