Bourbon Street Blitz

My best friend and I decided to celebrate turning 40 by meeting up somewhere between our homes in Massachusetts and Arizona. What's about halfway between Massachusetts and Arizona? No offense to Missouri and Arkansas, but we ultimately selected New Orleans, Louisiana. We booked a room in the French Quarter, invited her cousin along at the last minute, and left the husbands and kids behind for three nights.

We started out Friday evening with the required Bourbon Street bar crawl.

There was a moon over Bourbon Street.

Bourbon Street is a party every night. It is full of people, bars, clubs, restaurants, adult toy shops, and souvenir shops.

Bourbon Street Recommendations

Food: The shrimp and grits at La Bayou are to die for. Get the night started with some of their voodoo juice as well--you won't know what hit you.

Music: Right next door to La Bayou, the Blues Club offers live music all night long. We sampled many music offerings up and down Bourbon Street, but we ended up back at the Blues Club.

Tips: Bring cash. There are a lot of cash-only establishments on Bourbon and in the French Quarter in general. Although there are ATMs everywhere, I couldn't find any from my bank, and got socked with a $4.00 fee every time I needed to make a withdrawal.

Also, you can take your drinks out on the street in NOLA, which is handy if you want to visit a lot of different bars. NOLA is also a lot more lax about smoking than most places these days, which is great if you are a smoker, but not so terrific if you don't like going to bed smelling like an ashtray.

--Diane