In mid-December, Carin and I traveled to New Orleans for a five-day excursion through my homeland. It was partly an early Christmas visit with my family and partly a tourist vacation, as Carin had never been to New Orleans.

I was happy to return home, to introduce Carin to my family, and to show Carin my home, which I knew she would love. I was also thrilled at the prospect of heading south and getting away from Minnesota’s winter weather.

Pictures after the jump:

We landed on a Wednesday afternoon. My father picked us up and generously let us borrow his truck for the duration of our trip. My sister and brother-in-law let us stay with them, which was great. They’re currently living in the house that my immediate family lived in when I was a kid. It was the first time in over 18 years that my sister and I had spent the night under that roof together. Weird.

After dinner at Mandina’s (where Carin had her first bowl of turtle soup), we cruised by the late Al Copeland’s infamous Christmas display. Every year, he has larger and more obnoxious decorations. You have to understand that Al Copeland was the man behind Popeye’s fried chicken as well as an avalanche of intensely tacky restaurants, including the aptly named Copeland’s. He died in 2008, and this would be the last display at his house. They’ll be at Lafreniere Park from now on.

My sister woke us up the next morning, whispering, “It’s snowing!” It had snowed in New Orleans three times in my life, and all three times, it was so light that it almost didn’t count. Well, this time, it was a full-on, Minnesota-style snow. The city got maybe an inch or two, but some areas to the North (which is where we were planning to go that day) were getting 6 to 8 inches of snow. Our FIRST DAY IN TOWN from Minnesota, IT SNOWED IN NEW ORLEANS. I’ll let you just sit with that for a moment.

The rest of the city was in awe. Carin and I were not. We were planning to go to Hammond that day, to visit an old theatre professor and see where I went to college, but those plans got pushed back a day, and we determined to do something nearby and indoors. We tried the New Orleans Museum of Art, but they were closed because of the weather.

We went to the Aquarium of the Americas instead.

We got to pet stingrays!

Then we had po-boys at Johnny’s.

That night, Carin got to meet more of my family over dinner at Deanie’s in Bucktown, followed by a trip to Brocato’s for dessert. Mmmm. Cannoli.

The next morning, we traversed the Causeway, the longest bridge in the world (over water), to the Northshore. I showed Carin one of my old hangouts on the Mandeville lakefront, Sunset Point.

We then traveled to Hammond for lunch with a professor of mine, which was great. I gave Carin a whirlwind tour of my college years. Then, we went back to Mandeville for dinner at my aunt and uncle’s new house on the lakefront. Mmmm. Meatballs.

And now, I shall leave you with this picture of a streetcar with snow on it, moving along the Mississippi River.