new orleans :: part 2

sunday (2/19) :: day 2

After exploring The Quarter in great detail the day before, we had plans to take things a bit easier and visit the Garden District for a different New Orleans experience. Before leaving home I had done extensive research on restaurants, shops, and attractions to visit, so I had our day pretty much mapped out before we left the hotel room. Basically I had divided the city in to two parts, The Quarter and nearby areas, and everything from the Garden District to the end of St. Charles. 

[[ good morning new orleans! ]]

It took us a while to wake up and get going, but we eventually made it out in to the sun and headed for the street car. The street car in New Orleans is pretty awesome, it runs 24 hours, costs only $3 for an all day pass, and is supposedly the oldest mode of public transportation still running in the US with charming wooden bench seats and an open air feel. After a short wait we were on board and enjoying the views of the city accompanied by a nice breeze from the open window. After about a 10 minute ride, we hopped off up the street from a restaurant my sister had told me about called Coquette. This brunch was definitely one of our better meals. I ordered the catfish (my second try) which was lightly breaded in corn meal and served over salad and veggies, and Pat got a super fancy ham sandwich with frites. Both were delicious. We stuck around for a while and ordered a few drinks including my first Pimm's Cup, which was the bartenders personal recipe. I wish I knew how to recreate what he made at home, it was so fresh tasting! The restaurant itself was in an old building (not so different from most places there) and had a lot of charming details. I would recommend it for those traveling down Magazine Street. 

[[ riding in the awesome street car. lunch at coquette. building details. ]]

The restaurant sits smack dab in the middle of one of the swanky Garden District neighborhoods, so once we were full (and a little tipsy), we wandered down the cracked sidewalks admiring the curbside homes. One of the most unique things about the older homes in New Orleans is that many of them actually still use flame lanterns instead of electric porch lights, which is something I had never seen before. This just adds to the already charming cast iron fences, railings, and epic porches. I was actually a bit jealous of some of the dogs lazily lounging on the front porches of these historic homes.

[[ historic garden district homes. cast iron railings. sidewalks labeled with street names. commanders palace (a super fancy restaurant). ]]

Next we walked down the street to Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, which I had read was one of the best in the city. Checking out one of the mausoleum filled cemeteries was definitely a highlight of my trip and I took a TON of pictures. 

[[ exploring the cemetery, one of my favorite parts of the trip. ]]

Down the street is the Milton H. Latter Memorial Library which was converted from an old Southern estate donated by the Latter family in honor of their son. Oddly enough it was my cab driver from the airport who told me to check it out, so we heeded her advice and rode the street car over to it next. The ground floor was pretty interesting since it had been primarily unspoiled and still contained vintage furnishings and murals, but they had "modernized" the upstairs floors which I thought was a total bummer. It was still worth checking out though.

[[ the library. interior vintage furnishings. more beautiful historic homes in the neighborhood. mardi gras decorations going up. ]] 

After a quick stop at the library, we continued our way down Magazine Street on foot towards Audubon Park. This ended up being more of an undertaking than I had originally suspected since my map made it look a LOT closer to us. I had seen so many beautiful pictures of the Spanish moss that grows in the South, so I knew we had to check out at least one of the parks. Once we finally arrived I was admittedly a little bit taken back by the lack of parkness... The trees were pretty sparse, the grass was pretty dead... In retrospect I would say skip it if you are short on time, but we were able to find a few denser areas so that I could still get my pretty moss pics. One cool thing was that the branches of the trees grow super low to the ground, almost as if they were an extension of the roots, which I had not seen before.

[[ exploring audubon park. ]]

welcome to the world abby graff

Congratulations to our friends Nate and Alicia who just had their very first baby early Sunday morning, a beautiful little girl named Abby! We are so happy for the two of you and can't wait to meet her!

For the occasion I figured that I might as well post a few more of the maternity pictures that I took for the two of them back in May. Don't worry Alicia, I will let you keep the good ones to yourselves.

[[ a few more pictures from nate & alicia's maternity shoot. ]]

nate & alicia maternity picture preview

Our friends Nate & Alicia asked me if I would do a maternity shoot for the two of them who are expecting their first baby in September, a little girl! I have a lot more editing to do, but here is a little preview that I sent them in the meantime. Once I finish up I will post the full set.

[[ nate & alicia maternity shoot preview. ]]

smith rock state park - part II the way down

Yesterday I posted my pictures from the way up to the summit of Smith Rock, these are those taken on the way down and around. 

We had taken the Misery Ridge trail up the rock and rested along the summit to take pictures for about an hour before deciding to head down along the backside. We continued to follow Misery Ridge down around Monkey Face (another rock formation) and along the Crooked River. Our trip down was not quite as steep, but it was a little unnerving since we were walking right along the edge and could see the river far below us. This side was also covered in shade and was extremely muddy and slippery. Once we got around Monkey Face we took the Mesa Verde trail the rest of the way down with only a few slip ups and near falls. Towards the end of this portion there was a small cave area with several unique rock formations that people had added to by placing pebbles in stacks along it. Me and Tony added our own before continuing on along the River Trail, which took us next to the river all the way around to the front of the rock where we had started.

We were pretty tired and hungry by the time we had looped back to the front and were excited to grab some dinner. Unfortunately we still had to hike up the trail called The Chute to get to the parking lot, which was an additional 500 feet up. I was so exhausted that this part was pretty much torture... The entire trip took us about four hours to complete. Overall it was an amazing day, and I can't wait to go back!

[[ misery ridge trail. taking a rest along the edge. the crooked river. monkey face on the way down. tony attempting to climb. the rock shrine. colorful rock formations. walking along the river. rock climbers. climbing the chute. mt washington and the sunset. ]]

smith rock state park - part I the way up

On Saturday February 2nd me, Pat, and our friends Megan and Tony drove out to Terrebonne Oregon to go hiking around Smith Rock, which is somewhere I had been really excited to check out. I took a ton of pictures, as usual, so I will be splitting this post up in to two. 


We definitely picked a beautiful clear day to do our exploring, and it was relatively warm and sunny when we started out. However, we got off to a bit of a late start so it started to get cold and dark while we were finishing up. I am really hoping we can get back over there within the next few months, hopefully a little earlier next time. 

Once we arrived, we made our way down in to the little valley and across the Crooked River that runs throughout the area to the start of the trail head. There are a ton of different trails meeting up at various points along the rock, but we decided to head straight up to the summit along the cut back trail aptly named Misery Ridge. (Here is a trail map for reference).

The walk up just about killed me, clearly I am in need of some more exercise and hiking practice, but since this was my first real hike ever, I suppose it was to be expected. I am not sure how long it took us to get up to the summit, but it was definitely worth it for the view. We stopped to rest for a while before making our way around to the backside of the peak to snap pictures of the gorgeous mountains. From the top we could see pretty much all of Central Oregon, and a ton of mountains, including Bachelor, The Three Sisters, and Hood. It was pretty incredible.

[[ smith rock from the ground. rock climber. posing before our trek. the crooked river. trail runers. posing along the edge. beautiful views of below. our victory dances. fellow hikers. everything below. more posing along the backside. mt hood. the three sisters. ]]

I will post the second half my pictures tomorrow.