January has been a very long month, especially the past week... But Scrimshaw recently hopped a quick flight south for a weekend of easy living in Louisiana’s Crescent City, the extraordinary metropolis of New Orleans! A speedy 48 hours exploring Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, led to a single overnight in The Big Easy, and boy was it worth it. Upon arrival, we happily checked into one of the city’s best new accommodations, the Ace Hotel New Orleans; an extremely gracious staff bumped us to a massive room stacked with our own record player (accompanied by a lovely personal collection of vinyl), a wicked nice guitar (that to-be-honest… remained untouched), and all the accoutrements you’d need/want (i.e. the dopest fleece robes). After catching a killer view of the skyline from their rooftop pool and bar, Alto, we hit the town.

Blackened fish and Abita beer; I need nothing else in life. New Orleans’ food scene is out-of-this-world delectable and they’ll have you rolling down the streets in no time – with a drink in hand of course! The night’s most magical 45 minutes came towards the end, with an intimate musical performance by the Preservation Hall All Stars at the legendary Preservation Hall. Tucked off Bourbon Street, on St. Peter in the French Quarter, one of the most energetic and talented group of performers I’d seen in some time, played six or so jazz tunes for our small group, and made me realized why music is so important (P.S. you won’t see any shots below from this, as there’s no recording of any kind once inside; but please make sure to play the audio clip at the top of the page – a song performed that night!).

Day two, involved lots more food, including King Cake from the infamous Sucré, getting lost in the Garden District, plus an exceptional guided tour of the oldest extant cemetery in New Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (which is still the site of several burials a year!). The cemetery’s past was extremely fascinating, as is its future; actor Nicholas Cage actually has a massive white pyramid-shaped grave lined up there for his final resting place (find photo below). A very brief trip to The Big Easy resulted in these photographs, but mainly solidified a new found love for such a diversely creative and historically important city in our country. Astounding music and tasty beignets, fused with to-go cocktails and loads of voodoo, are just a few reasons why we can’t wait to get back to New Orleans, LA.