My final husband, to whom I am still married, also grew up in the south, in Memphis. Destin, FL was his family's "Red Neck Riviera" and growing up, they had an annual pilgrimage to a cinder block "cabin" near that same beach. We discovered this in various story telling over the years. Then we went to Destin five years ago and stayed in a lovely complex called Shoreline Towers, taking my mom along a month after my dad had passed, her first trip in over two years as she had cared for our Parkinson's afflicted father. Husband's daughter, son, dad, mom, step dad, sister, brother and two cousins also came along. We had two condos and it was packed at mealtimes.
This year, my step daughter asked for help with a yard sale, which was not going to be "fun". So we did what we do, we looked at all angles to see how to make "obligatory" fun! We flew to Memphis, and drove down to Oxford and had a nice time sorting, pricing and organizing for the yard sale. We also got to play with the two year old grandson and then the four year old grandson when my daughter arrived from Memphis to assist for the weekend. We netted a nice sum for the yard sales two days as well, in spite of rain. Then we picked up items on Monday at Ikea in Memphis for their future Airbnb rental for football weekends. Ole Miss is crazy for football.
Then we took off for New Orleans from Memphis. In a train! Yes, Amtrak still runs trains and we love train travel. And it was $50 per person. Unfortunately, the 7AM train was changed to 4:30AM due to construction, so it was a god-awful early day. But lovely travel down through Mississippi, with several small town stops along the way. Green trees, meandering streams, cropland, and then a fabulous finish over brackish swamps and lakes, while I looked keenly for a gator. Alas, I saw only herons along the way. At one point we were slowed to about 25 miles per hour over Lake Pontchartrain.
Next it was time to eat our way through New Orleans for two full days. I loved that we could catch a trolley from the train station and get to within a couple of blocks from our hotel in the French Quarter, the Maison Dupuy Hotel, which we recommend. We loved the room, and the AC was fixed within one hour of our call to the front desk. We used and liked their concierge as well. Great little pool, which we did not enter, but we enjoyed the poolside patio to eat breakfast on our last morning.
We had a blast finding some new restaurants. Katie's is great, try the Muffaletta or "The Legend" sandwich. http://www.katiesinmidcity.com/ And revisiting old favorites including Deannie's Seafood, owned by the fishermen https://www.deanies.com and Pierre Maspero's https://originalpierremasperos.com/ for really great BBQ Shrimp, which is not what you think it is. Get gumbo everywhere. And Bread Pudding. Not to confuse you, but ask for Katie as a server at Pierre Maspero's, she's awesome and has been there for seven years.
We visited one of the Brennan restaurants for the first time, the Palace Cafe, and had happy hour and the original Bananas Foster table side. https://www.palacecafe.com/ The upstairs Black Duck Bar area has a great view of the entire restaurant and live music every day. Lauren Brennan Brower, one of the owners, was there, and she does it right, pitching in and bussing tables if that's what's needed. She shared the family lineage of restaurants with us, but suffice it to say the Palace Cafe gets it right. She confirmed our trifecta of items were the best of the best small plates. The staff were exceptional as was the menu. We especially loved the Brie de Meaux Fondue "with the fried oysters". Yes, please. And the Turtle Soup and the "Crabmeat Cheesecake". It was a delightful meal at happy hour prices with live music.
We walked through the area, or took trolleys, but in addition to the obligatory stop (which we skipped, because we have had them many times and it was packed) at Cafe du Monde for biegnets, we re-found the little jewelry store on Royal street that we liked so much. Additionally, we had never actually been through the entire French Market area, with a flea market vibe and lots of local art. We picked up some very reasonable photos from a great artist and a lovely ink drawing from a street artist at Jackson Square. I'm happy to say I framed the photos with thrift store finds for a whopping $3 for both frames. I do love a bargain:) Next time, we vow to visit the WWII museum that was fundraised by Tom Hanks. We didn't have time this time.
While we stayed at the Maison Dupuy, we ate breakfast at the Vacherie Restaurant in the hotel a block away. Their breakfast was fantastic and Cajun to the core. They serve exceptional coffee there as well. The restaurant is accessible through their corner coffee stand or from within the lobby. Our hotel served bagged "Community Coffee", and in New Orleans, that is not acceptable. http://www.hotelstmarie.com/vacherie-restaurant-bar/ After picking up our rental car, we found a recommended butcher, Cachon Butcher. We always ask everybody for recommendations. The butcher was from our breakfast server, and it was spot on. The James Beard award winning restaurant has a small butcher shop around the corner from the main restaurant, and also serves some grab and go sandwiches that looked delightful. We picked up Boudin sausage and Andouille to cook up in Destin, FL, which was our final destination. It's only a 3.5 hour drive from New Orleans, and we were able to book another condo in Shoreline Towers for our final five days. The kids all drove down to join us, so we had daughter, four year old grandson, step daughter and her hubs, and two year old grandson.
Condos are great for family, you can cook in and avoid expensive restaurants. We had three grocery stores in 15 minutes, including a Whole Foods. And our favorite meal was the fish we bought at the wholesale market and cooked ourselves along with Jambalaya with fresh gulf shrimp and the Andouille sausage. Wowsers!
It wouldn't be a trip to Destin without a trip to The Donut Hole. Their Key Lime Cheesecake is the best I've ever tried and we picked up a new coffee mug to boot. Other than that, we cooked most meals, from a Cajun Benedict with the Boudin sausage to basic spaghetti.
On day one, we had the very best conditions, a nice breeze, a low surf, pretty good ocean temperatures and lofty, billowing clouds skittering along all day. Day two had a bit more surf, and more wind, but that was the day the dolphins showed up! It was great to see them swimming along, just beyond the shoreline, heading north. Day three had a bit more surf, and it was partly cloudy that day. There were a tremendous amount of jellyfish along the shore, which we did not touch, and we stayed out of the water that day, for the most part. Thank you to my son in law for the amazing Ole Miss tent, it was easily the best idea to be comfortable in the shade on the beach. The best shell I found was, unfortunately, still occupied, so we left it in the ocean.
One morning the girls and I took off shopping, and found a little consignment store that also had gifts. We picked up a whole sand dollar for four year old grandson, because he kept finding the pieces on the beach, but had no idea what a whole one looked like. He was a diligent shell collector for the duration. The shop owner assured us that there are great shells, but because of the "drop", the best shells are about 300 feet off the shoreline, which we were not going to reach without a small boat. Maybe next time.
The boys absolutely loved the ocean. Sandcastles and wave running and seashell collecting were the games for the four days of sunshine. We went to the nearby malls, and a visit to the Bass Pro Shop aquarium and an ice cream shop on the one day of rain. I really hope we can do this often for our grandkids and kids. It's a wonderful tradition and late April means you miss the crowded high season. The hardest thing about it is realizing that we are now "the old folks" on the beach:)
Cheers!
