I was on the road this week, working in Lutcher, Louisiana. I didn't drink much as I was busy with work most nights.
On Thursday night I moved over to New Orleans, La to see a friend and stay at the hotel she manages. I highly recommend the Prince Conti Hotel if you ever want to stay in the French Quarter as it is half a block off Bourbon St and the staff are nice to you if you are nice to them.
I have a tradition of eating at GW Fins when in New Orleans. This is because when I was working in the area for the 2 years after Hurricane Katrina, I found the restaurant to be pleasant and always able to get me in for an amazing meal. Their food is incredibly flavorful and well made. Nowadays, they are a bit pickier and have a dress code... reservations are recommended and worthwhile. But if you are flexible, you can get seated in the bar and the menu is the same there as the dining room.
Thursday night I tried the Abita Brewing The Boot beer. I am told that this Kolsch style beer is only available in Louisiana. It was quite good and I definitely recommend it as a refreshing option after an evening of wandering around the Quarter.
They did a good job brewing this, I definitely would have had more but I still had several hours of work left to do at the hotel.
A recommendation- the suites with courtyards at the Prince Conti Hotel are awesome! My room was huge and had a full living space as well as a little courtyard-
The living room-
The bedroom-
I got lucky this trip and was upgraded to the suite. It was a nice treat. I lived at this hotel for 2 weeks per month for most of 2006 and 2007. I gained some great friends at the hotel and in the area and love coming back here to visit them.
The view from the courtyard-
I went out to wander in the French Quarter a bit, mainly to find a specific souvenir tshirt, but mostly for a walk. I found the shirt but not in my size unfortunately. There were, as usual, a ton of people out on the street. At night Bourbon Street is blocked off so people can use the entire street to wander drunkenly-
My favorite street to wander is Royal St as it is full of art galleries and upscale stores where I can wish for beautiful things. And a yarn/stitching store too. I loved this particular piece on display by a gallery, it is made of broken glass vases, balls and flowers attached to an art nouveau style acrylic painting. It is named 'Yes I Am" and is by Greg Creason. It only costs $9,700...
On Friday I spent the morning working from the hotel and then headed to the airport to go home. I stopped by my old place of work on Almonaster Blvd and found it to be an abandoned field. Can you imagine 300 buses and 400 people were here once? It was an amazing operation and I was glad to be a part of it. We moved to a better spot a few years ago, and I had wondered if anyone was using this space. But no...
When I got to Minneapolis I had a 2 hour layover and decided to grab dinner at the Stone Arch. I have mentioned this place before- they serve beers brewed in Minnesota and have a great selection. On this evening I choose a Lager named "Loki's Daughter " by Shakopee Brewhall. 5.3% alcohol and 17 IBU. She went well with my meatloaf dinner and was very easy to drink. A little sweet too, but full of flavor overall. Definitely one I recommend.
Today we did a bunch of shopping and walking and preparing for my trip to Chicago tomorrow. I didn't feel like cooking so we ended up at Lolo Peak where I had my usual Alpen Glow wheatbier and 
