For the fourth year in a row, the foursome of Luke, Nick, Walsh and I hit the road for a Vikings road game. After successful trips to Las Vegas, Nashville and Detroit where the Vikings won all three games, we put our heads together and landed on New Orleans for 2026. Of all the possible cities to choose from, this was obvious choice as soon as the schedule came out. The only downside was it occurred over our wedding anniversary, but Lauren was understanding about it and signed off! Add in our 2019 trip to Louisville for Luke’s bachelor party and our 2022 trip to Los Angeles for my 40th birthday, and this was the sixth such trip with this group!
Fresh off my trip to Kansas City two weeks earlier, I headed to the Austin airport on Friday late afternoon. For some reason this was a popular travel time and every parking spot at ABIA was taken, so I Uber’d to the airport and endured a delay, but made it to New Orleans without issue after a very short 55-minute flight. The rest of the gang was already there, so they swooped down and picked me up in our rental car and the weekend fun began. I checked out our posh Airbnb nestled in the heart of downtown, just blocks from the Superdome. We found some po’boys for dinner and then meandered around Bourbon Street that night.
Saturday we had a big southern breakfast and walked several miles around the Garden District, much to Nick’s disapproval. We rode the streetcar back and piddled away a few bucks in a casino before a tour of the Sazerac house, a fun cocktail museum with samples. After, we enjoyed an authentic Creole lunch at Coop’s. We spent some downtime at the house, then headed back out on foot for bar-hopping before our annual attempt at an escape room. Unlike years past, we failed miserably!
Sunday was the big day of the game. I chose a breakfast spot that took forever and cut into our pregame fun, but we made it to the Superdome in plenty of time to walk around and get ready for the game. We bought seats in the lower bowl well in advance, but probably should have waited as ticket prices plummeted ahead of the game. Oh well! The Vikings fans in attendance probably came close to outnumbering Saints fans. One thing I’ve noticed about Vikings fans wherever we’ve gone is they travel well. And of course, Vikings won 23-13.
After the game I ate not one, not two, but THREE dinners!!! Our first stop was a seafood boil which looked like a lot of food on the surface, and though very delicious, wasn’t very filling. So we went to another establishment for oysters and pasta, but the serving size was too dainty. So I stopped off for a slice on the walk back to the Airbnb!
That’s the brief recap, of course. A lot more happened, and we all had a blast. Monday morning we each went our separate ways at the airport and I was back to Austin safe and sound by noon.
Where could our 2027 adventures take us… Seattle? Charlotte? Cleveland? Who knows! It’s a fun tradition and a good group of fellas to travel with.
