Mandeville Weekend in Pictures

Hi there and happy Monday! I spent the weekend in Mandeville, Louisiana for a race weekend and had a blast! Here's some pictures and tidbits of our weekend!

Off we go on our latest adventure!

Our first stop was for a potty break along the Atchafalaya Basin (pregnancy bladder). If you're ever in the area, this is the coolest visitors center/rest stop I've ever seen! 

There's even a little movie you can watch, depicting life in Louisiana! 

Free Community coffee, too! 

Of course, the Baton Rouge bridge was full of traffic...and of course, they were playing the Florida Gators this past weekend (as usual). 

As tradition, Heather had to gator chomp everyone. The first time she did this (several years ago), I died. now I think it's hilarious!

Packet pickup was held at Varsity Sports in downtown Mandeville. This is seriously the cutest little town and I love to visit! 

If you couldn't tell from the bridge/gator chomp picture, Heather is NOT an LSU fan.  Sooo, when I saw the official race shirts for this race (they were purple and gold with a tiger on the front), I laughed so hard I almost cried.

In fact, I was laughing so hard, I almost missed seeing Fred!

It was great to catch up and talk to him again! 

He also took our picture with our bibs! I truly meant to put K-Ren on my bib, but I somehow messed up and put my twitter username. Definitely didn't mean that! Haha oh well...whoops!

After packet pickup, we walked over to LaLou (the former Broken Egg Cafe) and enjoyed a yummy breakfast! 

Same owners, new restaurant name, similar menu. I noticed a few things that weren't on the menu anymore, but it all still looked and sounded pretty good! 

We also noticed a downtown festival that looked intriguing, so we walked through to check it all out! We didn't buy anything, but we enjoyed browsing the various booths! 

Our after lunch treat included a stop at PJ's. We tried to find a snowball stand but the one I've been to was closed. PJ's is right next door which is the second best thing, so that's where we went! This sign with the kids cracks me up!! 

Apart from a velvet ice, I also ordered a cake ball to go and a slice of banana nut bread for a post race treat!

Our next stop was the hotel to check in and relax before dinner. I laid out all of my race clothing/items, making sure I had everything I needed!

The above is how I prepare before a race...

...and this is how Heather prepares for a race! We got a good laugh out of that one, too!

For dinner, we decided on Cracker Barrell (partly because I had to have another look at their Christmas collection)! 

I behaved myself and didn't buy anything this time! :)
 

Chicken and dumplins for dinner!

We also shopped around Academy and World Market before calling it a night! We had an early wake up call the next morning!

After the race (more on that tomorrow), we showered and took our time getting ready because we had a late check out...so incredibly nice!

Lunch was at the Times Grill for a yummy cheeseburger!

 We also stopped a friends parent's house to pick up some maternity clothing she's sharing with me! I am so appreciative...thanks, Heather!

On our way out of town, we stopped at Cafe du Monde in Mandeville for a little take-home treat! 

Their iced cafe au lait is incredible. I'm glad we don't have one of these closer to home! I would be in trouble!! 

Jason and I shared the order of beignets at home after dinner! :)

They put the powdered sugar in a separate to-go back so we were able to enjoy them later!

I also couldn't let the weekend go by without a picture of this girl in her purple and gold tigers themed race shirt!! Muahaha!

Overall, we had a ton of fun and really enjoyed ourselves! The weekend was filled with lots of fun times and experiences! Looking forward to the next time!! :)

What's your favorite race-weekend destination?