This year our Blyther/McKnight Family Reunion was held in New Orleans and hosted by Jenessa. Excited to visit New Orleans again (and for my aunt it being her 1st time here) my mom, aunt and I were the 3 from our immediate family to attend. I flew in from BWI while they flew in from Raleigh and we added an extra day to our trip and arrived on Thursday. While my mom and aunt got here earlier than I did they went out and enjoyed breakfast in the city as they awaited my arrival. When I got in I met them at our hotel The Intercontinental which was different from the host hotel Hotel Monteleone (I found a cheaper deal for our hotel during our stay there and it was only a few blocks away).

Thursday was our free day and after I grabbed some gumbo and red beans and rice then our cousins Tank and Molly picked us up and we ventured out on an Airbnb experience tour on Frenchmen St. Our tour was packed with people and Pandi was our tour guide who apparently was well known throughout the city. We ventured into different bars and listened to jazz and blues while enjoying food and drinks. There were a lot of birthdays among the crowd and people hailed from California Texas, Chicago, North Carolina and me of course from DC. We had a good time and visited the Frenchmen Art Bazaar and took in a quick history lesson of Frenchmen St. Back at the hotel since none of us really slept the night before, we passed out.

Day 2 we weren’t expected to meet for Meet and Greet until later that evening leaving us with a free day so we slept in and went out looking for a good breakfast (I will say I’m still not too impressed by the food here in New Orleans after a 2nd visit). We walked around the Riverwalk area and ventured in the outlet mall. Heading back to the hotel we had some time for a quick nap and headed to Hotel Monteleone for the Meet and Greet. We did arrive after 5pm and it looked as if many people were already there. Turns out there were more family there than had registered and the food had run out.

Things were addressed in the opening meeting and those that registered received their items. After mingling a bit we departed and went to dinner where Elle, Tank and Molly joined us and we had a taste for seafood. While the food was good there there was a disagreement about their tipping procedure which left many of us leery on tipping policies in restaurants. It had been a long day and the streets were alive off Canal Street with people and party buses. Back at the hotel we called it a night.

Day 3 our plan was to go to the French Market early and around the time in which we had our boat cruise because they were in the same area. We met up with Elle and walked to the market. It was just how I remembered it with stalls on different sides and people selling all types of things. Tank and Molly eventually met up with us and after shopping around we walked to the Steamboat Natchez where we would enjoy a lunch cruise down the Mississippi River with the rest of the family. It was easy to spot everyone as our registration shirts were purple and today was the day to wear them.

On board we had our own area in which we were seated as there were many other people and families that boarded. The crew had pre-plated everything and the food was good. We sailed down the Mississppi and the guide highlighted different sightings along the way. In total our cruise was about an 1 ½ hrs-2 hrs long. Thankfully we were seated inside with the option to go outside if we wanted and on that 90°F+ day you can imagine we mostly stayed inside.

Back at the docking area we did a bit of shopping and before heading inside went to get a quick dinner at Willie’s Chicken Shack (I recommend the frozen daquiri called Purple Drank, so good). We crushed our food back at the hotel and reminisced on everything we’d done while there. We also took the opportunity to go ahead and pack our bags because we’re all flying on budget airlines (me on Spirit and them on Frontier) and you know how strict they can be.

Day 4 we were set to leave so we cleaned up and checked out of our hotel early so that we could make it to breakfast at Hotel Monteleone by 9:30am. Elle let us store our bags in her room and we went to enjoy the breakfast reception. We were served buffet style and awards were given and announcements were made. It has been decided where the next family reunion will be in 2026 and it will be in Charlotte, NC. We gathered around for a group picture and gave our goodbyes/until next times.

We decided to go ahead and checkout as the price for Uber jumped drastically from $8.99 to $31.98 if we chose to wait so we hurried to the bus stop to catch the 202 bus to the airport at 12:10pm. At the airport with a lot of time to kill and no happy hour (boo), we chatted and grabbed some snacks as we sat and waited. Well in true budget airline form both of our flights got delayed (my mom and aunt on Frontier and Elle and I on Spirit) but our Spirit flight got delayed twice putting it over 3 hrs delayed which entitled us to vouchers.

Whereas we were supposed to leave before the Frontier flight we left afterward putting us in about 4 hrs later (ugh-You get what you pay for so these are things you have to expect especially when traveling around this time of year). We didn’t arrive at BWI until 12:20am. Thankfully I reached out to Spirit and got a future voucher as credit for the delay and told Elle to do the same and to let me know if she had problems. I also told her since there was such a delay with her retrieving her bag along with others at baggage claim to ask for her checked luggage fee back too. I informed other family members on the flight to do the same. Arriving back at the house at 2am, I cooked a pizza, had a Cider, took a shower and crashed around 4:30am. What a time!