Future Mrs. D4L and I went to see the Lord of the Rings musical in absolutely beautiful Newbury, UK last year. Fast forward to present day, the musical moved across the Atlantic to the Windy City. I�m not a LOTR fan. In fact, I�ve seen exactly zero of the 3 movies and haven�t read one word of the books. But future Mrs. D4L is a huge fan, and I actually really enjoyed the musical last year. So I thought it was a good excuse for a fun little weekend getaway for us. With our wedding rapidly approaching and the show closing on Labor Day weekend, there weren�t a lot of weekends that worked for both our schedules. But eventually we settled on one, and I got to planning.

Truth be told, this was as straightforward as trip as I�ve planned in a long time. Southwest was the best and most reasonable option for the weekend, much to the delight of future Mrs. D4L who is a self professed Southwest fangirl. We dipped into her Southwest Rapid Rewards� points cache to book a late evening non-stop from Houston to Chicago Midway for her and the late evening non-stop from New Orleans to Chicago Midway for me. For our two nights in Chicago, I burned a couple of Category 1-4 certificates for the Hyatt Regency Chicago which was a bargain compared to the $400+ rates that weekend.

I was really looking forward to this little weekend jaunt, which would be our very last before we get married. Work kicked my behind all summer, and I needed something a little stronger than that to cope. Those of y�all who read my past reports know I have a long travel bucket list. One of those bucket list items is visiting all 50 states. At the time, I was just missing Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Chicago just happens to be the perfect launch point to knock those out. I booked one-way rental to Rapid City, South Dakota with National. Future Mrs. D4L couldn�t join me because of work. So I went back to the well and booked her on the evening Southwest non-stop back to Houston.

And of course, I can�t miss my own bachelor�s party, which would be in New Orleans. So I booked a somewhat reasonable United ticket from Rapid City back to New Orleans. And that�s it, folks! Come join me on my last three hurrahs before I sign my life away.


Recent Trip Reports
2024: Trip Report (Taylor�s Version) (SQ/VS J ; UA/SK/BA/DL Y)
2024: The Asia Re-Return (JL F ; OZ/JL/UA J ; AA/NK Y)
2024: The Engagement (AA J ; BA P)
2023: From Shire to Sea (AA F; EI J/Y; BA Y)
2022: The Holy Land and an Irish Wedding (AA/BA/EI J; DL Y)
2022: A Slow Boat and Fast Cars (AA P)
2022: The Dam Weekend (SQ/AA J; U2/AF Y)
2021: Chasing Bourdain and Perfect Tinder Pictures (AA/A3/LH J; BA Y; UA Domestic F)
2021: How The Turntables: MQD Running With My Parents (AA Domestic F; AM J; UA Y)
2020: Purgatory: Tales of Pandemic Travel in the U.S.
2020: The Last Dance (CX F)
2019: An Unexpected Jaunt Around The World (UA/CX/TG/BR/OS J; AK Y)
2018: Pilgrimage to the Fatherland (CX/MU J; CX W; WN/MU Y)
2017: The Ultimate Flake (AA F; SQ F and Suites; CX/MS/CA/MH/KL/JL J; TK Y)

 

Once again, work ran late. So I made another mad dash down I-10 over to Louis Armstrong International Airport. A notification that my flight was delayed popped up when I was ten minutes away from the airport. I breathed a sigh of relief and eased off the accelerator.



The delay ended being up being fortuitous, as the parking shuttle was running way behind.



I finally got on the shuttle 30 minutes later, but I still had enough time to grab a bite and then found an empty gate to get some work done.



Things got interesting for a minute as 10 sheriff’s deputies came to meet the inbound flight. I had my camera (and popcorn) ready for drama, but alas the deputies emerged from the jet bridge empty handed.

Boarding started shortly after, about 90 minutes late.

Southwest Airlines 3173
New Orleans (MSY) – Chicago (MDW)
Depart: 9:31PM (delayed)
Arrive: 11:24PM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700
Seat: 23F (Economy Class)

I generally avoid Southwest if I can these days, but in this case they had the best combination of schedule and fare. So here we are. With assigned seats still months away, I made my way to the back of the bus to hopefully increasing my chances of an empty middle seat. But it was not meant to be.





The flight ended up pretty packed. With tight seat pitch and not the most comfortable seat, it wasn’t the most pleasant flight though it was bearable for this little 2-hour journey. Outside of the delay, everything went as smooth as silk. I drank 2 ounces of Diet Coke and ate my little snack mix. After an episode and a half of Ted Lasso (yes I’m very far behind), we were on final approach to Chicago Midway International Airport.

Future Mrs. D4L’s flight arrived about 30 minutes later, and then we survived a harrowing Uber ride over to the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
Check in was swift. No Globalist upgrade as the hotel was sold out, but we got a nice high floor room with a view.









We had lovely views of the river and a sliver of the lake.



Breakfast was one of the best I’ve ever had at any US hotel. The Globalist breakfast benefit covered anything off the menu or the buffet. The buffet had a large selection selection of hot and cold items. Plus, I still had access to the club lounge, which had snacks and drinks all day.







After breakfast, we went for a walk down Michigan Avenue.













A couple of friends met us for lunch. Like any self-respecting tourist in Chicago, we ate deep dish pizza. It was actually fairly disappointing.



Then we continued our stroll.



We made it all the way to Oak Street Beach before turning around. The beach was extra crowded because of the beach volleyball Chicago
Open.





Then we made it back to the hotel for a snooze and change for dinner and a show. Dinner was at Sushi Boutique in the Gold Coast area, and it
was fantastic.





The musical was playing at the the Shakespeare Theatre in Navy Pier, which was a little ways away. We hopped in an Uber but hit gridlock as we got close. It was a lot faster walking the rest of the way.





Like I said, I’m not much of a Lord of the Rings fan. It was very obvious that the Chicago musical was much bigger budget production with the bigger venue, more elaborate costumes, and cooler effects. Though, I really liked the charm of the Newbury theatre and there’s nothing quite like Gollum hanging a foot above your head to snap you back to attention. That said, the Chicago iteration was also a lot of fun and very enjoyable.



We stepped out of the theatre right into the throng waiting for the evening drone show. It was kinda cool.







Getting away from Navy Pier was not cool. We got caught in the massive horde trying to leave the tiny piece of real estate, and it took us
nearly an hour to get back to the hotel.

 

After breakfast next morning, we walked across the river for the architecture boat tour, which was a lot of fun.



The iconic corn cob towers.













Afterwards, future Mrs. D4L wanted to do the 360 Chicago Tilt. We got tickets, but the line was insane. So we just walked around the observation floor instead. The views were great.







We still had some time to kill before our early dinner reservation, so we just leisurely made our way back down Michigan Avenue and did a little shopping on the way.







Dinner was at The Purple Pig, which was just conveniently a block away from the hotel.



We started off with the salt roasted beets with crumbled goat cheese and pistachio butter, it was amazing.



And bacon wrapped dates.



And whipped ricotta with apricots, cherries, dates, and pistachios, and honey and mint. That too was amazing.



Since we got a bunch of small plates, we split the filet as our main course. The filet was fantastic.



We both got cr�me br�l�e for dessert, though the chocolate version for future Mrs. D4L and the citrus version for me. A couple of cappuccinos washed those down nicely.



After dinner, we took a short walk before going back to the hotel to grab our bags and hopped into an Uber to Midway. We then split: future
Mrs. D4L on her Southwest flight back to Houston and me to my second of last hurrahs. I picked up a sweet 2024 BMW X1 and pointed it down west on I-80 toward my first stop at Des Moines, Iowa. Six hours later, I pulled up to the Hyatt Place Altoona/Des Moines. It was your typical new-ish build Hyatt Place.

 

I spent the next morning catching up on some phone calls and emails. I grabbing lunch and caught up with an old friend before heading westward again. Iowa is just about what you would expect: rows of corn with some wind farms sprinkled in.









A few hours later, I crossed the border into Omaha, Nebraska.



I’ve actually wanted visit Omaha for some time. The train museums look pretty cool, and one of these days I really want to make it to the new Rosenblatt Stadium to catch a College World Series game. But for now, I settled for passing through as I had to make it to Grand Island in time for dinner with another friend. Nebraska didn’t look a lot different from Iowa.







The Fairfield Inn & Suites Grand Island was my home for the evening. I’ve stayed in hundreds of Fairfields over the years, and they’re mostly some degree of mediocrity. The Fairfield Inn Grand Island fit right in with the rest of the bunch. It is an older property but ultimately fine overall. I allegedly got upgraded on account of my Marriott Titanium status, but I’m not seeing it.







I met up with my friend and his wife for a dinner, and we caught up over a few pints. Early the next morning, I met them and their kids up for a little hike in a nature preserve.













Then it was back to the Fairfield for a shower and breakfast, and then it was back on the road. My goal for the day is to make it to North Dakota before sunset. Before I could get to North Dakota, I had to make it through corn, corn, and more corn.







The rolling hills of north Nebraska were absolutely beautiful.









I made into South Dakota a couple of hours after leaving Grand Island.







The rolling hills got higher and higher the more north I got.



Woohoo!





I made it to Fort Pierce, which was the midway point through South Dakota, a little after lunch.





About a mile out of Fort Pierce, I ran into a fund raiser where I made a non-optional donation to the Fort Pierce general fund. 🙄



A couple of hours later, I had number 49: North Dakota.









Another one of my travel goals is visiting all of the National Parks. This little jaunt was a perfect opportunity to knock a few more out. I was too late to do any exploring that day, but I was still able to get some good sunset shots at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.













I then drove to Dickinson, which was about 45 minutes away, where a room at the Hampton inn awaited me.







I grabbed a quick bite from Subway, before passing out after the long day. The next morning started out with the incomparable Hampton inn bagel toppers. Then it was back to the park.





[



Then came the first of many buffalo sightings.





[

And the associated mess throughout the park.



Ran in to a quite a few deer as well.



I drove up to the Painted Canyon and went on a little hike.

 

After a restful night, I headed down to my 50th and final state: South Dakota. Yes, I passed through South Dakota a couple of days before. But I consider something to be “a hit” unless I at least do something at said destination.

I got a little bit of late start, so I went straight to Mount Rushmore.













That took all of 20 minutes. So I headed to headed to my hotel in Rapid City.



My South Dakota home was the Residence Inn Rapid City, which was a reasonable nice and I got upgraded to spacious one bedroom suite.









After a restful night of sleep, I got up at the crack to dawn. I wanted to give myself as much time as possible to to check out Badlands National Park before flying back to New Orleans that afternoon. Badlands is about an hour outside of Rapid City. I stopped at the town of Wall for their allegedly famous Wall Drug Store Caf�.



I got there a little before it opened. There was a line to get in already.



It was very disappointing to be frank. I ordered the steak and eggs, which were meh. The steak was not seasoned and a bit tough. I expected a lot better for $25.



Then I was off to the beautiful, desolate landscape of Badlands National Park.



I definitely took a more cautious approach while hiking.













On the way to the airport, I passed through this cool little ghost town.







Rapid City Airport is really cool little airport. It’s super easy to navigate, and I absolutely loved the observation deck.





Of course, Rapid City’s observation deck is a far cry from Tokyo Haneda’s. But I still really enjoyed the views.









Gotta love small airport. I didn’t head to security until five minutes before my flight to Chicago was scheduled to start boarding, and I made it absolutely no problem.

United Airlines 2620
Rapid City (RAP) – Chicago (ORD)
Depart: 1:45PM
Arrive: 5:04PM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Seat: 21A (Economy Class)

Not a whole lot to talk about this flight. Thanks to my Premier Silver status courtesy of my Marriott Titanium status, I was able to select an Economy Plus seat for free. The exit row wasn’t a bad a place to be.





We departed Rapid City early, and pulled into the gate at O’Hare right on time. Then I hoofed over to the B gates to catch my flight to New Orleans.

United Airlines 2016
Chicago (ORD) – New Orleans (MSY)
Depart: 7:45PM
Arrive: 10:11PM
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
Seat: 2A (First Class)

Hell must have froze over that day because I cleared my upgrade cleared as a lowly Premier Silver. Not going to argue with it, for sure! And even more fortunate, our flight drew one of United’s refurbished A320s. They really did a nice job with it.









PDB of water or orange juice were offered.



And I promptly conked out and woke up on final approach to New Orleans.

 

Since I planned to meet my friends well before the crack of dawn to kick off my bachelor’s party the next morning, I decided to just stay in New Orleans that night instead of doing the round trip to Baton Rouge. Of course, any sane person would ask what the heck kind of bachelor’s party starts before dawn? Well… I’ve been to enough bachelor’s parties to last several lifetimes and had plenty of fun. But I’m at a point in my life where I now want kids to stay off my lawn and a perfect Friday night is getting to bed by 10. Instead of the traditional shenanigans, I opted for a fishing trip with the boys and a football game. It was an absolutely perfect combination for the 2024 me. I actually didn’t want to have a bachelor’s party with everything going on, but my friends bullied me into it. For that, I’m grateful and had an absolute blast.

Anyhow, I’ve stayed at just about every Hyatt property in New Orleans over the years. My favorite by far is The Eliza Jane. Recently, Hyatt added a few more properties to their New Orleans portfolio. So I just had to check them out. Of those properties is The Barnett Hotel, which is now part of Hyatt’s JdV collection. The hotel is right in the middle of downtown New Orleans, and rates were super reasonable that weekend. So I decided to give The Barnett a shot.



The agent checking me in couldn’t have been friendlier, and I had my keys in less than 60 seconds. I got fantastic Globalist upgrade to King Patio room. The room itself was nice, but not super special. And obviously, I took the pictures the next day.







The room layout was a little weird to put it mildly. I’m pretty used to modern hotels making showering a spectator sport with windows peeking into the bathroom. The Barnett took this concept to a whole new level. There is no bathroom door whatsoever. Make of that what you will.





Piece de resistance is the patio. And holy moly, it was awesome! Absolutely beautiful views over my hometown.







The bed was comfortable, but there’s only so much sleep one gets before waking up at 4:30am. Despite the lack of decent sleep, I shot out of bed like my hair was on fire and made the short drive over to my friend’s house. We loaded up a couple of their trucks and headed out to Lafitte where we were meeting our guides. After transferring food and drinks to the boat, we were underway and heading toward Barataria Bay just before 6.



Unfortunately, rain started to fall just after midnight and it was coming down steadily as we eased away from the dock. What I didn’t account for was how much the rain stings when the boat got up to speed. It felt like we were getting sandblasted, and it wasn’t long before we were soaked, cold, and miserable. By mid-morning, the rain finally cleared up







Fishing was slow going at first. We got plenty of nibbles but couldn’t reel in anything decent.



But eventually, things started picking up. My future father in law got us started with the biggest catch of the day, with a 32 inch redfish. Sadly, it was way over the level limit and wasn’t a keeper.



My catch was legal not but nearly as impressive.



Eventually, our ice chest filled up.



We finally called it a day a little after 2pm, and headed back to dock get our fished cleaned. Our final haul was solid.





Then it was a short ride back into New Orleans. After splitting up our haul, I headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower and nap. I had just enough time for a drink at The Barnett’s gorgeous Lobby Bar before meeting up the boys for dinner.



Dinner was at the original Drago’s, which is known for their charbroiled oysters. Naturally, we had a few dozen of those along with a couple dozen on the half-shell.



I had the always fantastic shrimp and eggplant stack for my main. I may have borrowed a picture from Drago’s website because I may have drank a wee too many beverages to remember to take a picture.



It was fantastic evening with old friends and catching up. While we remained close over the years, the time we’ve spent together dwindled with ever increasing work and family obligations. Occasions like this are rare and cherished.
Afterwards, it was straight back to the hotel where I faced planted into the bed and fell asleep.

Thankfully, I was no worse for wear the next morning. I felt good enough for a little early morning walk along the river.



Then it was back to the hotel for breakfast.









I didn’t intentionally plan it this way, but the bachelor’s party fell on the same week as the Saints’ season opener against the Panthers. So I rounded up a few of the guys to go to the game.

Readers of my past trip reports might recall I’m a huge fan of my hometown team. But we’ve fallen on hard times of late, and I got super busy. So I haven’t been paying much attention. But I still wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to attend a game in the Dome. The Dome is a short walk away from The Barrett.
Win or lose, game day at the Dome is quite the fun experience. It’s something I’ve definitely taken for granted over the years.













Anyhow, the game was great and we had a blast. We were actually quite pumped as the Saints pulled off an impressive 47-10 win. Obviously, I’m writing this quite a few weeks later and things have gone off a cliff. Nothing after Week 2 is real .

We weren’t feeling Dome jambalaya and flat beer that day, so we hiked over to one of my favorite spots downtown, Cochon’s Butcher’s Shop, for some food and wait for traffic to die down.



I highly recommend their delicious Le pig Mac.



And after that, I hopped in my car and headed back to Baton Rouge. It was a great week, and it was over all too soon. But I accomplished knocked a huge travel milestone and had a great time with my oldest and closest friends. I couldn’t ask for a better way to close out my single life.

Oh! And I had an ice chest of fish for quite a few tasty dinners to show for it.

 

Cause and effect?

Nice read, thanks for sharing.

 

I really enjoyed this report. A lot to see in the USA! Just HI and AK remaining for me.

 

A few years ago when I visited Rapid City on a roadtrip we were told by the teenager waitress at a restaurant: "are you coming all the way from Europe to see that?"

Luckily there's lots of more things to see in the area but Mt Rushmore and Wall Drug are both disappointing although the latter is just something we passed on the way so no big deal.

Thanks for sharing. I would go back and I see more inspiration for more roadtrips.

 

I once had a hotel in Germany, which upgraded me to a suite.

The living room was separate. But the bathroom was integrated straight into the bedroom. And to add insult to injury, the shower was one of those space-age round shower module thingies, nowhere near enough for two people to fit, if you were there with a partner and tried to make the best out of the lack of privacy...

 

Great report and photos. I enjoyed your photos from the drive through NE, SD, and ND. I have been to SD but only Sioux Falls, and never been further west in the state. Maybe sometime I'll make it to Mt. Rushmore.

Thanks for sharing!

 

Great report!

Was the patio at the Barnett just for your room or was it shared? looked huge.

On a side note, do you have any restaurant recommendations for casual dining in BTR? We tend to hit the same 4-5 places year after year.

 

Haha, not directly at least! The 80 mph speed limit is on the Interstate highway. I got caught by the Sheriff’s deputy on a state highway a few miles outside of town. The frustrating part is that there was absolutely no one on the road for the last few miles, but rules are rules I suppose.


Yep! As much as I love traveling the world, there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned road trip in the US because there’s a ton to see.

Haha! Exactly. Mount Rushmore is something to see once, and no need to go back. I would love to go back to Badlands or heck even visit Sturgis during the rally to see the chaos. Glad you were able to make it to parts of the US that don’t get a lot of overseas tourist, and I hope you have a chance to come back soon!

😂 That sounds far worse!

Thanks, 757! West SD is definitely quite the sight.

It was a private balcony! There’s another patio room to the left with its own private patio and the pool area to the right. There’s a good sized privacy partition between my patio and the pool area, but there’s just some waist high planters forming a barrier between the two private patios.

I hate to admit this, but I actually like the Baton Rouge food scene a lot better than NOLA’s I don’t go to many places but I like:

Solou- modern Cajun
Parain’s. - tradition LA restaurant
Blue Store Chicken - fast food, but some of the best fried chicken around. Their 3 piece combo with red beans is $8, and the portions are huge. That lasts me two meals!
Mansur’s on the Blvd - A little more upscale
Chef Don Bergeron’s City Market

 

Great TR for the last hurrah. Fun for Chicago! Nice that your father in law was part of the fishing fun!

 

Thanks, gaobest!