Day one: Wednesday
Left Tucson @3am
Flight from Phoenix to Houston delayed because of weather
Run like crazy from one terminal to another to no avail
Miss our connecting flight
Hop on another flight, only an hour delayed in total

Taxi to the place we are staying on Frenchman St
Walk around neighborhood- grab a beer and try to adjust to the humidity
Walk some more.
Go back to house & meet our host
Grab a bite to eat @ Mona’s a Mediterranean restaurant
The chicken shawarma was awesome
Walk back and watch a little Treme before crashing

 

Day two: Thursday

Joanne (our host) makes yummy pancakes
Andy and I head out to take the trolley to the convention center
Trolley isn’t running the full rail length, so we walk some more.

Pick up the trolley at Canal Street only to be taken 2 blocks
We feel sheepish for spending $2.50 for 2 blocks
Find the convention center and we walk some more only now in A/C
Andy picks up his ALA badge and we head back out

We search for a breakfast joint
Still trying to adjust to the humidity- we are sweating bullets
Getting cranky for the lack of protein we snarl and grumble
Stop into Johnny’s po boy right after a group of 15 beat us to it
No matter- it was worth it
Homemade biscuits & gravy with topped with fried chicken

Walk some more and hook up with our pals to go fetch us a bass
We drive onto the Algiers ferry and it whisks us away to the other side
Grab bass, stuff in car and wedge ourselves in as well & head back home
Hang out with pals and grab us some beer at Molly’s

Later that night the whole gang (The El Camino Royals & the Royalettes (the wives))
Go to Vaughan's Lounge to see Kermit (no, not the frog) play his horn.
Packed unsuspecting joint in the middle of some neighborhood

Andrew Zimmern and his crew were their filming Kermit for his Bizarre Foods show-We try to stage ourselves behind every camera shot possible
BBQ smoking, Kermit playing, rain coming down, sweating bodies and cold beer
(There is nothing that quenches thirst like a cold beer on a humid night)

We get a taste of some damn good BBQ- Raccoon, turtle, rabbit and sausage
Too good to be food moral at this point
Andy & I part ways from the group and take a long walk back home
Quiet except for the frogs singing their humble tune

Day 3: Friday

Head to the Quartermaster Deli for some breakfast sandwiches
Would have split one had we known that they were foot long sandwiches
Andy heads to CC & I head for the St Charles Trolley
Run to catch trolley, lady closes door in my face
No matter, not going to let that get me down
Catch another one & head to the garden district

Trolley is packed

Get off trolley, walk a couple of blocks and find that I’m running out of time
Get back on trolley and head to the warehouse district to meet up at Emeril’s with some pals for lunch

Hoity toity  

Waiter asks Joel to take off his hat
Joel looks like a wild man and goes to restroom to fix it
Waiter folds Joel’s napkin when he leaves
And when he arrives places it back on his lap
Water is filled every time we take a couple of sips
We have three waiters roaming around us like a carousel
Food was good, a little on the decadent and rich side
But a great experience
Waiter pressures us to get dessert
We say no
He looks like he might cry

Look at a couple of galleries & meet up with Andy
Go back home and head to another meeting at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville for Andy’s job
Who thought it was a good idea to hold a meeting in an obnoxious loud restaurant is beyond me
Go back home and get ready to rock n roll with TECR at Check Point Charlies.

First set vocals were muffled-some frat boy was drunk and dancing with his fly down
The bathroom always seems to carry the tune of the place
And it’s the kind of bathroom you put t-pee on the seat- and you have to peal the t-pee off your ass because there is no A/C
Bathroom graffiti read: whiskeytits

Second set, vocals fixed
Got ourselves to dancing and having a great time

Day 4: Saturday
Breakfast @ Café Rose Nicaud- breakfast burrito for Andy and quiche for me
Andy has presentation to give @ the CC, so we part ways
I hoop in Washington Square Park where I sweat like I’m in water
Meet up with Andy for lunch and part ways yet again
I stroll through the Warehouse district where I visit local galleries and
Hit up the Ogden Museum
My feet are so tired I look for a café to sit down
Find an overpriced iced coffee; don’t get to sit down because I meet up with Andy
Andy has one more event to attend so I sit myself down by the riverside people watching and don’t move for 1 1/2 hours- bliss…

Meet up with buddies and head out across the lake for a BBQ @ our buddies in-law’s place

The cause way- 24mile bridge across Lake Pontachartain

Have some great homemade food, jump in pool, lose earring,
Melissa saves the day and rescues earring (like a pearl diver)
Boys play music while us ladies swim in pool, later to be accompanied by two girls who play the diving board game with me- takes me back to when we were kids

Head back across the bridge discussing how to survive if your car sinks in water

Day5: Sunday
Last day.

Breakfast @ Café de Monde- yes, yes was totally worth going to- bypassed the line and found a table and ate incredibly delicious beignets (fried dough covered in powdered sugar) and coffee

 Time to kill we walked to the Lady of Guadalupe church, which was in session, thought I saw a man peeing  in a planter, but can’t be sure
Head behind the church to a cemetery that Marie Laveau was buried in
Sweating balls it’s hot-

Andy and I part ways

I stroll through the French Quarter looking at shops making my way toward the Voodoo Shop- you know you are on Bourbon Street if it smells. Voodoo shop interesting to look, but wouldn’t by that crap- I’m just saying…

Meet up with my pals and we go high- tail- it to a swamp tour- Cajun Encounters

Best decision yet.

Tour guide a heavily spoken Cajun that shared his views on cooking, the government and the swamp- Saw crocs, blue heron, red tail hawk, frogs, and hot damn, the swamp. Awesome all the way, plus we had the best seats in the boat.

Buddies dropped me off and Andy and I went for a drink at a local watering hole- best part was the random cat that came in and made the social rounds.


Went to go to dinner to find that there were lines everywhere- starving and buzzed we got the spicy sausage po’ boys at Gene’s across the street from the house-while delicious, yes, probably not the best thing to eat the night before a flight.

Day 6: Monday
Woke up at 4am
Called cab
Slipped on cat piss on the way out the door
And lickidy split ended up back in sunny AZ

It’s ironic that I can feel a loss of something as well as a relief of that loss. Maybe ironic isn’t the word I’m searching for, and maybe it’s that I am more surprised at how I feel about the loss-which is a little sad and suspecting. I’m not referring to a person but a job- a job loss. One that has been draining me of my ability for some time, but I won’t get into that- it’s now officially in the past. But I have to say that a slight bitter taste remains in my mouth- (foul play? Or death by natural causes?) I know it doesn’t matter, but it’s there, the suspecting thoughts lingering like a bad smell in the air. But on the positive, I feel good, like fate reached down with his big hand and gently moved me forward when I wasn’t able to do so myself.

And now I am born again, only I am 6 years older then last time and wondering if rebirth still has its beauty and charisma. What value do I have to offer this world? Can I compete with the young and agile? Can I throw myself once again on the burning coals that fuel this economy? The world opens up in one second, and in another closes. Opportunity, experience, luck, and willpower on the wheel of life spinning round and round, and here I am at the preface of another turn. So I lift up my glass and proclaim, “To beginnings, to ends, and everything in-between!”