The Big Easy

With only seven or eight weeks left until we move out of the South (yay!), Todd and I decided to take advantage of the time he had off for the holiday and drive out to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Fourth of July.

We left Thursday morning and arrived in N.O. in the afternoon. We planned to visit the Contemporary Arts Center, a large museum with a sizable collection of contemporary art, local and otherwise, that just happened to be free on Thursdays. Unfortunately, when we got there, a sign on the door announced that it was closed for renovations until the following week. Small frown.
Instead, we hopped on the streetcar (half trolley, half bus) and rode it uptown and back, getting a great view of the Garden District and plenty of true Southern-style homes. We also noticed that there were Mardi Gras beads stuck in tons of the trees, as though they had been thrown up there and never cleaned off. Interesting.
For dinner we had roast beef and ham Po Boys at Mother's Restaurant, complete with debris. Debris? you might ask. Sounded gross, until we found a list of terms and their definitions on the back of the menu. It's the roast beef that falls into the gravy when it's being cooked. Super soft and way too delicious. We were impressed with the spicy Cajun mustard, as well.
Then we took a stroll through the French Quarter, including Bourbon Street. It was after 7:00 at that point, and the parties were just getting started. Todd received a "Party Pooper" ticket because we didn't look like we were drunk yet. The whole street was scandalous. I kept covering Todd's eyes, and eventually, we just cut over to the next block. I asked Todd if that was what Vegas was like, and he said no, that made Vegas look tame. I'll spare you the rest of the details.
At 8:00, we went to Preservation Hall for a traditional jazz concert. It was a big band night and took me back to college, when I used to go to jazz class improv jam sessions. Ah, yeah! We've got some of the music on the video below, if you want to check it out yourself.
Friday we went on a swamp tour through the Louisiana bayou. We saw lots of little alligators (maybe four feet) and plenty of egrets and mullet fish, along with lots of true bayou trees. For lunch we had to try crawfish kickers at the local diner. The locals were speaking another language - Creole French, I believe. It was cool to hear.
Later Todd and I went on a hike through a bayou in a natural preserve. It was cool. There were banana spiders everywhere, and tons of frogs with lots of different calls. One of them sounded like a sheep "baa-ing." Craziness.
We had Cajun pasta for dinner, and then watched the Fourth of July fireworks lit off a barge on the Mississippi River.
Saturday we drove to the Baton Rouge Temple and did a session, and then we drove home. It was a fun little trip.
Here's the video Todd made. I really dig that music!