New Orleans

I drove to the Detroit airport in a blinding thunderstorm and got there to find my plane was delayed but only a half hour and since my layover in Atlanta was an hour, I wasn't concerned but by the time we got off the ground and got to Atlanta, my plane to New Orleans had left. They had rebooked me on a plane leaving the next morning at 7:45. I got a standby ticket for the next flight an hour later, which was overbooked, but thankfully I got on that one, the only person on the standby list to get on so I got to New Orleans about 5 and the airport shuttle took me to my hotel first.

Anne and I had a couple drinks from the St. Charles Tavern down the street from our hotel on St. Charles and Erato. We decided to try to eat at Gautreau's but had not made reservations and it was fully booked when we got there so we took the streetcar on down to S. Carrolton where people said there were good restaurants but we could not find them, having no real directions so we end up eating at Voodoo BarBQ just down the street from our hotel where we had pulled pork and mac and cheese and cole slaw and corn pudding and bread pudding.

The next day Saturday we met Tom and Jessica at Commander's Palace for brunch where I had oysters in a sauce with a puff pastry dome and a pork chop with sausages and a sunny side up egg and some potatoes and we had all ordered dessert but Tom and Jessica had to leave so Anne and I ate two desserts, blueberry shortcake and creme brulee and took another blueberry shortcake and pecan pie to go. The bill for all 4 of us was $230 but we had had many drinks. We went back to the hotel and crashed out for the afternoon and then went to see Tom's band play at One Eyed Jacks in the French Quarter. The show was good and heavily attended which is surprising as the cover was $10, with which you got a copy of their CD. We were introduced to may youth who all said what a musical genius Tom is and how they all love him and two girls told me they hope their legs look as good as mine when they are my age. After the show, it was 1:30 so we went back and crashed.

Sunday, there was a giant thunderstorm in the morning so we had continental breakfast at the hotel and then we laid out by the pool and got sandwiches from St. Charles Tavern, shrimp po boy that was delicious, and later we went to the Zydeco/seafood festival in the Quarter and saw Lil Bryan and the Travelers who were at the Swamp a couple years ago and 3 other bands and had some chargrilled oysters that were delicious and then took a cab to Jessica's apartment on Louisa St. It's a huge apartment with a beautiful giant kitchen with bamboo flooring and nice appliances and cabinets. Tom had told us the day before that he was moving in with her on Sunday. Then we all walked to Baccanal, a little dump on Chartres and Poland that serves wine and cheese plates in a garden with used patio furniture and Tom and Jessica left to go have their anniversary dinner and we stayed a while to listen to the music and then we took a cab to the Quarter and had a drink in a dumpy cool bar and then went to the Harrah's so Anne could gamble. The buy-ins on the card tables was $15 so I just let Anne lose $15 of my money in the slots which she was satisfied with since she was not sure enough of card game rules to play. Took the streetcar back to the hotel.

Monday I was leaving so we had sushi lunch with Tom and Jessica and then Anne went over to Tom's while I waited for the airport shuttle and then I get there and my plane is delayed so instead of getting home around 9:30, I get home about 11. Anne texted me tonight that she had got home to New York after an uneventful flight.

Surprisingly, I didn't drink all that much down there.

So overall it was a good trip. Plenty of talking with Anne and the usual oblique conversations with Tom. I have some few photos which I will post another time. I am glad I am not going on any more plane trips this calendar year.

Russell is here again and will be here next week and then he's off to points far away until he's back in September for the Swamp. I had put in to take the week off between Labor Day and the Swamp but now I think I may change that as I am not keen on being home while I have a houseguest. Although this may be the week Annie Jenks shows up here so maybe I'll take a day off or two.

We talked about the Christmas holidays at the sushi lunch and Jessica said she was not keen on coming back to Ohio every Christmas and I said they did not have to come back on my account and we discussed possibly going to some island but no decisions were made. Her mom lives in Austin where she runs a bed and breakfast and Jessica said it was sparsely reserved over the holidays so that might be interesting. Lots of good music in Austin.

So the one panel of my bamboo fence that I got at the Home Depot on Rt. 20 has bent and cracked along the chain link fence rail and is now leaning on the fence. I see that it is not as sturdy as the 3 sections I got at the Home Depot on Airport Hwy so I may take it back and exchange it although they were all the same brand. It is reed-ier while the others are more bamboo-like.

Today I went to work a half hour late as I was tired out. Tonight I unpacked and opened mail and looked at the plants and was glad to see the hostas have recovered where the dogs had romped in them. Much weeding needs to be done as well as weed whacking around the flagstones.

Not that much on the agenda for this weekend although there is a show at Hines Farm, whose website has become inaccessible plus some rockabilly bands are at Mickey Finn's and a blues guy is at the Blue Devil and my boss's son might be playing jazz at Mezzmerize on Dussel so we'll see what we're up for.

I need to Trip Advisor my trip with comments on the hotel and restaurants. Note to self.