Trip to the Big Easy

"If there was no New Orleans, America would just be a bunch of free people dying of boredom." - Chris Rose, Times-Picayune commentator - September 5th, 2005

I have spent time in India, Brazil, Mexico, various parts of Europe and I have visited the vast majority of states in the U.S., but there is no culture that I love more than the New Orleans culture. Now before you rush to judgment, I am not talking about a tacky Bourbon Street sideshow on a Saturday night. That's not the New Orleans that I'm talking about - that's tourism at its weakest moment. And furthermore, I understand that not all parts of New Orleans are beautiful and alluring. If you asked my mom & dad about New Orleans, they would instantly refer to the more working-class (or not working-class) side of New Orleans that visitors don't see and the area that my family lived in when I was growing up. The New Orleans that I love is the city that is filled with smells of cajun cuisine, sounds of a brass band forming a Second Line in a nearby neighborhood and a waiting conversation with a stranger at every street bench. Magnolias, lushful gardens, cobblestone streets in the French Quarter and streetcars in the Garden District. The South at its best. This is the New Orleans that I wanted to show Amanda.

So, here's my "Top-10-Things-We-Loved-About-Our-Trip" List:

#1 - Witnessing the New Orleans Saints WIN a playoff game. On my own personal "bucket list" (compiled circa 1998), I listed "Attend a Saints playoff game in New Orleans." When I first pitched the idea to Amanda that we should try to get tickets for the game, her response was "maybe we could do that next time we go to New Orleans." Haha, NFL rookie. Needless to say I gave Amanda a brief history lesson about the New Orleans Saints franchise and how they had only played in 5 playoff games in the 43 year history of the organization before this weekend (only winning two). Amanda didn't need to fall back on her college education to understand that if she was going to be a fellow Saints fan, it was this weekend or no promise of a Next Time. So we found tickets and I had the time of my life. I will never forget it... and Amanda, she'll even tell you that it was the most fun she's ever had at a sporting or entertainment event.

"The people of New Orleans love the Saints not because they provide a distraction from their fall, but because they are a reflection of their rise." - Saints Linebacker Scott Fujita

#2 - The food. Shrimp bisque, shrimp po'boy, beignets, BBQ fried oysters, Royale Street Lucky Dogs, crawfish, gumbo - of course - with all the fixin's! I was spoiled to the point that when I returned from our trip, everything that I ate tasted like Purina - Correction: Walmart Maxximum dog food.

Amanda enjoying a beignet from Cafe du Monde

#3 - Visiting family. We were able to spend a little time in the French Quarter with Eric, Mimi and their sweet children. Their children are as sweet as can be and Amanda and I really enjoyed spending some time with some of my family in the area.

#4 - Jackson Square. Perhaps it was St. Louis Cathedral or the beignets at Cafe Du Monde, but Jackson Square was Amanda's favorite part of the city. We visited with all the artists, bought a couple pieces of art, listened/watched all the street performers and even took a nap at the feet of Andrew Jackson's statue.

#5 - Post-game celebrations after the Saints win! After the game, Amanda and I headed back to the hotel to re-energize ourselves and change clothes before reuniting with another couple that we met at the game. The sights and sounds were amazing - the city of New Orleans broke out into one huge parade. People were dancing in the streets, hugging, cheering - all good fun. In fact, because New Orleans often times gets such a bad wrap, (without trying to preach) let me say this: I have seen Franklin Street in Chapel Hill after a win over Duke and I can honestly say that people were acting much more pleasant then that. Nobody was flipping police cars over. Nobody was starting bonfires in the middle of the street. Nothing was exposed, nobody was offended and the police reported no acts of vandalism. In ACC country, they storm the court after a big win... in New Orleans, they storm the Quarter. It's all the same. I saw fans from both teams respectfully rehashing the game and offering earnest well-wishes. One Arizona Cardinal fan told me that he had attended over 15 NFL games in different cities and he had never seen the hospitality and respectfulness that was shown to him in New Orleans. We spent hours after the game just engaging in the "Who Dat" dalliance with a city full of strangers who shared a common love-affair for a group of 53 men that rarely ever delivered anything close to a successful season in each of our lifetimes. When put in those words, it really doesn't sound like a healthy relationship. However, I did not want the day - or the night for that matter- to end. Simply put, it was thousands of people cherishing the exact same moment.

#6 - Conversations with complete strangers. Only in New Orleans can your waiter say, "how you doin', baby?" when they greet you and not come across at all crazy-man-at-the-playground creepy. PS - Mom, the streetcar driver said"tell your mama & 'em hello" when we got off at our stop for a Garden District stroll. So "Hello, Mom"... from the streetcar lady.

#7 - Garden District strolls on a sunny, 66 degrees late-January afternoon. Amanda and I agree: One day we will both retire, buy a home in the Garden District and spend our days writing and painting. She can wake up and go for a morning jog in Audubon Park, while I sit on one of the park benches comparing college stories with much younger Tulane undergrads. Maybe Amanda and I will even earn enough clout in the neighborhood to claim a spot under an old oak along St. Charles Avenue that our family could revisit every February/March to catch a few throws from a quickly approaching Mardi Gras krewe.

#8 - The houses. Every block in the Garden District has a house that could be mistaken for the Wilkes' Twelve Oaks plantation. I don't think Amanda has ever seen "Gone With the Wind," but subconsciously I'm quite sure she imagined living the life of Scarlett O'Hara many times during our Uptown visit. Every other house was declared "our dream house."

#9 - The Jackson Square artists. If I could have a mulligan on one of my wasted college summers (circa 2004-06, you know what ones I'm talking about Pops), I wish I signed a 3-month lease on a little French Quarter studio apartment and try to make rent selling my paintings to French Quarter tourists who had a poor eye for good art. I understand that I wouldn't be near as talented as the other artists that make a living every year selling their pieces in the Quarter - and I know that I would most likely exhaust my summer days struggling to make an artist out of a seafood restaurant dishwasher - but it would be fun. My traveling tip for any future tourist: spend a morning talking to different French Quarter artists. Their stories were remarkable and inspiring. Their backgrounds & futures were promising and they each were more than capable of working a 9-to-5... of course, if they had wanted to. After every conversation with an artist throughout our visit, all Amanda and I wanted to do was go home and paint.

This statue of Jesus stands in a courtyard next to St. Louis Cathedral. During Katrina, the only damage suffered by the statue was Jesus' index finger and thumb were missing. Yats (NOLA locals) will tell you Jesus "flicked" the storm east at the last moment - explaining the missing digits. Owners of the statue decided not to replace the thumb and index finger so that visitors of the statue would be reminded of God's mercy. (Katrina was aimed directly at NOLA, only to veer east at the last minute - possibly sparing the city from an even-worse scenario.)

#10 - Shopping. Ok, so this was Amanda's favorite activity. But we did find some treasures that made me happy, though - such as a signed copy of coffee table book about historic homes of Louisiana (found in used book store) and a painting of an old oak tree (painted on a scrap piece of board, recovered during the reconstruction of a home damaged by Katrina). We found a few other things, but these were my two favorite purchases.

I will let the rest of our trip to be told by a few pictures...