Back Home Again in Indiana: Drop Me Off in New Orleans

We're back from the Big Easy! We had a really great trip, but I am EXHAUSTED! As for Justin, he spent all of Sunday working and is on the road again today. Poor guy...he didn't even have the chance to get a nap in!

I'll give you the play-by-play of our trip, but I must warn you...this will probably turn in to a rather long post!

Justin left on Monday and headed south to Mississippi. He spent some time down in that part of his territory before he headed to New Orleans on Wednesday to pick me up. I flew out bright and early that morning from Nashville. This was my first time ever flying alone. I've never flown out of Nashville, and I've never flown Southwest Airlines. Everything went very smoothly! My flight probably didn't even have 100 people on it! In fact, we ended up arriving in New Orleans 20 minutes early! The only downfall I had during this time was my cell phone. I've been having some issues lately with my cell phone. When I arrived at the Nashville airport, I realized that I could only make emergency calls. I didn't think much about it, because at Vanderbilt, there are certain spots where this happens. When I got into the terminal and past security, still the same thing! Only emergency calls. I was starting to get frustrated! I hoped that by the time I landed in New Orleans, my problem would disappear. It had to! How else was I supposed to meet up with Justin? Once we were on the runway in New Orleans, I turned on my phone and lo and behold...I can still only make emergency calls! This could be interesting! All I can say is thank goodness for Wi-Fi! I had decided to take my laptop at the last minute, which turned out to be a great idea! Once I got in the terminal, I emailed Justin's Blackberry to let him know I had arrived early. I waited for a response, but didn't get one, so I headed down to the baggage claim area since I knew that is where Justin would probably be waiting on me. Wouldn't you know...baggage claim doesn't have internet access? All I could think of was how in the world was I going to meet up with him? Thank goodness the airport wasn't THAT busy!! I saw Justin pull in, grabbed my purse and laptop and ran towards the car. That went MUCH smoother than what it could have! Needless to say, after getting checked in at the hotel, the first thing on the agenda was going to an AT&T store to get my cell phone issues finally worked out!

Wednesday was basically the only day that Justin had free. So, we headed down to the French Quarters to check it out. We started our trek down Bourbon Street. It was pretty quiet...just lots of tourists walking around checking everything out (and lots of cops). I don't know exactly what I thought the French Quarters were going to be. I was surprised by how everything just looked trashy and there were strip clubs everywhere! (I later learned that they spray the streets and sidewalks down every morning with this smell-good stuff because of all the trash/booze/etc. that goes on at night). We ended up at Pat O'Brien's...the world famous French Quarter establishment to have some hurricanes. All I'm going to say about that is you need to pace yourself! These things are SO GOOD, but they sneak up on you!

We stayed there for several hours and met up with one of Justin's co-workers/fellow Purdue alums. After dinner, we headed down to Jackson Square only to find out that they lock it up at 6:00. So we crossed the street to Cafe' Du Mond for some of their world famous beignets! Beignets are square pieces of dough that are fried and served with mounds of powder sugar (I'm not kidding either!) I think the best thing I can relate it to is a big fatty funnel cake. They were so good! They were fresh and served warm!

That pretty much wraps up Wednesday night. Justin had to work the trade show Thursday morning and I stayed at the hotel watching tv. That afternoon, I met up with Justin for a lunch at a restaurant just down the street. Later that evening, we met up with some Nashville-area superintendants for dinner at a restaurant down in the French Quarters.

Friday morning, Justin and I got up and headed down to Jackson Square to see it in the daytime. We spent some time there and then headed over to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. Apparently, it was field trip day. There were kids EVERYWHERE! We stayed there for awhile, and Justin was finally able to pet a sting ray! I can't even tell you how long Justin has wanted to do that. I honestly think if Justin had the opportunity to put on a wet suit and jump in a tank, even if it was only to clean it, he would do it.

After we left there, we walked around outside and through some shopping on the way back to the hotel. Justin had to go back and work the trade show that afternoon, and I went back to the hotel where I had a lot of work on my computer to catch up on. That night, we went out with some of Justin's customers and their clients to a restaurant on Bourbon Street. Afterwards, we were told to meet up with all the other Dow Agro people at Pat O'Brien's. We walked down Bourbon Street where you saw EVERYTHING!!!! New Orleans is definitely it's own city! They even allow you to walk around with alcohol/liqueur as long as you are carrying it in a plastic cup. Bourbon Street along with everything else was packed! We met up with several of Justin's co-workers and hung out there for a few hours. I loved people watching. There were so many drunk people! I saw people trip over chairs, fall down stairs, not able to walk straight, etc. And don't just think they were people my age....I saw people that were probably my parent's ages AND older! It made for some great laughs!!! However, the worst part of the night....it still makes me shiver! As I was listening to one of Justin's co-workers telling a story, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. As I looked up...I saw this BIG rat running along a rail. I screamed and jumped...you have no idea how afraid I am of these things! No one else at my table saw it, but the guy standing next to our table did (and no....neither one of us were intoxicated!) I was so uneasy the rest of the night. The DAS group ended up taking the party mobile, but Justin and I went back to the hotel to get some rest for the long car trip we had the next day.

On Saturday, we hit the road. What a LOONNGGGG trip! We left New Orleans around 10:30 am, and by the time I went to the airport to pick up my car and headed home it was somewhere around 7:30 - 8:00 pm. I was able to see parts of the South I've never seen. We traveled through Mississippi and Alabama, and needless to say, I've never been so happy to cross the state line in Tennessee!

All in all, it was a good trip and we had a great time! I can say that I've been to New Orleans now, but I don't know if I want to go back anytime soon. There are still several things there I would like to see, but I don't think I'd ever want to be there while Mardi Gras is going on. Bourbon Street was busy enough for me the way it was!

Here are some pictures from the trip!