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Nawlins
New Orleans, LA |
We left Savannah early in the morning to head to Mobile,
Alabama, which we thought would be a good place to stop for the night before
heading to New Orleans. We were wrong. In order to keep costs down and to be good backpackers, we
opted for the somewhat basic “La Quinta” inn, just off the interstate. This
quaint neighbourhood could best be described as ghetto fabulous, but minus the
fabulous. After being accosted by a drunk hobo right outside of our door, we
made our way to the Outback Steakhouse. For those that don’t know, the Outback is
America’s attempt at Australian cuisine. The only thing Australian about the
place is the painted koalas on the wall. Over our bloomin’ onion (deep fried,
whole onion), we were discussing the very real possibility that the hobo would
have broken into our room and stolen all of our worldly possessions.
Thankfully, this was not the case and we enjoyed a restful night before
finishing the last leg of our trip to Nawlins. We were heading to New Orleans not only to see the sights,
but to visit a very dear friend of mine from college. Eva and I lived in the
same dorm our freshman year, but haven’t seen each other in over 10 years. Being
a good Southern hostess with the mostest, she had a plethora of activities
planned for our weekend in the big easy. Friday night was reserved for catching up and getting to
know Eva’s girlfriend, Tate and meeting some of the crew. It was supposed to be
a quiet wine or two, which turned into a few too many. It was a great
introduction to New Orleans. Everyone we met was so welcoming and friendly. We
could immediately tell that we were going to have some fun here. New Orleans has a reputation for being a bit of a culinary
Mecca and let me tell you, we were not disappointed. On Saturday morning, we
headed out for some po’boys (a type of sandwhich) at an absurdly popular
tavern. The line was out the door and it was easy to see why. They were
heavenly, but we had to make sure that we saved some room for all you can eat
crawfish. As would have it, we arrived in New Orleans on the weekend
of one of Eva’s best friend’s farewell party. We started at an all you can eat
crawfish festival at the local university. By the time we got there, they had all
sold out, but we managed to get one for Joel to try as he had never had them
before. A crawfish is like a little lobster. I’m not sure Joel was such a big
fan, but I think this is partly because they made him suck all of the goop out
of its head. Before long, we were boarded a topless party bus. There
weren’t half naked people running around serving drinks. The roof had been
removed to allow for maximum viewing pleasure as we cruised around the city. This
was a good chance to see parts of the city that we hadn’t gotten to yet.
Earlier on in the day, we rode down to the French Quarter and got some famous
purple drinks with Eva and Tate, but that was about the extent of our
sightseeing so far. The bus proved to be a good exercise in self preservation as
it wasn’t the safest contraption in the world. All of the seats had been
removed to allow for dancing, which didn’t leave much in the way of handholds
for support. As the night wore on, it became progressively more difficult to
not get thrown about while having a drink, waving at people passing by, getting
some beads from a pirate, dancing or dropping to jazz split (yes, he did). Halfway through our bus adventure, there was a mandatory
stop at the local casino, where Joel and I won $70 on the roulette tables. We
are on quite the winning streak lately and I really hope that it continues
until we get to Vegas. If not, our trip around the states might get cut a
little short due to my gambling losses. The bus soon dumped us off on the side of the road and we
spent the remainder of the evening going from bar to bar. All in all, it was a
hysterical night. Joel and I had massive grins on our faces the whole time. It
was the best way to see an entire city. Sunday was spent doing some more eating. Joel has developed a
bit of an obsession with buffalo chicken wings. I think we might need to have
an intervention soon. This was also the perfect opportunity for him to get to hear
some stories about me from my college days. I think he is still a little
disgusted about my little hippy stint
where I had a no shoe policy. The evening was spent in hysterics with lots of
side splitting laughter and good friends. Thank you so much Eva, Tate and everybody else for an
amazing time in New Orleans. We could not have asked for a better weekend! We
wished we could have stayed for longer, but Texas is waiting, but I get the
feeling that we’ll be back.
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