All the Way Home

It was a fun couple of last days in New Orleans before a long trip back home. It was fun to be greeted by Springtime in Alaska and whales. It is a good thing to see the big critters from the porch.

A day for checking things off the must do before I leave town list, and meeting with Jennifer Taylor and her friend Marcia.

I am starting to learn to order food like a Southerner, despite my uncouth Alaskan manners, and had grits with sausage gravy and an egg for breakfast. An excellent meal and a great way to start the day. I walked over to the Arcadia bookstore, and got some used New Orleans history books, a couple of airplane books, and the hard bound catalog of the New Orleans tricentennial exhibition which has great photographs of some of the original founding documents of the city.

I spent most of the afternoon doing house chores and packing the stuff that will stay here into vacuum bags for the summer. I’ll put in another couple of hours tomorrow, and have a less frantic day on Wednesday. It is odd to have the evening flight out-kind of used to the early morning departures from Alaska.

I broke out the suit and walked across the Quarter to meet Jennifer and Marcia at the Carousel bar, where we we able to sit at the rotating bar for a drink. We then walked to Soubou, and had some excellent appetizers, including pork cracklings, another thing to cross off the list. We stopped for dinner at the Napoleon House, and then on to Cafe Dumonde for beignets and coffee. We snuck into Tujagues for last call, and then went down Decatur, weaving our way through street people. it was a bit grungier than it is earlier in the evening, and probably not a great place to hang out. We made it to Frenchmen Street, and visited a couple of the art stores and markets, where I was greeted effusively by one of the gallery managers and one of the artists. It is fun to be recognized. We ended up at dba and saw Big Sam and his Funky Krewe, a four piece version of the Funky Nation. He brings a lot of energy and showmanship to the fun of the music. The ladies had a early wake up, so we walked through the neighborhood for a quick tour of the condo, and an Uber ride. It was to show friends some fun stuff.

I ended the night at Buffa’s for some gator balls in a crawfish etouffee and a much mellower late night.

The next day was a work day, cleaning and packing things up. I walked over the Frenchmen for a couple of songs but couldn’t justify sitting at the Spotted Cat when Booth was painting the porch slowly. I spent a couple of hours painting in the late afternoon. There are worse ways to spend a day. I sat with the neighbors and Kristen for dinner as a bon voyage meal.

I finished the last couple of loads of laundry, and put most of the clothes and linens in plastic vacuum bags. I wrote a note for guests, dropped off a birthday card for Cecile, and then meandered through the Quarter for a bit, running into Jennifer and Marcia. I had a redfish po-boy at Buffa’s and headed for the airport. The Uber driver had spent time in Ketchikan, and was a Rodney Dial tattoo client. That is a weird coincidence.