NOLA Wrap Up - Photos

The trip home was uneventful (which is good). My overall impression of New Orleans was that the city is rich in music, culture and courtesy. Everyone was respectful, good natured and generous. There was live music everywhere. On the streets, in the bars and restaurants, in the hotels - everywhere. I highly recommend a visit and hope to get back there sooner rather than later! Hope you enjoyed my posts...

NOLA Day Four - The Festival

Day four, we made it to the Festival. As the location was outside of downtown New Orleans, on our way there we saw that the city has not fully recovered from Katrina, but it’s getting there. The Festival was very well attended, and the bands were all top notch. Made the rounds to the blues tent, gospel tent, etc. The headliner at the stage where our group camped out for the day was John Mayer.

Although his dating Jessica Simpson put a chink in his armor, musically he was supreme. I know the guy has been trying to shake off this “Body is A Wonderland/Daughters” stigma, and he went forward a few steps in this area Saturday.

He had a smoking band – two guitars, Hammond organ, bass and drums. Did a lot of blues based tunes, some stellar jams, and the guy is a smoking guitar player. He rotated between two or three beat up Strats. Good attitude and stage presence/banter.

After the show – hey more beer! Took the trolley back to the hotel for – hey, more beer!

NOLA Day Three - Rain Out!

Woke up around 11 A.M. - life's rough on vacation in New Orleans. Met up with the group and hoofed it over to Napoleon House for chow - jambalaya - three big ass scoops. Killer.

However, the threat of continued morning rain came through with a vengeance and we had our own little post-Katrina with vertical sheets of rain, lightning and thunder. The streets flooded a few inches and we decided to just stay put and maybe bag the festival for the day.

I had more time to think about why I like this town so much, and it hit me - no Starbucks, McDonald's or mini-mall chain stores in the French Quarter. All the shops and restaurants and their related architecture - old stone streets and sidewalks; ornate iron work and ubiquitous balconies - seem to be unique to New Orleans. It gives the Quarter a great vibe and atmosphere. Granted, there is the whole Girls Gone Wild frat party and kitchy trinket shop element as well, but it's only a small piece of the big picture, which was a pleasant surprise.

Later, we found out that due to the crazy thunderstorms, the day's Jazz Festival had been cancelled. So we just bopped around the different bars - Pat O'Brien's, Yo Mama's and La Bayou - food and beer galore. Dolled it up for the traditional formal dinner at Antoine's - great end to day three...

NOLA Day Two – Acclamation

Spent Thursday getting acquainted with parts of downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter. Met the rest of our party and moved to the Ritz Carlton for the rest of the trip – wow, nice big rooms!

Man is this town cool. We spent most of the day kicking around the French Quarter, checking out the restaurants, bars and bands. Took a ton of photos but of course don't have my CABLE so I will post them later. Had lunch at the Old Coffee Pot - creole chow and Bloody Garys served by Winifred, who claims to be 65 but looks 50.

Not a lot of time for details right now but suffice it to say that the vibe here is great. After belting out Roadhouse Blues at the Cat's Meow at the end of the night (yeah, we drank enough for me to do Karaoke), we conked out in the hotel only to be woken up by the most amazing thunderstorm. Don't get those so much in Portland!

NOLA Day One – The Journey

Not much to report from day one unless you want a retroactive Texas weather report and a comprehensive review of seat backs of American Airlines airplanes. It took us 10.5 hours (8.5 of them sitting in planes) due to t-storms in Dallas but we finally made it to New Orleans. Felt right at home when the cab driver from Hong Kong started grilling me about speaker systems. Where was my Triad buddy when I needed him? This guy was talking about $100k systems – way over my head!

Going back a few hours, back at the Portland airport we had extra time so I got one of those 15 minute massages they offer there (I love PDX). Also had time to buy a couple of books, which wound up making the 8.5 hour flying time pass by pretty quickly.

I ripped through Ultramarathon Man – Confessions of an All Night Runner. This dude, Dean Karnazes, is totally insane. He warms up doing 26.2 miles. The guy runs 50 miles from his San Francisco home to the starting line of a marathon in Napa and then completes it in 3 hours and some change.

The story of his 100 mile race through the Sierras (The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run) was worth the price of the book in and of itself. The guy also organized the first marathon at the South Pole (and was the only guy to run it), and also has completed the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135 mile trek through Death Valley in 125 degree temperatures (his first pair of running shoes literally melted).

Listing the feats out like this makes it sound more like a freak show, but the book is a compelling, inspiring look at how far the human body can be pushed, how much the mind has to do with it (mind over matter) and WHY someone would want to do it (it’s more than “Because I Can”).

When running a 199 mile relay by himself, he said he ran the first 100 miles with his legs, the next 90 with is mind and the last nine with his heart. Cool. He’s also funny as hell. Or his ghost writer is. Regardless, it’s an inspiring and quick read and I highly recommend it.

I finished that book before we got to the plane change in Dallas, and busted into “Into Thin Air,” the story about the botched Mt Everest climb that cost a number of lives in the early 90s. I already know that story and you probably do too. So far, another very interesting read.

Anyway, the hotel on the first night was great. The Royal St. Charles Hotel. The last thing taxi man told us was that attendance to the festival seems light this year. Fine by me – more beer for us! We ordered a pizza at 2 AM Central and went to bed at 4.

Off to New Orleans Jazz Fest

Wifey and I are headed off to New Orleans to dig the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - I hope to post fom there as interesting things happen, but ya never know...