19 Feb 09 - We Live Through New Orleans

I'm not the only one! Kamiah had (or will have when she finishes it) a post describing our similar love of food, and along those similarity and food-related lines, let me relay to you this story: We went to the Waffle House for breakfast in Crestview because Kamiah doesn’t have one at home and we love breakfast a lot. Unfortunately, in her rush to get into the Waffle House she pushed frantically on a door clearly labeled “Pull”. Here is a picture of her re-enacting the moment. Enjoy.

Also, here's one of her enjoying her pile of food. Really, who wouldn't be excited to get to this?

New Orleans was great. We were in the St. James Hotel, located on Magazine St. only a couple blocks from both Canal and Bourbon Streets. Nice and close to the French Quarter, but with space available and less chance of a stabbing! St. James Hotel was very nice. Nice enough that we all thought we shouldn’t have been able to afford it. The room was $90 for the night, with two double beds, hard wood floors, doors opening onto a courtyard (for Romeo’s convenience), and a truly lovely – and rather large – bathroom. With marble-type floors. We spent a great deal of time talking about why exactly we could afford such a place, like maybe the shower would be terrible, or the service bad, or everything not work (and it turns out the internet didn’t, but that was all) but really everything was spot on! We settled on perhaps someone had been murdered there and we just didn’t know. Even if we had known, I suspect we’d not have cared.

We spent a few hours exploring, and eating our way through, the French Quarter. We got po’ boy sandwiches, hushpuppies, pralines, and stopped at Café du Monde for café au lait and beignets. Let me take a moment to apologize to Amanda because aside from describing what we ate, there’s not much else I can do. Here are some pictures of our foodening:

We hung out a bit at the hotel waiting for the parades to start. Yes, that’s right – New Orleans organized several parades to welcome me to town. I thought it was nice of them. This additional stay in the hotel gave us more time to realize there really was nothing wrong with the place and for Kamiah to teach Romeo to jump from one bed to the other – a distance of about four feet. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before he tries and fails and slams his little face into the opposite bed. I can hear you laughing, Chris! Knock it off!

The parade “started” at 5:45pm but when we went out at 7:00pm it hadn’t gotten anywhere near us (odd, since it had to go right past). We waited till after 8:00pm to see anything but it was worth it. We’d have gotten more beads then except for the group of drunken middle-aged folks next to us, one of whom managed to spill beer on me in his excitement to get some beads. Also, I’m pretty sure they were all about 7 ft tall. Much longer reach than us three shorties. It’s ok though, because after we got some dinner the parade had made it’s way down to the street in front of our hotel with many fewer people and we got enough shiny beads to trade for a small island given there’s still someone out there willing to trade an island for some beads. I don’t like our chances.

Sid spent the rest of the evening judging us for getting beads (guess it implies we lack morals or virtue or something), but he got some too. Unfortunately, he wouldn't stand still long enough to let us take his picture. Sneaky.

Poor Romeo...

In closing, New Orleans was great and we like food. Also, Sid should stop judging Kamiah and me.