New Orleans

Day -23 – Who Dat?

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saintsLive sporting events have always been my favorite, I never really cared what the event was, as long as there was passion on the field and in the stands, I was happy.  I’ve seen pro baseball, college soccer, pro soccer, college football, but I’ve never been to an NFL game, until now.  Sunday morning in New Orleans is kind of a trip any way, add Halloween weekend to the day and you will see things you wished you hadn’t,  but the fun was just beginning at Champions Square.

Champions Square is the party scene before the Saints game, there is a band, free flowing beer and sodas, food galore and the fans, or should I say FANS!  You can certainly tell how the term fan derived from fanatic at a Saints game.  There were two people in the whole stadium not wearing Saints gear…me and Rich.  Everyone had something on that was labeled.  We sat in a section of true fans, people who knew each other because they had been sitting together for eons.  We had to admit that we were really 49r fans, but we were here for a reason.

Josh Hill is a rookie for the Saints, he’s a hometown boy, a boy we have seen play high school ball and lead the Blackfoot Broncos to the state championship.  We watched him catch the winning pass at districts to propel the team forward.  We have seen Josh play college ball at Idaho State University, and well, while winning wasn’t really their thing, we were proud to know someone on the field.  Now we have seen Josh play pro ball, in fact, he earned his first stats at the game we saw, with two passes caught for 17 yards.  We couldn’t be more proud.

We told everyone around us, and everyone we saw in New Orleans and Houston that appeared to be Saints fans to watch him, he was going to do great things in his football career.  We are proud that of him for the hard work he’s put in, for the effort and talent, for the good name he brings to the field.  To Josh and Courtney…congratulations; to Shawn and Jane…job well done; to Jordan…proud of you too!  Congrats to a family for the sacrifices made to reap the benefits deserved.  Who dat think they gonna beat them Saints??

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Day -22 – The Big Easy

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angelI think this was my fourth trip to New Orleans over the years; a couple times for business, once as part of the 30 day Road Trip and now a trip with my husband.  I love my husband, he has become new favorite place.  Because, quite honestly, wherever he is, life is good!

There were a couple of things I’ve always wanted to do in the Big Easy, this was the trip that I finally got to do them.  First stop was the Metairie Cemetery.  The cemeteries in the area are famous, because they just aren’t like any others.  Because the water tables are so low here (hence why the hurricane damage is so severe) the bodies are stored in mausoleums.  Many of the structures are over 150 years old, others hold generations upon generations of bodies.  I found one mausoleum that held someone born in 1787; that was a little trippy for me.

The Weeping Angel is a famous sculpture in the Metairie Cemetery.  With the help of the internet, we found the Hymas tomb with the angel inside, I had pictured a sitting angel shedding tears; what I found instead was a fully prone angel weeping.  The natural lighting in the tomb, together with lurking sadness brought tears to my eyes.

Next stop was the Garden District, classic architecture, huge, well-kept homes, it was beautiful.  Everywhere you turned were gorgeous homes, when I found one for sale, Rich just laughed at me.  He didn’t even let me check the price, probably a good thing!

We took the mandatory walk around the French Quarter and down Bourbon Street, but our timing was bad.  It was just getting dark and it was Halloween weekend, we discovered in Las Vegas a couple of years ago that I am just not designed for big, scary crowds.  We beat a fast track out of there.  We hiked the rest a couple days later; down to Jackson Square, through the Financial District, along the Waterfront.  Our consensus is that New Orleans is an old, smelly, dirty city.  Great for partying if you have low standards, but otherwise, just another busy place with way too many tourists, without a specific reason, I doubt we will go back.