NOLA Chapter 1

I boarded the United Airlines plane at 6:52 am on Thursday.

An hour later,  I was in the Denver airport meeting up with Chelise and Elise to finish our morning travel into New Orleans together.

I would say that at that point, it was 

ON LIKE DONKEY KONG SMACKING IT ON A BING BONG!!!!!

The laughing, tears, snot dripping and near peepee pants moments were in full swing.

The other passengers had NO idea what they were in for as they found their seats located near our seat trio.

Maybe these pics can give you a hint........

[101 ways to wear a neck-sleep pillow. 

 please take note]

Lucky for you all, we aren't documenting our teachings in:

~airline headphone usage 

and the unaware loud talking/singing 

to each other while wearing said headphones

 along with butt dancing in our seats with arms

 pumping the beat above our heads, 

~the air massage of the stranger man's head 

in front of you without him knowing it, 

~the eating nuts found in the bottom of Jolie's purse

 just to soak up the bloody mary swirling in an empty stomach

 because we are too cheap to buy the $9 snack pack that the airline offers.

By the time our flight arrived in NOLA at 2:09 pm, we had laughed our makeup off and couldn't wait to find a restroom.

We exited the plane with a realization that the airport is outdated and teeny-tiny!  SLC and Denver have nice airports, so I guess I was expecting to walk off the plane and enter an ongoing Mardi Gras  party complete with bling, song, and outrageousness.

I was sorely mistaken, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this:

Automatic seat covers!!!!!

Why don't we have these EVERYWHERE?!?!?

It's these little things that totally rock my world.

After we retrieved our 200 pounds of combined luggage, we hailed a taxi to take us to our hotel.

Our driver was an older lady with 3 teeth left in her mouth.

She had a thick creole accent, and the gift of gab!!!!

She made sure to give us tips for safety, stories of her own life, and continued to question our decision to visit NOLA.

At the end of each completed sentence, she made the sign of the cross with her hand to her head, chest and shoulders, and then made a brief look to the sky.

I was beginning to wonder if this was a unique personal twitch since it was happening every 2 minutes on the hour, or if it was divine intervention  trying to give is a blatant "sign" to heed this toothless ladies warnings!!!

I started to become at ease as we approached our hotel.

We were in the heart of the Garden District.

We soon found out that this location is the most beautiful and safest part of town.

We checked in to our quaint room that was equipped with a little kitchenette and simple comforts.


No time to waste!!!

We had a trolley stop directly in front of our hotel that would take us around the entire city for $1.25.

Our first stop:  Bourbon street

We had wondered why the hotels were booked and so many people were visiting.

Yah....the stupid Final Four basketball thingy was going on.

Apparently, this event brought as many people to NOLA as New Years Eve does.

We were glad that we decided to experience Bourbon Street on this first day before the weekend came and it started to get crazy town!

I was in my glory watching the street performers.  Most are young men that are born with Jazz in their blood and effortlessly make beautiful music in unison.

One of my favorite street shows were the five boys that stuck a can top to the bottom of their Nike with a piece of chewed gum to create a tap shoe.

These boys tapped their way into my heart which in turn, found themselves a sweet tip thrown in the box.

Bourbon street has the smell of Vegas X's 10000!!!

The stench of trash, vomit, sewer, and alcohol seeps up your nose holes and sticks there for a good 48 hours.  There are strip clubs with barely clothed girls standing at the doors beckoning the men to share a 'dance'.

All of the bars have kick ass drink specials and live bands enticing customers to choose their bar.

[the hair issue was bad!!! the humidity took my head, threw it in a moldy washer with nothing but kizzy serum and fug. nothing could help the frizzed tragedy, and I just got to the point that I gave my hair a big FU birdie and never looked in the mirror AGAIN!]

It was the 3-fer-1 Bud Light special that grabbed us!

I can not understand the science behind the continued ice cold temperature of our beers.

I don't know if it has something to do with being below sea level, or if it's because I drink it too fast to get warm, but I never had  a beer that wasn't brain freezing cold!!!!  YUM!!!!

We enjoyed many bars giving each one a turn to entertain us.

This Zydeco band was so much fun to watch!

The dude with the washboard  moved in ways that I don't think I've ever seen.

I've maybe seen a crazed flea infested chimp on crack move like this, but no human.

This is a common happening I assume since the police just walked right by the passed out lush.

Elise had her cards read by a lady with a shaky hand and good news.

She told of great health and wealth for the family.

THANK GOD!!!

Can you imagine if you sat down to have the leprosy and wart faced card presented in front of you.

That would be a total downer!

We ended the evening relaxing at Harrah's and recapping the "fun's" of the day.

This casino attendant named Theo,  was my first of many new friends. I didn't anticipate the overwhelming love and connection I would feel for the people of NOLA.......

but more explaining on that in the next few chapters.

NOLA Day 1-exhilarating crazy fun!