AAAAHHHHHhhhhh!!! I am FINALLY here in my beloved New Orleans! I woke up at 5 a.m. (OUUUUUCCCHHHHHH!) turned on the news (such as it is...I mean, really, the local stuff is SHITacular) and saw many cars doing the electric slide into ditches/phone poles, etc... I figured "eff that" and disgustedly went back to bed for about an hour or so. I really wanted to be out early, BCOD beeyatches, but it was not to be. I finally got on the road around 9:54 a.m., the weather was damn near perfectly sunny, clear and cold - only to spend the next two hours not quite moving 19 miles...?!?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Hadn't the perky ass weather dude promised by 9 a.m., all the snow would be gone and roads eminently passable? Yeah, except for the poor schmucks that managed to catch the last of the black ice or whatever the hell it was and cause themselves or was it someone else a grave-entering injury... As someone apparently did on I-10E at Thompson an hour or so before I started loading the car... After having to exit the freeway due to the wreck, and then getting .. said scene of gruesomeness, it was smooth sailing. I at last crossed the stateline into LA at 1:11 p.m. The weather only got moderately murky as I neared Baton Rouge, lots of banked up snow and smeary surfaces on the highway. I trod carefully there. Saw a few roadside mini-snowmen, or as a friend called them when I described them - "Snomes" LOL! I guess kids waiting for the bus at their rather rural bus stops made them? Or road crews that were on break? They were amusing...even at 80mph (yeah, I blew out the speedlimit - I burned 60 minutes to not even go 20 miles earlier, I had to suck up some time dude!).
As per usual, I mucked up the exit/turn to head to the BnB - but at least this time it saw me taking my first drive thru the FQ! :) Ended up behind a mentally challenged/ill/whathaveyou cab driver who kept waving in reverse (I finally realized she was gesticulating at me) and she then started rasping about the law to keep 15' back and "No tailgating asshole!" and while she was berating me in her rearview mirror (and many folks were on everyone elses' tails - it was the FQ and there isn't a lot of room to drop back at 4:30 p.m., or ever) - she WAS HOLDING A DISPOSABLE CAMERA out of her driver's side window and trying to get a left-hand-held, camera angled at the side of HER van/cab flash just a pumpin' picture... Yeah, if she got a viable shot - let her explain why it's all blurry and just my headlight... She completely missed the irony that while she was trying to grate out another reason to call me "asshole" for tailgating, she was totally holding up traffic (missing lights, and now cars were all the way back up St. Louis to Decatur...) and trying to photograph as if she were Calamity Jane (or was it Annie Oakley?) taking a shot in a mirror???? WTF ever! LOL!
I touched down around 4:45 at the BnB. Got my stuff settled and then went w/the proprietress and another guest (who was celebrating her b'day) to "Celebration in the Oaks" at City Park. :) I had a great time, and I got to ride the Carousel!!! :) (pics later) I totally missed the blanket of snow that New Orleans received, but I saw some traces of it. The night was fantastic - perfect midnight blue and the stars were showing off.
We met up with the proprietor at Liuzza's on Bienville for dinner, then swung around the corner for dessert at Brocato's! :) Yum and YUM! :)
Then Mary drove us to see a funky cool piece of sculpture that was of scrap/driftwood and looking rather Viking-like ship and a Valkyrie. (again, pics later)
And now, having finally caught up on many things and doing a lot (which clears out tomorrow!), it's time for some shut-eye! :)
I love this city!!! :)
Hugs,
W.
(oh, I bought "twilight" on Monday night...yeah, worked three full days, and still managed to finish it this morning! I loved it! I don't care if it's 'teen' stuff, well written, and devourable, I didn't want to put it down! I can't wait to see the movie!!!)