...I drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was GONE

Shana and Greg:
After a final breakfast with the Habitat crew at Yankie Stadium, we headed to New Orleans. First stop was at Tea Eva's for crawfish pies and pralines. Next, we went to Holly and Burt's house, with whom we stayed with for the next 4 nights. (Thanks, by the way!). They live right near Magazine St., which is an awesome young, cool neighborhood with lots of restaurants and way too many antique shops. Many of the other houses in the area (also called the Garden District) were gorgeous, large, old homes with huge decks (my favorite) and trees covered in mardi gras beads.

That afternoon we went to the French Quarter for the French Quarter Festival. We met up with our friends Mike and Ryan from Habitat at Cafe du Monde for some traditional beignets, which are basically fried dough in powdered sugar (and are AMAZING), and cafe au lait with chicory. Next, the 3 guys and Shana strolled around Burbon St. where there were way too many "gentlemen's bars." But, we did enjoy the very cheap drinks "to go" and all the live music in the street for the festival. The social scene was way more centered on drinking rather than music unlike some of the other cities we've visited. New Orleans is the 3rd place on our trip where you can drink in the streets, but this outdoor party scene just blows the competition away. We were also surprised by all the obvious underage drinking-- not that we're providing any suggestions (Joe!). We also enjoyed the many crazy T-shirts for sale. Our 3 favorites were: 3) "FEMA Evacuation Plan: Run, Bitch, Run", 2) "I drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was GONE", and 1) featuring a picture of both Obama and Hillary with the caption "Bros before Hoes"

The next day we went back to the French Quarter Festival but spent most of the time away from Burbon St. on the waterfront. We heard some incredible local bands, including a complete brass band and some great swing, country, jazz, and blues. For lunch that day we had the absolute best sandwich either of us have ever eaten. It was a Crab Cake Po'Boy with Remoulade sauce from Johnny's Po'Boys. The whole road trip was worth it for that sandwich!

We also got some delicious bread pudding with Burbon sauce at one of the festival food stands (which all had to be non-chain, local, sit-down restaurants). Later that afternoon we visited Tulane, which was appropriate since we had just started reading Grisham's The Pelican Brief which features a Tulane Law Student and her lover/professor.

On Monday, we drove to the Bayou and took a chartered swamp tour. Both of us were impressed with the beauty of the small bayous. We also made two important discoveries. First, alligators speak French/Creole (the guide called the gators to the boat by yelling "Ici ... viens ici") and, second, gators love marshmallows. We really liked the tour in general, and also enjoyed driving around afterwards. When we got back to New Orleans, we took a break from Cajun food and went out for pizza ... and $2 pitchers of local beer (Abita). Have we mentioned that alcohol is dirt cheap here?

On our last day in New Orleans, we took a walking tour of the French Quarter, led by the National Park Service. We learned a lot about local history, culture (finally found out what creole means: it refered to someone born in the colony, but now refers to the mix of French/Spanish/African/Anglo culture unique to Louisiana), and architecture. The tour guide also claimed that cola and root beer was invented in a French Quarter Pharmacy (which is counter to the Coca Cola Company's claim of inventing cola in Atlanta).

Although we had a good time, we found New Orleans a bit exhausting. The effects of Katrina are still very evident in that you shouldn't drink the tap water, you have to watch out for infections, and prices are much higher than usual. Life is just a lot harder, especially in the non-touristy areas. However, we were very impressed by the camarederie among the locals and the vast number of fleurs-de-lis displayed around the city as a symbol of pride.

We were quite exited to hit the road again, get to Austin, TX, and (especially) to listen The Golden Compass in the car.