Letting The Good Times Roll In The Big Easy
I’m sooo tired, need a power nap right after getting out of bed, my friend has no voice and I think my brain is still reeling a bit from those Hand Grenades on Saturday night.
But overall I managed, somehow, to once again survive a weekend trip to New Orleans.
What is it about that city that makes one feel so energetic when you’re there and so drained when you return home? It’s as if they pump oxygen into the air like Vegas casinos to keep you alert.
In reality, it’s the energy of the place, the fact something is always going on around you and no matter how hard you went the previous night you’re somehow ready to do it all over again the next night.
That’s even if you even make it to the next night before starting again; with “Drinks To Go” all over the French Quarter, you can’t but help but start early in the day. Even making it to noon without having a cocktail in New Orleans is a challenge.
Funny story: A local friend told me about a dive burger joint called Port Of Call. So one early afternoon after walking past the French Market, I made a left on Esplanade Ave., and walked the few blocks to go there for lunch. As I approached, I saw several people walking out carrying large Port Of Call white plastic cups. I thought to myself “gosh, a lot of people here are taking their sodas to go” but when I sat down and saw the menu full of wild cocktails (one is called Neptune’s Monsoon), I realized they were all holding huge drinks.
“Duh, Kevbeaux,” I said to myself as I slapped my hand to my forehead. “This is New Orleans!”
It doesn’t help that the locals not only don’t look down on you for drinking nearly constantly but encourage it. When I went back to the hotel for a break from a steamy afternoon I mentioned to the lady at the desk, “whew, it’s hot out there.”
“You just need a little liquid cool-down,” she said and held up a plastic to-go cup containing some type of adult refreshment.
How can you not laugh at that kind of behavior, how can you not be encouraged to do it yourself and how can you not just throw your own inhibitions out the window and start living with that “laissez les bons temps rouler” attitude of the locals?
You can’t in New Orleans, which is why we’re all so tired and wiped after after visiting that city. But that’s okay because you also bring a little bit of that “let the good times roll” mentality back with you and it comes out when you return home.
After a good night’s sleep and a nap, of course.
Cheers!
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