I'm glad everyone has been enjoying the week. The Petal and I are always happy to host and this week it has been a full house. Even our friend Anna crashed here over the weekend because she had to work in town, so Friday and Saturday night we had 5 people in the house all night!
It really sucks that Joe forgot his camera on Friday because I didn't take one either. I have heard, and seen for myself, one too many horror stories to take my new camera out on the water and Joe said he was bringing his, so I figured we were covered. But then when we got out on the boat we discovered that he had forgotten his camera in the trunk of the car. It made it all the way to the dock only to be forgotten. Sad, because there was some great scenery out there on what turned out to be a real beautiful day on the water.
The trip out there did have its drawbacks despite the beauty. For instance, I cannot even tell you how bad the gnats were out there in the Rigolets. I have never seen the air so thick with them here on land, even in the worst of times. It was so bad you didn't even want to breathe. I had on two t-shirts a hooded sweatshirt and a jacket and they were still getting to me and were still biting on and off as late as noontime.
But in spite of that, it was still one hell of an adventure into a place that I have never gone before, so I was OK with dealing with the bugs. The fact that I actually managed to land the biggest fish of the day was pure lagniappe to me. I would have been just as happy to just ride around out there all day checking out the sights. Several times we spotted dolphins, including, sadly, one dead one. I also got a close up look at several of the many species of birds that populate the land just off shore from my own home. An amazing trip to an amazing place that is so close, yet so far, from my own back yard.
Later that evening I decided to have a bonfire in the back yard. I got a pretty good one going with some brush that I have been cutting out of the back of my property and ran it out to about 1 a.m. Getting rid of a pile of brush and having a good time is my idea of a win-win. I always love my fires.
Saturday night was party night for us when we went to New Orleans to visit the French Quarter. We were joined by Anna who was tired from working all day but seemed to enjoy herself anyway. First up was a meeting with one of the people on this board, a guy by the name of Ferm and his wife. It took me about 5 minutes of conversation to determine that Ferm loved to work on power heads. Ferm could not stay long, so we hung out at the Starbucks in Canal Place while he and Joe got acquainted. When the meeting was over, the five of us made our way to Maspero's for dinner, then to Bourbon Street for the partying.
All of us drank and got a buzz going, but none so much as Joe, who became quite ****faced and was experiencing moderate to severe navigational difficulties. To make matters worse, the weather had changed dramatically from what it had been the day before and the rain was now coming down in buckets. We found a club to take shelter in and that is when the booze started flowing in earnest.
In the midst of it all, Joe discovered that the back of Maggie's cell phone, which he had been using, had been lost. I managed to retrace our steps and successfully locate the missing piece in one of the places we had gone before the club.
The funniest part was near the end when the rain was bucketing down and Joe was pushing Maggie through the soaking wet streets. She was lucky that she had an umbrella. The rest of us were not so fortunate and were soaked to the gills during what must have been at least a half-mile slog back to the car. Some of the funniest video of the day was shot during this time. A true classic in drunken, drenched behavior.
Today, Sunday, was much more low key. First we had to ride over to Hwy. 49 to rescue Anna when her car would not start. Then we went to Yuki's for dinner before we treated Joe and Maggie to a tour of the EM.
This has been a great week for all of us. Sadly, The Petal must go back to work today and Joe and Maggie depart in a little more than 24 hours from now, but we had some good times and it has been fun having them along with us, giving them a taste of how we roll down here in the dirty south.
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