new orleans trip (days 6, 7, & 8)

monday, feb. 16.

started the day out with the NRECA's annual meeting. it was somewhat boring for me until the guest speakers took the stage. we got to hear from cal thomas and bob beckel who, although they have differing political views, have found "common ground" and have been even written a book together. it was humorous, intelligent and thought-provoking that a liberal and conservative could not only agree to disagree agreeably, but actually be good friends to boot!

bob beckel and cal thomas selling books and autographing 'em. they ran out of time, but T was able to purchase one and they will sign it and send it to him. :-)

it was a windy, cool, but sunny day so that afternoon we decided to take a cruise down the mississippi on the steamboat Natchez. bought tickets, then went looking for food. we lunched at Hard Rock Cafe which was surprisingly not busy. T was so hungry for a burger. and we enjoyed some of the best burgers there. if you know me well, you probably know that i don't like onions. however, i do like onion rings. i guess all it takes is some breading/batter and deep-frying to make even onions taste good to me! anyways, i had some of the best onion rings with my burger. they were so yummy!

they had a Louis Armstrong trumpet on the wall too. T plays trumpet so this was kind of special for him.

pictures of Hard Rock Cafe taken that night...i really liked the neon.

our river cruise was a two hour long trip. we enjoyed seeing some more of the area and learning more historical info about new orleans. they started off the tour with calliope music played up on top of the boat.

the boat...calliope being played on top.

a happy couple enjoying the river cruise. oh wait! that's me and T!

a carnival cruise ship getting ready to leave. not sure where its destination was, but i'm sure it was someplace warm...

dinner that night was at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. yet another fine meal. the desserts were particularly nice.

T's bread pudding and my chocolate raspberry mini at Bubba Gump's. the berries were soooo juicy!

tuesday, feb. 17th.

another lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. guess we both enjoyed the food there, or we wouldn't have gone back! then we took time to tour the audubon aquarium where we took lots more pics.

oh look! a tunnel!

a crabby crab. i bought a little stuffed crab from the giftshop for cj (he adores it!)

a michievous macaw. in the amazon forest section.

mr. alligator is white? yep.

an interesting photo by T.

after the aquarium, we went for one last walk in the french quarter (to find dinner, of course!)

dinner? nope just an iron horse head.

and on the way, we went by a YARN SHOP! T was being a meanie. he wouldn't let me go in or even hardly peek in the windows. so i pouted. but i knew T was really hungry, so although i really really really wanted to stay and check out the pretty yarns, i didn't pout very much and we had an enjoyable dinner and went back to begin packing.

wednesday, feb. 18.

our last day in new orleans. in the morning, i got all our bags packed up while T went to the last NRECA meeting. it was interesting trying to fit everything back into our suitcases, but we had allowed for one more carry-on for the return trip so it worked out rather nicely. since we didn't have to leave for the airport until 2:30pm, and we had some time to spare, T agreed to take me back to the little yarn shop we had seen the night before. we checked our luggage in at the bell desk, checked out of our room and headed back to the shop. this was the first real yarn shop i've ever been in. it was really nice. small, but nice. i walked around touching and looking and touching more yarn.

after about a minute and a half, T decided to go check out the cathedral again since it was less than a block away. he did that, then sat on a bench in the park there for a bit, and enjoyed listening to a jazz band playing in the square there. i spent about an hour in the yarn shop. it's hard to decide what to buy. do i buy the one skein of noro silk garden sock yarn? or two skeins of the koigu painter's palette premium merino? either choice gets me one pair of yummy socks. the noro was a tad less expensive, but i wasn't sure about the texture...it felt stiff in places. the koigu on the other hand was blessedly soft, albeit a tad more spendy. i decide to get the koigu. only one problem remained--which color to get?

so here's my new yarn.

the nice lady even wound the skeins into balls for me.
(i hand-wind my yarns when needed, but that ball-winder made it so neat and fast!
i've gotta get myself one someday!)

i thought the packaging was a nice touch of special too.

so that (finally) is the end of my story of my trip to new orleans. it was interesting, fun, and i even bought yarn! yay!