Back Home!

Well, we actually got home last night, but this is the first chance I’m getting to write about it.  I’m going to try to sum up the trip without too much rambling.  So, Blake’s dad came and picked us up just after 9 o’clock Friday morning.  After explaining the rules to a scavenger hunt game that we would be playing while on the road, we were off!  My first break in veganism in over 2 weeks came just outside of Lake Charles when we stopped at a Hardee’s for lunch.  I had the Little Cheeseburger.  I will say that after a couple weeks with no meat whatsoever, it was pretty good.  I kind of had mixed emotions though, because I felt excruciatingly guilty at the same time. We got into New Orleans at around 3 o’clock and were met with bumper to bumper gridlock.  We finally got to the hotel (Prytania Park) sometime after 4pm.   

The room was upstairs through a little courtyard.  Inside the room there was a loft with two full-size beds where Blake and I stayed.  Downstairs was a king-size bed, couch, 2 comfy chairs, TV, mini fridge, microwave, etc.  There was also a full bathroom upstairs and downstairs.

After stretching out in the room for awhile, we decided to head out to dinner at a place a friend of Blake’s dad had told him about, Dick & Jenny’s.  It was in a very unassuming little house on Tchoupitoulas Street. 

We got there around 6:30 and the place was already full, so we had to wait in a little lounge area for about an hour.  It was okay though, because we ordered some fried shrimp (2^nd animal of the day) which were excellent.

The wait was definitely worth it!  I got the pork tenderloin (3^rd animal) stuffed with goat cheese and pine nuts, topped with a roasted red pepper reduction.  It came with thyme and goat cheese grits, and sautéed spinach.  It was so good.  I mean, like, ridiculously good.  I gotta tell ya, I didn’t feel all that guilty while eatin’ that poor little pig.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to change clothes and let our food settle for a bit before we headed out to the Maple Leaf Club to see the Radiators play.  We got to the club at about 10pm, so we had just over an hour wait before they took the stage.  We didn’t bring our camera because it just would have been too big a pain in the ass to take pics.  The place was in a really small old shotgun house that was divided down the middle.  One half was the bar area, and the other half was the stage area.  Glenda did take this pic of me and her with her camera phone though.

And here's a pic of the whole gang! (From L to R: Blake, Me, Ron and Glenda)

The show was really good (in spite of a small tussle Blake got into with some jerk-off who eventually got thrown out).  My claustrophobia started to get the better of me a couple of times, but all in all I did pretty well.  The show ended sometime after 2am, and we headed back to the hotel (after a quick stop at McDonald’s).  Saturday morning it was time to check out and head to Vacherie, Louisiana for our much anticipated stay at Oak Alley Plantation!

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2!!