New Orleans or Bust...
Well, it's official. Petra and I are going to drive more than halfway across the country for a decent croissant. Well, our ultimate destination will be the French Quarter in swanky New Orleans. But there will be plenty to see along the way.
The trip begins in beautiful Fresno (cough) where we'll be heading out at around 8 in the morning. In other words (because I know Petra so well) we'll hit the highway around 11. It's about a ten hour drive to the Grand Canyon and we plan to hang around there for a couple of hours before hitting the road for another four hours of driving (yes, I'm serious and Petra is nuts!). Mind you, I'm talking desert driving in the middle of July so we are both slightly out of our minds.
We'll be staying over somewhere in New Mexico--probably Albuquerque, which I think is totally cool because it's where Bugs Bunny always ended up when he was trekking blindly under ground. And if you don't know what I'm talking about then, my friend, YOU ARE DEPRIVED. And you should give up your American citizenship right now and go live in Cuba.
From Albuquerque (and I cut and pasted that word because no one in their right mind should have to type it more than once in a lifetime) we will be on the road for another ten hours before we reach Dallas!! There, Petra and I will hook up with some of her friends and I will pretend that I'm in my early twenties for a few nights. And in case you're wondering, I have been practicing my dance moves in front of a full length mirror. And it's hella difficult to exorcise those geeky 1980s moves. I keep catching myself trying to do the moonwalk and flipping bangs that no longer exist out of my face.
Anyway, then a bunch of us are hopping in the car for another 8 hour drive to the mouth of the Mississippi!! Woo hoo!! And we'll stay in New Orleans for 3 or 4 days. Once we're back in Dallas I'm taking off. But screw that driving crap, I'm taking the plane. And I should arrive back in Fresno just in time to serve jury duty. Yes, those sons of raisin farmers sent me another damn summons!
The trip begins in beautiful Fresno (cough) where we'll be heading out at around 8 in the morning. In other words (because I know Petra so well) we'll hit the highway around 11. It's about a ten hour drive to the Grand Canyon and we plan to hang around there for a couple of hours before hitting the road for another four hours of driving (yes, I'm serious and Petra is nuts!). Mind you, I'm talking desert driving in the middle of July so we are both slightly out of our minds.
We'll be staying over somewhere in New Mexico--probably Albuquerque, which I think is totally cool because it's where Bugs Bunny always ended up when he was trekking blindly under ground. And if you don't know what I'm talking about then, my friend, YOU ARE DEPRIVED. And you should give up your American citizenship right now and go live in Cuba.
From Albuquerque (and I cut and pasted that word because no one in their right mind should have to type it more than once in a lifetime) we will be on the road for another ten hours before we reach Dallas!! There, Petra and I will hook up with some of her friends and I will pretend that I'm in my early twenties for a few nights. And in case you're wondering, I have been practicing my dance moves in front of a full length mirror. And it's hella difficult to exorcise those geeky 1980s moves. I keep catching myself trying to do the moonwalk and flipping bangs that no longer exist out of my face.
Anyway, then a bunch of us are hopping in the car for another 8 hour drive to the mouth of the Mississippi!! Woo hoo!! And we'll stay in New Orleans for 3 or 4 days. Once we're back in Dallas I'm taking off. But screw that driving crap, I'm taking the plane. And I should arrive back in Fresno just in time to serve jury duty. Yes, those sons of raisin farmers sent me another damn summons!
posted by Grant-Will-Rant at
8:46 PM
8 Comments:
YAY!
Okay, you will naturally want to do Bourbon street but warning: it's really really nasty. There are some good uptown bars, my favorite being the one at the Columns hotel on St. Charles Ave a block or two from Napoleon Ave. It's more low key. A bar that my cousin Caroline likes to go to a lot is F&M's on Tchoupitoulas. Problem is that's not a very great area, but then again... most of New Orleans is a in a not very great area.
The Boot at Tulane used to be a good bar but now it's frequented by mainly Highschool students.
Let's see... in terms of restuarants my favs are Frankie and Johnny's (that's where I saw John Goodman), Domilisce's (which has the best po-boy's in the city), and the Camellia Grill (all of those are cheap, if you and Petra win the lottery then I suggest Commander's Palace and Dick & Jenny's). Oh, I hope neither you nor Petra are vegetarian... because New Orleans doesn't really understand that concept very well.
Ummm... if you want to know where Anne Rice's and Trent Reznor's houses are, let me know. Although come to think of it, Trent just sold it to John Goodman. Oh and Nic Cage just bought a house in the garden district so I can tell you where that is too. And where my grandmother's old house is- where they filmed JFK.
If I think of anything else, I'll respond again.
By
Anonymous, at 2:24 PM, June 17, 2005
Ha! Petra's a vegan!! I love it!
By
Anonymous, at 5:31 PM, June 17, 2005
By the way, thanks for all the good info. I'm gonna write down the names of those bars and leave dorky messages under bricks or on the bathroom walls so that the next time you visit you'll see traces of me everywhere!! Brooaaaahhh!!
And I really want to see Anne Rice's house. Is it true she sleeps in a coffin?
By
Anonymous, at 5:37 PM, June 17, 2005
Sounds like a fun trip! Have fun, take pictures, embarass yourself.
By
Anonymous, at 5:53 PM, June 17, 2005
looks like i'll be on a diet for about 3-4 days. good thing i can still drink.
By
Anonymous, at 1:05 PM, June 18, 2005
Okay... first of all. WooHoo! Sounds like fun. Yeah, PEEETTTTTRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
Second, stop using 'hella,' it's so 'valley.'
and Third, YOU'RE CRAZY to be driving so much. Gas will be a small fortune, good luck with that.
capnJack
By
Anonymous, at 6:49 PM, June 18, 2005
okay, i agree with capnJack- 'hella' must be buried immediately! driving? driving half way across america is fantastic. i can't tell you how much i enjoy mingling with redneck dumb *ucks and whatever else is out there. (this isn't a damn pc blog, is it?) that'll be Good Times!
umm...Hel- yeah...where is trent's old house?
By
Anonymous, at 10:17 PM, June 18, 2005
P.S. Yall suck for going in July because in August I'm moving to Carbondale which is only 9 hours from New Orleans. Then again I'll be busy enough with unpacking and preparing for grad school so I wouldn't have been able to drive down anyway.
So yeah. Okay, Trent's and Anne's houses are in the Garden District which is the section of town between Jackson Ave and Louisiana Ave and between Magazine Street and St. Charles Ave. Magazine Street has good shopping and also has some great restuarants. There's also either a Starbucks or PJ's on like every street corner.
There are tours of the Garden District that start at Still Perkin (a coffee shop on the corner of Prytania and Washington Ave in a little mini shopping mall type thing called The Rink- they have a really good bookstore called the Garden District Bookstore and it has a lot of signed first editions of Anne Rice novels- as well as a big ole picture of Anne (is it Ann or Anne? I can never remember) in a coffin- promotional thing for a book signing.
Anyway, Ann has two houses. The first is on St. Charles right beside the Andrew Jackson Apartments (where my grandmother lives- located on the corner of Second Street and St. Charles). Her other house is on First street and is on the corner of First and the street right after Coliseum- (can't remember the name of it) on the riverside (heading towards magazine street from St. Charles) and downtown side (heading towards Jackson Ave). It's kindof a purplish color (but pretty) and has a gigantic iron fence around it. If she's still living there, you'll know it by the bigass limousine out front.
Trent's old house- John Goodman's new one- is on the corner of Coliseum and Second Street. It's on the lake and downtown side. It's GIGANTIC and also has a big ole iron fence running around it. The entrance is along Coliseum, and the garage where my cousins and I used to play (before Trent bought it) is along Second.
Now the house that Nic bought is along Prytania near third street. It has a statue of the Virgin Mary in the front yard underneath a gazebo type thing and it should have 'Our Lady of Perpetual Help' above it. That's because that house used to be a Catholic chapel (where I was baptized and a bunch of my aunts were married) but then Anne bought it from the diocese and turned it into a home, then resold it to a nice gay couple who then sold it to Nic.
And Petra- there used to be a vegetarian restuarant called 'The Salty Dog Cafe' near the French Quarter, but I *think* they closed. Not sure though.
Oh! While I doubt that either of yall are into football, the Manning's house (As in Archie- former QB for the Saints, Peyton- QB for the Colts, and Eli- QB for the Giants) is right next to my grandmother's old house which is a big white house on the corner of First street and Coliseum. There's another bigass white house across the street- my grandmother's is the one with the iron fence (they have a lot of those in new orleans) and the totally fake stepping blocks for horse drawn carriages in front (stupid new owners put that there for NO reason whatsoever).
Okay, that's everything I can think of for the moment.
By
Anonymous, at 1:05 PM, June 19, 2005
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