Nawlins, baby!

We're back from our trip to New Orleans! Greg was there for work and Ellie and I went along for the ride.

It will probably take me three or four posts to give a complete rundown of our vacation, but I'll try to keep it concise.

We flew out very, very early on Tuesday morning. And Greg and I were up very, very late getting ready and packing. No sleep.

Luckily, our flight was uneventful. But I was so sleepy and getting a little loopy as we neared New Orleans. And as we were coming in for our descent, a flight attendant leaned over me to talk to the Asian woman sitting behind us and said, "Can you put your bags under your seat?" The Asian woman didn't respond, so the flight attendant said again, "Your bags? You need to put them under your seat." Still nothing. So she turned to her fellow flight attendant, who was also Asian, and said, "I don't think she understands what I'm saying." The other flight attendant said, "Oh, okay," as if he knew just what to do. Then he leaned over me and shouted, "PUT YOUR BAGS UNDER YOUR SEAT!"

Let's just say that I landed in New Orleans curled into a little ball with my hands covering my face, laughing hysterically. Ellie just looked at me as if she knew right then that I was certifiably insane while Greg looked at me as if he knew that a long time ago.

Because we left so early, we arrived at our hotel room with a lot of time left in the day. Greg suggested that we go on a Swamp Tour. We had to take a shuttle about 30 miles outside the city and the tour itself was going to take about 2 hours, so it seemed ambitious for our first day. But Greg was going to be at the convention for the rest of the trip and it was our only chance to do it, so we made the reservations for about an hour later. Just enough time to scarf down lunch.

I am so glad we did. The swamp tour was probably the highlight of the whole trip. I took tons of pictures and I will post some in my next blog post once I recharge the camera's batteries.

Our bus trip to the swamp went through the city and out into the countryside along the water, where we got a glimpse of the still-devastated landscape after Katrina. I tried to take pictures as we drove by, but it was hard to get good ones. Ellie and I looked out the window and I pointed out how the roofs were torn off the houses, the windows were blown in, the sides of the houses were boarded up. I tried to remember how long ago Katrina was and I guessed it at about three years ago. Turns out it was five years ago. Wow. I said to Ellie, "The hurricane hit when you were 2 years old. Now you're 7 and this is still how it is." She was amazed. The bus guide talked a lot about Katrina and how it changed the landscape and how it impacted the people there. It is still an overwhelming presence.

More in a bit, with pictures....