New Orleans, Louisiana

Memphis - New Orleans via Amtrak (City of New Orleans route)
Brad's birthday
April 24-27, 2008

• Nick, Brad, Amanda, and Erica took the train from Memphis to New Orleans. Drove to downtown Memphis to Central Station, where we checked in, got our tickets, and boarded a bus to an area near President's Island, off Riverport Road, due to an 18 foot deep sinkhole that forced Amtrak to detour train service around the city. We arrived at the train around 6:30 AM in what appeared to be a shipping/rail yard and boarded.
• Train departed and for the next 10 hours we were riding. Surprisingly, there was plenty of good food on board. As we rode through the Mississippi Delta and into Louisiana, we kept ourselves entertained by reading, chatting, eating, and watching the woman behind us interact with her child. And the conductors. This lady felt it was her god-given right to disembark and smoke at each stop (whether she was allowed to or not). She was pretty vocal about her rights as a smoker.
• Arriving in New Orleans around 4 pm, we left the train station via taxi and went to the hotel (Doubletree) downtown. We checked into the hotel and started walking, mainly looking to hit up some bars and score a couple drinks - sorely needed after being on the train all day.
• Harrah's casino was located across the street from the hotel - we made our way into the casino at some point and played a few games. Well, Nick and Brad played (Nick's first go at Roulette banked him about $200) while Erica and Amanda got something to eat. They were both wasting away from starvation. We saw Amy Lavere play a set that evening.
• The next day saw more drinking, hanging out in the French Quarter at bars, playing air hockey, darts, pool. One of Erica's happiest moments of the trip came when she realized that her Coor's Light bottle changed colors once the beer was no longer cold. Amanda said that this was when Erica would know when to start chugging her beer. One of Amanda's meals that day consisted of a chili dog from a greasy spoon, topped with slices of cheese FRIED on a FLAT GRILL. A picture of health, this woman.
• Erica, Amanda, and Brad took an afternoon trip to the Garden District. They visited a cemetery and had some phenomenal pizza. Nick met up with them once back downtown and everyone went to the market to look at junk. We also took a walk along the river.
  
• That evening we all went to dinner at a nice restaurant in the French Quarter and while Amanda was dressed to the nines, she was not wearing the most comfortable pair of hooker shoes...so much so that she had to make a trip into the Walgreen's to get a pair of flip flops. We stopped at a few more bars, had a few more drinks then headed back to the hotel.
• The following morning, we all packed up and got a cab to the train station (NOUPT). Checked in, waited, then boarded the train. Once into Mississippi, the conductor asked us (each, sitting alone with no one next to us) to consolidate since we were together and take up 1 full row because there were several more passengers getting on at the next stop. And one of them just happened to be our lovely carmate from the trip down, just a few days before. And she was still concerned about when/where she was going to be able to smoke her cigarettes. Classy.