Crescent City Consultation

Scott Hardie | February 27, 2024
Advice would be appreciated:

Kelly and I will be in New Orleans later this year.

I never drink, and she rarely does.

We'd prefer not to drive (although we're open to it for the right attraction), so we'll be staying at the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal Street to maximize our walking and streetcar access.

What should we do while we're there?

Samir Mehta | February 27, 2024
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Scott Hardie | February 29, 2024
Thank you! I appreciate it.

That sounds in line with our rough plans. Bourbon Street is touristy and we'll certainly explore it, but we get the sense that it's primarily bars and, at most, Kelly might try one colorful fruity cocktail. Jazz clubs hold more appeal, but the walking tours seem like the most interesting part to us. The city has such a vast and interesting history (albeit some of it terrible) that I'd bet we could do a different tour every day for a month and not get bored.

The menu at Lebanon's appears to be mostly vegan dishes. Are there any other vegan or vegan-friendly restaurants that you would also recommend?

Samir Mehta | February 29, 2024
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Scott Hardie | February 29, 2024
Thanks! We'll be there earlier in April, so it sounds like we'll just miss you. I hope you have a good trip! :-)

Scott Hardie | April 5, 2024
Unfortunately, we're not going to make it to NOLA, at least not when and how we intended.

The plan was to drive to Texas to see the solar eclipse, visit two of Kelly's old friends for a couple of days each, tour Houston Space Center, and spend a couple of days in New Orleans on the way back.

But Kelly suffered a medical crisis recently and spent a week in the hospital, and her recovery is a complicated dance of home visits by nurses, doctor appointments, medications on a schedule, and other treatments. (Attending to her is why I've been extra quiet lately.) We can't disrupt her recovery with a ten-day road trip, and besides, we're exhausted and would struggle to enjoy ourselves anyway.

Postponing the trip for some future date to be determined is a small price to pay to know that she's going to be ok. Of course, the one part of the trip that can't be done later is the eclipse, which is a bummer since we've been planning this for years, but c'est la vie. On the bright side, we might be able to spend longer at each destination when we try again.

To Samir visiting New Orleans, and to anyone enjoying the eclipse in the path of its totality, I hope that you have a blast! Let us know how it goes! :-)

Erik Bates | April 6, 2024
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Samir Mehta | April 7, 2024
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Scott Hardie | April 11, 2024
Thanks, guys!

I hope the eclipse went well for you.

We stepped out on the patio here in coastal Florida at the moment of peak eclipse, but you couldn't really tell any difference; it was slightly darker and the shadows slightly sharper. I'll send our eclipse glasses to that charity making the rounds online so that they can be used by kids in South America this fall.

Erik Bates | April 11, 2024
I got a few decent photos from my vantage point in Perryville, MO, which is as far south as I could make it due to the HORRENDOUS traffic on the interstate.

Samir, where did you wind up?