Ghosts and Alligators

The first time I got a weekend off, my friends Dan and Daniele came down to spend the weekend with us, which was so much fun!

We partook of two classic New Orleans tours: a ghost tour, and a swamp tour. Both were excellent! The French Quarter Phantoms ghost tour guide basically just told us freaky ghost stories outside of the supposedly haunted houses and buildings. I was hoping to see something, but I didn’t. There was one that was so haunted that the tour guide didn’t really want to be there, he said locals won’t walk on the side of the street with this one house, and there have been multiple reports of people being chased down the street by “something.” Ack!

The Cajun Adventures Swamp Tour was beautiful – not nearly as scary as I was expecting. We drove out to the middle of nowhere, got on a boat with ten or so other people, and drove around the swamps looking at all kinds of interesting plants and animals, including a couple of giant alligators. It’s hard to tell in these pictures, but he said if you measure from their eyes to the end of their snout, whatever that is in inches is about how big they are in feet. We were estimating that the ones we saw were close to 15 feet! He said they’re much more active in the spring, so I’m thinking about going back when it’s a little nicer.

We got to dine at two of my favorite places in New Orleans, Three Muses and Acme Oyster. Acme Oyster is a divey oyster bar whose specialty is these chargrilled oysters that are to die for! Cheesy and garlicky with puddles of butter just waiting to be sopped up by fresh bread… mmm. There’s always a massive line out the door – that crazy weekend we waited a good hour to get in there. Totally worth it. Three Muses is on Frenchman St., which for those who don’t know of it, blows Bourbon St. out of the water. It’s basically where all the jazz is, if you’re into that. This particular little gem is a tiny space that’s always packed – fun music, amazing food and a specialty cocktail menu to be proud of.

Great weekend, great friends, and refreshed enough to carry on.

My Life, As It Stands

So, what have I been up to since I left Texas, you ask? I have been on a business trip in New Orleans for eleven weeks now, living in a hotel, working 70-80 hour weeks with two weekends off so far. And I’m here until the end of May. It’s brutal, and I’m pretty over it, but the money’s great and I feel like I have an obligation to see this thing through. For those who don’t know, or long since forgot, I create information graphics that attorneys use in court to make their case more understandable to the judge and/or jury. Typically, I really enjoy my work, but this is by far the longest I have ever been on a trial site by many times over. Luckily, every time I start to freak out and think I can’t keep doing this or I’m going to lose it, the weekend arrives, and I get a couple short, eight- or nine-hour days and a few nice meals and I find myself continuing to show up every morning.

Sam started out the trip with me, spending about a month here in the city, which as far as trial-sites go, was AWESOME. Most people have to miss their families… I had mine right here! And New Orleans really is one of my favorite cities, when I've got the time to play. After a while he headed back out on the road to St. Petersburg, FL to visit an old friend he doesn’t get to see very often. He went to Orlando to hang out with me for a weekend (Disney details to come!), and finally ended up in St. Augustine, FL, which I think he really enjoyed. Unfortunately I don’t know very much about what he’s been up to on a day-to-day basis. He’s actually coming back to NOLA today (!!), and will be here for the duration of the trial, for which I cannot express how excited I am! Everything will be so much better.

I realize this post is kind of a downer, but I thought I’d let you peek in a window of my life right now. The two weekends I’ve had off were AMAZING, which I will post about next, and I spent of week or so in Chicago, which has some food I want to tell you about. Not to mention the food in New Orleans! I promise I have more positive things to come! 

Love the Road

My life has taken a significantly less nomadic turn in the last couple of months, and has felt much less interesting than the previous eight months, so it seems I have neglected my blog. And for that, I am sorry.

After beautiful Yellowstone in October, we came back to Texas to celebrate Sam’s 30^th birthday and the holidays with friends and family. It was so nice to have friends again! As much as I love travelling and making new friends, I will admit that, at least in retrospect, there’s something a little exhausting about it. Meeting the gang for a drink, and not doing the Abbreviated Exploration of Who Everybody is as a Person was refreshing and comfortable.

There is a way that I am, and I’m not sure where it came from except maybe from moving around a lot as a kid, but I thrive on change. Where most fear and avoid it, I need it in my life to feel like things aren’t stagnating. This leads to a lot of new apartments, new jobs, and new boyfriends over the years. There’s also an element of mastering chaos – I love to throw myself into an uncomfortable situation, and grow to the point that it is no longer scary and unfamiliar. (This has not extended to roller coasters, among other things.)

This past year was decidedly uncomfortable, and I settled into that discomfort magnificently! Moving the RV from one place to another became routine. Driving became more than a way to get from A to B, but an experience in itself – some music, beautiful scenery, great company... it really turned out to be one of my favorite things to do. I truly love the road, in so many ways. It’s been an odd combination of settling into a routine, but waking up every few days to a whole new world to explore – a new mountain to hike, a new beer to try, a new friend to make. Everything hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been such a delightful adventure, I wouldn’t change a thing!

I am now working in New Orleans for a while, which I will elaborate on in my hopefully much more frequent upcoming blogs. <3