N'awlins

New Orleans. What a town. We had so much fun playing there for Jazz Festival this weekend. We pretty much never left the French Quarter, as our condos were all on the 900 block of Bourbon Street (we had around 24ish people in our party in 5 or 6 different condos), so we were in the thick of the action. The tourism seemed as prevalent as ever, and life in the Quarter was as I ever remembered it: bustling with all sorts of character, action, music, personality and spirit. Folks down there just know how to enjoy life- everyone was so nice. Coulda been that I just have missed that southern hospitality, who knows? Anyway, apparently the hard hit neighborhoods are still barren, with the occasional new build, and a lot of folks are still relocated, but you'd never know it where we were spending all our time. It was teeming with energy.

We were there for a bachelor/bachelorette function, so we had a great crew of people that were all in great spirits. There were old friends and a lot of new ones, too. And, best of all, I managed to make my first real pilgrimage from being a cancer patient. In over 7 months I've not gone multiple days w/out thinking about cancer, without it being a huge influencing factor over my life and my day to day thoughts. I went days down there not ever thinking about it once, and I have to admit- I sure missed living w/out that hanging over my head. I didn't realize how nice it would feel, but it just did. Just getting away and being so distracted was absolutely heavenly, and has me itching for more travel and good times
Oh, and we bagged the diet for a few days and ate fried seafood galore and biegnets (sp?) and all sorts of southern gulf coast specialties (i.e. 'PO BOYS!). gut busting scrumptiousness.