NOLA -> College Station

I wanted to see what I reasonably could while driving back from New Orleans. Rob and I drove to Lake Pontchartrain which is a huge lake next to New Orleans, and also drove through the very cool City Park. We also visited several cemeteries, which are interesting because the graves are all above ground due to the excess water everywhere and they have rather grandiose mausoleums in some cases. Some were definitely nicer than others. 

At the suggestion of Katie in Seattle, who grew up in Louisiana, we took highway 90 instead of 10 for awhile to drive through swamp land, and then had lunch in New Iberia at the Bon Creole Lunch Counter where we each had a shrimp po boy, which was good. 

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More Thursday night

Random sights + tarot card reading

Thursday in New Orleans

I gave my talk at the conference last Thursday in the morning, the first talk of the session. It went pretty well I think, but there are things I'd like to improve on next time. I think I fielded the questions pretty well, but I also learned some things afterward to help.

I didn't feel much like going to talks afterward, but I stayed for the rest of the session I had spoken in and then went to lunch with some of the people, which was a great opportunity.

That night, I went out to dinner and to explore with Rob, Kristen, and Samantha, the last two I know from UW. We had dinner at a great place (Cafe Amelie) and then went to see music at Preservation Hall. The music was great and we even recognized some people from the Maple leaf from my previous trip to New Orleans, but it was short and a bit hokey. Afterward we went to try Absinthe at a bar, which was actually pretty neat to learn about. Not the best tasting, however.

Algiers ferry

Yesterday I caught the ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers point which is a neighborhood. The ferry was free and runs on a set schedule so I took it across, ran on the other side, and then took it back. I saw some neat birds on the dock and then a bald eagle on a tree very close to me, which was really neat! I've never seen one so close.

Just in case I was lost...

Back in New Orleans

I drove to New Orleans yesterday with my boss rob and it was a decent drive. We saw some of the back areas of Louisiana trying to find the Creole Nature Trail.

This morning I went for a quick run and went along the river, and through some of the French quarter and down Frenchmen street. I found several neat parks and lots of pretty houses, but also some stuff that may be leftover from Katrina damage.


Conference all day!

Back to College Station and on to New Orleans

Yesterday I drove back to Bryan/College Station in the late afternoon since today, Monday, I am driving to New Orleans with my boss for another conference. We are leaving in a few hours. I am looking forward to seeing more of this area of the country and I am doing a talk at the conference, too. Kyle is in Austin today but he flies out Wednesday for NYC to work with some colleagues and then will be at a conference in Boston next week.

Just as I was coming into BCS yesterday, there were tons of vehicles on the highway with flashing lights. It was rather disorienting and I thought something had happened at the airport since I was passing it. Eventually traffic stopped and the police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks kept driving by. There were a lot of them, but it was hard to capture with a picture. I called Kyle and he found online that two fire fighters had died Friday night at a fire in Bryan at the Knights of Columbus. Very sad.