NOLA

Let me translate that, since it took Joc and I a few days (and Joc even longer as I had to explain it to her straight up). NOLA= New Orleans, LA (get it? NOLA...) Creative, we thought!
Joc has bid me farewell and I am now comfortably settled in my conference hotel room and taking a day off, #1 because I have to prepare what sessions I'm attending for tomorrow's conference, #2 because it's raining pretty steady eddy and my raincoat sucks and #3 because the edema in my feet has finally decreased and I no longer look like a 9 month pregnant woman with cankles! I'm revelling in my "skinny" ankles again. Which brings me to my thoughts on the south... when they ask, where ya'll from? and you say, Michigan one of the first questions they ask is, "so you think it's hot, huh?" like we live in the artic... like we never get above a cold rain or light snow? I'll give them one thing, it is hot and muggy here and from what locals have said, it gets worse in the next couple months. I'm glad I won't be here for that experience, I really wouldn't want to see my cankles at that point! (c:
NOLA has been fun, we saw much of the city, did three tours of the place, learned quite a bit about the history (and it has a rich history!), road the streetcars (not trolley's) and walked a lot. We found a couple bars, not on Bourbon st, that we really enjoyed and shopped a bit. We ate local cuisine, Joc finally had crawfish last night which is a big local eatery... think larger than shrimp but smaller than lobster... couldn't tell you what they taste like I didn't have the guts to try them. We even had muffelattas (which are huge sandwiches with an olice salad topping... not big olive fans but they weren't too bad actually). We walked down Bourbon St, experienced it on a Friday night and then promptly left... funny how when you do that much walking and sightseeing getting drunk and being obnoxious just aren't a priority. Sort of like Ireland, you want to stay out and get pissed with the locals, but you've done and seen so much that your bed sounds much more appealing. That was us on Bourbon st, we decided if we had come down with the full intention of getting drunk and staying out all night then Bourbon street would have been more appealing. Loud and crazy are two words I would use.
I'm going to post pictures from our trip, I'll do it in a seperate posting, just so I can be more controlled on the captions and organization. Hope you enjoy the pics and my quick write up, now I'm here for learnin' from Monday-Thursday when I head north, back to the "cold" as these southerners think!
Funny note: I was wandering in the huge conference center trying to find the registration for my conference and I found a huge sign that said, "REGISTRATION" so I go in line but was confused when it said something about a gold card... I asked the chick behind me who was like, "honey you need to ask someone... it's a vendor card, you get it from the state" I was like, I must be in the wrong place..sure enough, that was a jewelery convention! OMG was I in the wrong place! HA! I heard her whisper to her friend as I was leaving that I must be lost and she hopes I can find my place... interesting, very interesting...