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cyranoTomorrow we will be in New Orleans. Please feel free to suggest places you think we should go. Really, we would love some concrete ideas.
Additional comments by my lovely travel companion are in Bold.
Day 1:
Scooted home from work. Burned a couple of discs for the drive, including a new mix just for Windrose. Ate some soup that was too good to wait until it was cool enough not to peel the skin off the roof of my mouth, and got a ride. Both supplied by Tersa.
At the airport, they said the plane had left late and we were delayed by ten minutes. Later, they added another half-hour to forty-five minutes, so I assume it went out and then came back either for mechanical or security reasons. They said I’d probably miss my connection but they’d take care of it in Phoenix and book me for the next morning. (This is a game called Pass the Buck. I don’t care for it when other agents dump their problems on me. I also don’t like it when I am made another agent’s problem.) Well, it appears that in Phoenix they discovered another flight that same night that the folks in San Jose hadn’t known about, and booked me on that. Of course, then they stealthily changed the departure gate three times and delayed it a few times, trying to shake me off. Finally made the plane leave and got to Tucson. In general, not impressed with AmericaWest. The people seem more or less competent and okay, but they appear poorly managed and under staffed and under informed.
Made the Arizona Stagecoach take me toWindrose’s where I got hugs and sent her to bed.
Day 2:
Up early, for just-in-case, and wandered around the apartment trying to find something productive to do. Found a couple of errands I could run, and then discovered that one of Windrose’s neighbors had a wireless network and a low regard for security. Not enough time to actually respond to email but time enough to log in and tell folks I was alive.
Mei called from the San Jose airport--apparently the person who flaked on giving her a ride to the airport had also flaked on the ride home. I was very sad to say it, but I could only ride my white charger to save one maiden at a time. (:
The Mayflower guys arrived mostly on time, and apparently had their fecal matter far better aggregated than the bozos who showed up last week to get her stuff packed. They fixed mistakes and solved problems that had not yet occurred. Alas, Windrose did not get to say goodbye to The Cute One. After a little bit of Car Tetris we were on the road by two, which was about as late as I had wanted to get started.
The two cats took turns perching on top of the little plastic carrier inside the wire cage, even after it was discovered that, if a cat was sitting on the blue plastic carrier, turns at any faster than 20mph would spin the plastic cage and dump the Yertle-ized kitty into the litter pan on his furry head. The one temporarily on top would glower into the rear view mirror at us, and the other would mope on the floor, and both of them would tell us that a kitty had never before suffered such an awful fate as the one both of them currently faced.
It was damned hot out, but there was air conditioning in the car, and a portable CD player. Arizona was quickly left behind, and it seemed New Mexico was also quickly disposed of. El Paso was, in theory, 19 miles from the Texas border, but within moments of passing the bridge with great big stars marking entry to the state, we passed the city limits.
Here, in the City at the Edge of Forever, we stopped for fuel and to ask the Local Village Sherpa how far it was to Van Horn, which I had been given as a good first day’s stopping point. She blinked and said she’d never heard of the place, or Fort Stockton, the next best name I’d been given. I assumed she was an idiot WR: She was. and asked one of the fellow gas pumpers (with TX plates) and she said it was about 75 to 100 miles down the road.
We thought that sounded like a short enough trip to venture out again, and set off. The sun set, the clouds gathered, lightning flew across the skies, rain fell, and we continued down I-10 despite an amazing lack of signage. Inside El Paso, which is apparently about 30 miles wide, there were no signs for anything more than two miles away. Outside El Paso, there were just no signs. My road-trip mix CD was judged to be at least tolerable WR: He’s being modest, it’s a great mix., and eventually there was a sign that mentioned Van Horn. It was only about forty miles further than the lady at the gas station had said. It was decided that since there was nothing between El Paso and Van Horn WR: West Texas is far more interesting in the dark we decided that the best bet was to continue forward.
Of course, this was before we encountered the “Road Closed All Vehicles Must Exit” sign (Luckily all they wanted to do was ask us if we were citizens. They didn’t specify citizens of where.) and the other highway closure where they shunted us onto a single lane on the opposite side of the median (which median we were repeatedly encouraged not to drive on).
Despite our Sherpa, the best attempts of the Texas DoT and the weather, we arrived in Van Horn and found a Holiday Inn Express that would take a smoker and cats. The telephone said there was No Internet In Van Horn, but when I turned on the laptop the truck stop next door gave the lie to that. Unfortunately, I could not buy access from them. I could not update the time on my laptop because the server that would set my time was busy and couldn’t talk to me right now, and so the truck stop said Don’t be silly, they don’t have credit cards in 1904. (I do not know why my laptop defaults to 1 Jan 1904.)
The cats were soothed and fed, and then there was bed around 12:30.
Ideas I failed to write down at the time:
NPC with rattlesnake head bolo--strings dangling like a hyper-forked tongue.
Apocalypse Now mission to save Star Wars. (But it’s too late now.)
Day 3:
Considerably shorter update, as it consists of driving through Texas. WR: It’s amazing how much more interesting the state becomes when you add water. We drove and drove and drove. And then we decided that, rather than stopping in San Antonio, we’d drive on to Houston which would trim a couple of hours off our travel time tomorrow which was going to be the ugly long day. The cats sat in the back and told us repeatedly how much we sucked and how miserable they were.
Got to Houston, ate at Chili’s, and updated.
Additional comments by my lovely travel companion are in Bold.
Day 1:
Scooted home from work. Burned a couple of discs for the drive, including a new mix just for Windrose. Ate some soup that was too good to wait until it was cool enough not to peel the skin off the roof of my mouth, and got a ride. Both supplied by Tersa.
At the airport, they said the plane had left late and we were delayed by ten minutes. Later, they added another half-hour to forty-five minutes, so I assume it went out and then came back either for mechanical or security reasons. They said I’d probably miss my connection but they’d take care of it in Phoenix and book me for the next morning. (This is a game called Pass the Buck. I don’t care for it when other agents dump their problems on me. I also don’t like it when I am made another agent’s problem.) Well, it appears that in Phoenix they discovered another flight that same night that the folks in San Jose hadn’t known about, and booked me on that. Of course, then they stealthily changed the departure gate three times and delayed it a few times, trying to shake me off. Finally made the plane leave and got to Tucson. In general, not impressed with AmericaWest. The people seem more or less competent and okay, but they appear poorly managed and under staffed and under informed.
Made the Arizona Stagecoach take me toWindrose’s where I got hugs and sent her to bed.
Day 2:
Up early, for just-in-case, and wandered around the apartment trying to find something productive to do. Found a couple of errands I could run, and then discovered that one of Windrose’s neighbors had a wireless network and a low regard for security. Not enough time to actually respond to email but time enough to log in and tell folks I was alive.
Mei called from the San Jose airport--apparently the person who flaked on giving her a ride to the airport had also flaked on the ride home. I was very sad to say it, but I could only ride my white charger to save one maiden at a time. (:
The Mayflower guys arrived mostly on time, and apparently had their fecal matter far better aggregated than the bozos who showed up last week to get her stuff packed. They fixed mistakes and solved problems that had not yet occurred. Alas, Windrose did not get to say goodbye to The Cute One. After a little bit of Car Tetris we were on the road by two, which was about as late as I had wanted to get started.
The two cats took turns perching on top of the little plastic carrier inside the wire cage, even after it was discovered that, if a cat was sitting on the blue plastic carrier, turns at any faster than 20mph would spin the plastic cage and dump the Yertle-ized kitty into the litter pan on his furry head. The one temporarily on top would glower into the rear view mirror at us, and the other would mope on the floor, and both of them would tell us that a kitty had never before suffered such an awful fate as the one both of them currently faced.
It was damned hot out, but there was air conditioning in the car, and a portable CD player. Arizona was quickly left behind, and it seemed New Mexico was also quickly disposed of. El Paso was, in theory, 19 miles from the Texas border, but within moments of passing the bridge with great big stars marking entry to the state, we passed the city limits.
Here, in the City at the Edge of Forever, we stopped for fuel and to ask the Local Village Sherpa how far it was to Van Horn, which I had been given as a good first day’s stopping point. She blinked and said she’d never heard of the place, or Fort Stockton, the next best name I’d been given. I assumed she was an idiot WR: She was. and asked one of the fellow gas pumpers (with TX plates) and she said it was about 75 to 100 miles down the road.
We thought that sounded like a short enough trip to venture out again, and set off. The sun set, the clouds gathered, lightning flew across the skies, rain fell, and we continued down I-10 despite an amazing lack of signage. Inside El Paso, which is apparently about 30 miles wide, there were no signs for anything more than two miles away. Outside El Paso, there were just no signs. My road-trip mix CD was judged to be at least tolerable WR: He’s being modest, it’s a great mix., and eventually there was a sign that mentioned Van Horn. It was only about forty miles further than the lady at the gas station had said. It was decided that since there was nothing between El Paso and Van Horn WR: West Texas is far more interesting in the dark we decided that the best bet was to continue forward.
Of course, this was before we encountered the “Road Closed All Vehicles Must Exit” sign (Luckily all they wanted to do was ask us if we were citizens. They didn’t specify citizens of where.) and the other highway closure where they shunted us onto a single lane on the opposite side of the median (which median we were repeatedly encouraged not to drive on).
Despite our Sherpa, the best attempts of the Texas DoT and the weather, we arrived in Van Horn and found a Holiday Inn Express that would take a smoker and cats. The telephone said there was No Internet In Van Horn, but when I turned on the laptop the truck stop next door gave the lie to that. Unfortunately, I could not buy access from them. I could not update the time on my laptop because the server that would set my time was busy and couldn’t talk to me right now, and so the truck stop said Don’t be silly, they don’t have credit cards in 1904. (I do not know why my laptop defaults to 1 Jan 1904.)
The cats were soothed and fed, and then there was bed around 12:30.
Ideas I failed to write down at the time:
NPC with rattlesnake head bolo--strings dangling like a hyper-forked tongue.
Apocalypse Now mission to save Star Wars. (But it’s too late now.)
Day 3:
Considerably shorter update, as it consists of driving through Texas. WR: It’s amazing how much more interesting the state becomes when you add water. We drove and drove and drove. And then we decided that, rather than stopping in San Antonio, we’d drive on to Houston which would trim a couple of hours off our travel time tomorrow which was going to be the ugly long day. The cats sat in the back and told us repeatedly how much we sucked and how miserable they were.
Got to Houston, ate at Chili’s, and updated.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 08:22 pm (UTC)Other than that, we tended to wander and drink frozen drinks. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-04 09:54 am (UTC)New Orleans sites
Date: 2004-08-04 02:14 pm (UTC)I will second![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lurkingowl's vote for the D-Day Museum, and I'm told that the Civil War museum is also worth seeing. The Cabildo, down on Jackson Square in the French Quarter, has another good museum, and next door, St. Louis Cathedral is beautiful and worth looking at. You can get the traditional cafe au lait and bagnets at Cafe du Monde, also on Jackson Square, and check out antique shops and/or the Voodoo Museum (which is hokey but fun). The Lousiana Visitors' Center is on Jackson Square, and the nice people there will be happy to give you directions and recommendations for the city. Tipitina's often has good music, and Preservation Hall (in the Quarter, again) has really good delta blues/jazz and is definitely worth seeing. The Aquarium of the Americas is fun. Harrah's casino is all right, if you want to gamble. Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum is also hokey but fun. Those are off the top of my head. Oh yeah, oyster po'boys at the Acme Oyster House (also in the Quarter) are good. Taking a walk in Audobon Park and/or seeing Audobon Zoo can be fun, too.
I'm from there. Can you tell?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-04 03:32 pm (UTC)If you do not eat at Arnaud's, you have only yourself to blame. You may dress up and enjoy fine dining in the fine dining room, or come in in a t-shirt and flip-flops and be served by the same waiters with equal celerity and politeness in the room the locals eat in.
Do NOT miss the flan.