Ric and I had a great time in New Orleans this past weekend. I was a little nervous at first thinking it would just throw us into a number of ugly arguments, but things went fine. BTW, he didn't need to be in a sling so was pretty ambulatory.
We flew out early Saturday morning, started drinking virtually as soon as we landed (sooner for Ric, he had a beer on the plane...at 8:30 am...okay can you say "lush"?)
After check-in, we went to Harrah's Casino, right across the street from where we were staying (New Orleans Hilton-Riverside).
Come to find out, Ric is extremely vulnerable to becoming a gambling addict.
We both played 25 cent slots for a few minutes and before you knew it, I won double my investment and he won almost that as well. People were sneering at us (yes, there were a few people in the casino so early in the morning) with disdain.
But, almost an hour later, I broke even and Ric had lost all his earnings and about $40 more.
He kept wanting to stay to win it back but I finally pulled him outta there.
We then went down Decatur St. to Jackson Square and Ric seemed impressed by all the old architecture and layout of the "Riverside" area of the Quarter, but he really shined once we moved on to the layout of all the bars on Bourbon St. a few blocks "Lakeside".
We went to Bourbon Pub, one of the prominent gay clubs in the Quarter, but being so early, it was dead. We had a couple of drinks and moved down Bourbon, stopping at various bars and daiquiri shops.
I had already made reservations for us at The Court of Two Sisters, so we were seated right away at noon for our Jazz Brunch. I had grits and grillades, broiled catfish, Creole jambalaya, Duck a l'Orange, Shrimp Etouffee, boiled shrimp with Creole remoulade sauce, and Roast Beef, carved to order and served with natural au jus, topped off with a dessert of Southern Pecan Pie with Praline Sauce and Bananas Foster. I ordered a Bloody Mary but Ric also ordered champagne for the both of us.
Can you say "Decadently Delicious!"?
Ric picked up the $90 check here as (partial) payment toward the hotel costs (remember, I had originally booked this vacation for myself, and then he wanted to go so he bought airfare on the same flights as me but never paid for the hotel part of the package.)
After brunch, we strolled Bourbon Street, chatted with bartenders at various places and got slowly, but surely, shit faced.
We took a very sad walking Haunted Tour which seemed like a total rip-off. We ditched it halfway through. Afterwards, at dusk, we took a mule drawn carriage ride thru the Quarter with a really great tour guide.
Come 8:00 pm, I was still raring to go, but Ric had all sorts of aches and pains due to his injuries and his usual drinking "headache", so he needed to go back to the hotel. I stayed out at the gay bars for another hour or so, went to Krystals, scoffed down 6 cheese Krystals and went back to the hotel room by 10:00.
The next day it was I who was in pain...hungover and with virtually no muscle power, it was very difficult to walk.
Ric was obsessed with finding a sports bar to watch the football games, but after several inquiries, the best offered was the Cajun Cabin bar. But before we went there we had a great lunch at Johnny White's Bar, where I had red beans & rice with Andouille sausage and Ric had Bourbon Chicken Wings which he said were good. Ric and I took a few good pictures of each other with his cell phone...I should post them here eventually. At the Cajun Cabin, Ric ordered more wings and some fried gator.
Ric had more stamina than me today, so I had to bow out around 6:30. Ric napped back at the hotel with me too, but he went out around 8:00 back to Oz, Bourbon Pub and Lafite in Exile without me for another couple hours.
Monday, we had a final shopping excursion at Riverwalk, and ate lunch of gumbo and Po Boys at Kappy's right in the hotel.
Our early afternoon flight got us back to Florida in time to cap off the day with dinner at Chili's in Lake Mary.
It was a great vacation and I think both of us got a lot of fun outta it.
It was just so hard getting back to the work "grindstone" on Tuesday!
Oh well, we "let the good times roll" where and when we want them!
We flew out early Saturday morning, started drinking virtually as soon as we landed (sooner for Ric, he had a beer on the plane...at 8:30 am...okay can you say "lush"?)
After check-in, we went to Harrah's Casino, right across the street from where we were staying (New Orleans Hilton-Riverside).
Come to find out, Ric is extremely vulnerable to becoming a gambling addict.
We both played 25 cent slots for a few minutes and before you knew it, I won double my investment and he won almost that as well. People were sneering at us (yes, there were a few people in the casino so early in the morning) with disdain.
But, almost an hour later, I broke even and Ric had lost all his earnings and about $40 more.
He kept wanting to stay to win it back but I finally pulled him outta there.
We then went down Decatur St. to Jackson Square and Ric seemed impressed by all the old architecture and layout of the "Riverside" area of the Quarter, but he really shined once we moved on to the layout of all the bars on Bourbon St. a few blocks "Lakeside".
We went to Bourbon Pub, one of the prominent gay clubs in the Quarter, but being so early, it was dead. We had a couple of drinks and moved down Bourbon, stopping at various bars and daiquiri shops.
I had already made reservations for us at The Court of Two Sisters, so we were seated right away at noon for our Jazz Brunch. I had grits and grillades, broiled catfish, Creole jambalaya, Duck a l'Orange, Shrimp Etouffee, boiled shrimp with Creole remoulade sauce, and Roast Beef, carved to order and served with natural au jus, topped off with a dessert of Southern Pecan Pie with Praline Sauce and Bananas Foster. I ordered a Bloody Mary but Ric also ordered champagne for the both of us.
Can you say "Decadently Delicious!"?
Ric picked up the $90 check here as (partial) payment toward the hotel costs (remember, I had originally booked this vacation for myself, and then he wanted to go so he bought airfare on the same flights as me but never paid for the hotel part of the package.)
After brunch, we strolled Bourbon Street, chatted with bartenders at various places and got slowly, but surely, shit faced.
We took a very sad walking Haunted Tour which seemed like a total rip-off. We ditched it halfway through. Afterwards, at dusk, we took a mule drawn carriage ride thru the Quarter with a really great tour guide.
Come 8:00 pm, I was still raring to go, but Ric had all sorts of aches and pains due to his injuries and his usual drinking "headache", so he needed to go back to the hotel. I stayed out at the gay bars for another hour or so, went to Krystals, scoffed down 6 cheese Krystals and went back to the hotel room by 10:00.
The next day it was I who was in pain...hungover and with virtually no muscle power, it was very difficult to walk.
Ric was obsessed with finding a sports bar to watch the football games, but after several inquiries, the best offered was the Cajun Cabin bar. But before we went there we had a great lunch at Johnny White's Bar, where I had red beans & rice with Andouille sausage and Ric had Bourbon Chicken Wings which he said were good. Ric and I took a few good pictures of each other with his cell phone...I should post them here eventually. At the Cajun Cabin, Ric ordered more wings and some fried gator.
Ric had more stamina than me today, so I had to bow out around 6:30. Ric napped back at the hotel with me too, but he went out around 8:00 back to Oz, Bourbon Pub and Lafite in Exile without me for another couple hours.
Monday, we had a final shopping excursion at Riverwalk, and ate lunch of gumbo and Po Boys at Kappy's right in the hotel.
Our early afternoon flight got us back to Florida in time to cap off the day with dinner at Chili's in Lake Mary.
It was a great vacation and I think both of us got a lot of fun outta it.
It was just so hard getting back to the work "grindstone" on Tuesday!
Oh well, we "let the good times roll" where and when we want them!