NOLA 2012: A great start

Sweetie and I are back from a vacation in New Orleans. We were there for just under a week—spring break in her school system. I'm bleary-eyed (a friend told me so, and I can feel it), but I still made a variant on shrimp creole for supper, and now I'm going to write up the first night.

We left YVR on the 18th at an insane hour of the morning, but due to the length of the flight and a fairly long layover in Minneapolis, we did not arrive at our final destination until about 6 in the evening (local time). We stayed at La Maison Marigny, a great B&B just a block east of the French Quarter and only a few blocks from Frenchmen Street, which hops with music every night.

It was toward Frenchmen Street that we first walked. We had a light dinner at the Marigny Brasserie (suggested by our host), which was very good. We then headed to d.b.a. on Frenchmen, just a bit early for a set by the Lost Bayou Ramblers. The Ramblers are a Cajun band, a cross between traditional and modern. They know a lot of songs! Sweetie and I danced for almost the entire set, something we haven't done in years. The old broads didn't tire out, and if you know anything about Cajun jitterbug, you know that it's pretty energetic. The Ramblers finished up their first set with a Cajun French rendition of "My Generation," done pretty faithfully with fiddle and accordion and guitar, complete with a wild bass fiddle solo. We also liked the club quite a lot. The beer list is impressive!

We took a short break and walked the length of Frenchmen Street, at least the part with clubs. There was music coming out of several venues—jazz, blues, funk, even some reggae. What a great area! We got some snaps from people who had been at d.b.a. for our dancing.

One note for anyone who doesn't like the fact that bands in New Orleans usually pass a bucket for tips. The cover at d.b.a. was $5. That won't even get you into most dance clubs that shouldn't have a "cover" charge at all (a cover charge is meant to pay the band). So I don't mind giving a little more to a band that's just given me such great music.

Despite having gotten up at 4 a.m. Pacific time, we made it past 11 p.m. Central time. And just before we left d.b.a., I ordered a beer to go—just because I could. And sipped it all the way home.