new orleans, louisiana - 10th post

my time in new orleans was so great!  i'd even be willing to claim that i have "lived there." ok, so it was only two weeks...  uh, well 12 days actually.   but still.  even the ten posts worth of blogging doesn't capture all that i experienced in that time.

on my last day i went to "cc's" community coffee house on magazine street - one of the places recommended by laura.   i sat out at a sidewalk table in the sun and used the internet while watching traffic.    i got to spend that time relaxing and being thankful for the great time i had that week - i was decompressing.

i went by the post office to do one last check for mail.  i knew of a piece of mail and a package that were waiting there for me from my family.   yay for care packages!!   but that wasn't all... to my delight there was yet another package.  what?  it was from ione who works at my highschool with my dad!  thanks ione!  i didn't even know you were following my blog, and i certainly didn't expect the package you sent.  what a great surprise!!!  it had a bunch of fun stuff like candy, newspaper clippings from my hometown, a book...   a great hodgepodge indeed. : )

the packages i got from my mom and my sister had lots off fun goodies too, as well as other things they new i would need.  check out this pretty mardi gras cd cover! 

my new address where i'll be checking for mail in march can be found here.

then, on my way out of the city, that last thing i did was drive over to the 8th ward to give my final good-byes to some of the samaritan's purse volunteers who had continued building for that second week.  i also went around to see the progress on the houses i'd helped with the week before.   oh, how i'll miss you new orleans!

one of the things on my original list of to-dos around new orleans was to drive across the longest bridge in the world - the lake pontchartrain causeway bridge.  that's how i left town.  it takes about 20 minutes at highway speeds to get across and is quite a peaceful ride.

there were two bbq places that people had recommended on the north side of the lake: sweet daddy's and the shed.   i considered trying both, but i only had time to go to sweet daddy's in covington. 

i got a half rack of ribs.

turns out i had the place all to myself.   well, that's if you don't count the little roach i saw : )  shhhhh. 

then i finally hit the road.  in general i try not to drive the interstates or drive at night, because i want to maximize my views per mile.   but it was time to get going, so i went. 

i turned on my christmas / mardi gras lights which i could tell entertained some other road users.  i also had a couple mardi gras beads decorating the outside of my van.  : )

i think i'm addicted to king cake.  laura gave me some for the road. mmmm.