Sunday, June 3, 2012

Day Off in NOLA aka Donation Magic Day

First another shout out to Dixie, a fellow rider's mom for being a diligent reader. Apparently if Trent continues not to call her back, she will post here to confirm that her son is alive.

This morning we were all able to sleep in until 7:30 and because it was Sunday we had to be out of the host before 8:30. We all piled into the van and headed to Cafe Du Monde for breakfast. Once we stepped outside the church and were blown away by how humid it was. The beignets were just as I remembered them - light and fluffy and covered in powdered sugar. The cafe au latte was also mind blowing - if you see their chicory in the grocery store GET IT!!! Here is Megan enjoying her first one:

After breakfast go ups started to go their own ways and a couple of us headed over to Jackson Square to check out some worko done by local artists. One of my biggest regrets from my last trip was that I did no tiring back a piece of artwork so this time it was my first stop. I got a great painting of St. Louis Cathedral for $20 and started to chat with some of the local artists. While everyone though we were crazy for biking across the country, we did get a few points of interest for out trip through Louisiana and Texas including the largest waterside in the US.

The Square was also busy because the annual memorial for firefighters, police officers and EMTs was taking place in the Catherdal. The Louisiana Marine Corps band was in attendance and played a set before things got started and then continued to play in intervals throughout the memorial.

Hot sauce is big down here and we had the opportunity to try several kinds.

Our wandering continued to the French Market where the first was a whole bunch of farriers mar ket stands and restaurants and then further backs a random mish-mosh of shirts and antiques.

While we were wandering around we came across a rug weaving store and the owner shod us how the looms are threaded and the process of making a rug. Very cool. Unfortunately the rugs were bit outside my budget, but maybe one day.

At breakfast David researched the World Oyster Festival which was happening over by the M ississippi River (yes we finally got to see the river, but had to wait until we left Mississippi to do so). A bunch of people had tried them for the first time back in Apalachacola so we decided that we sold try to DM some oysters. Big thanks to ACME Oyster House, one of the sponsors for donating 18 raw oysters to our crew; this was my first big DM of the afternoon.

River boat on the Mississippi

With the temperature continuing to climb, or at least that is what it felt like, a bunch of us decided to head to the Audubon Aquarium go see if we could get some tickets donated. Now for those of yo neve had the pleasure of meeting yours truly I LoVe the aquarium. After speaking with several employees and a call going to the community relations department they graciously donated nine tickets to some very thankful bikers.


The aquarium was great and we got some great pictures. Jay and I decided to try the hurricane simulator. While it looks like we were dancing, we were trying to simulate being thrown about in the wind.

Penguin feeding


Shark tank

View from above the shark tank

Arden and I snapped a quick picture after touching some sting rays (very slimy feeling).

We slowly made our way back to the van to head home to the host. We were exhausted from all the day's activities, but perked up when we found out that Jessie's parents brough us some delicious homemade snacks and would be making dinner for us tomorrow night after our build day.

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