My sister invited me to spend Thanksgiving in New Orleans this year.
How could I refuse.
New Orleans is my second favorite city in the U.S.
It may seem odd that our trip started with breakfast at Waffle House.
The back story to the significance of this is found here.
Actually, it was my first time eating at a Waffle House.
Ever.
I lived in St. Louis (14 hours north) during hurricane Katrina.
If you remember all of the stories about people staying in the Superdome
Well, here is the Superdome.
Ginette and Curtis actually planned this trip to visit Curtis's old roommate
Troy.
We call him Dr. Troy.
He has a doctorate.
But he isn't a M.D.
Or PhD.
Surprisingly, they didn't plan the matching shorts.
French Quarter
He came and toured the French Quarter with us.
I mean, this place is just so charming.
In the world of street performers, this couple takes the cake.
Not only were they absolutely amazing.
So amazing that we all bought their CD's.
But she did the whole performance with a baby on her back.
Talk about supermom.
The St. Louis Cathedral wasn't open.
Ginette gave us the historical explanationn of Jackson Square.
Garden District
I love finding French words.
Loved the little biblitheque.
Oddly, their fire hydrants are way above ground and generally silver.
Then it was off to Troy's family's house for Thanksgiving dinner and games.
They were incredibly nice.
Every last one of them.
We asked them all about what it was like to live through hurricane Katrina here.
They said that they left just thinking they would be gone for a few days.
Six months later they returned.
They were literally living out of a church (the stake center) for a while.
The church had moved in washers and dryers.
It was first come first serve.
Their house managed to escape the flooding.
But all of the schools were closed for months.
Troy's dad worked for a company that was incredibly accomodating.
He said it was two weeks of trying to get his family situated
before it even occurred to him to call his job.
When he did call, they let him know that he was relocated to Texas until things
settled down in New Orleans.
He spoke of how there was this sort of PTSD among the survivors.
Like it was all they could talk about for a while even after they were relocated to Texas.
He spoke about how even though they had all lived through the same natural disaster,
they all had completely different experiences.
His house was fine.
Another co-worker's family lost three houses.
It was all very interesting.
The last treat of the day was our AirBnB house.
Which has argyle painted floors and gold door frames.
I mean, where else would you find this than New Orleans.
And an entire shelf of hot sauces.
Ginette says I will be woken by a rooster in the morning.
Can't wait.
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