One Last Night in Louisiana

Early this morning we packed up the car to head out from New Orleans. But before we left we decided to try one more time for a box we had trouble locating the day before. We headed out to get that pesky little Creole Crawdaddy planted by daelphinus. Arriving at the area we looked around and thought about where we had searched the day before and started from there. Fifteen minutes later I found that little crawfish. What a joy! Now we could leave New Orleans and make our way back to Lafayette.

One little bit of commentary - New Orleans isn't the same since Hurricane Katrina. Some businesses are not open and there is still a lot of empty and damaged homes. But they are trying to rebulid. The New Orleans Saints have been doing well this season and that has brought a lot of people into the city for games. They are also planning a good sized Mardi Gras celebration for this coming year - bigger than last year. I visited this past May and in six months they have done a tremendous job. So please visit New Orleans. It is an incredible town with so much character and history - I hope it continues to prosper.

A little ways out of town we stopped to have a little breakfast and then we headed in to Baton Rouge. Our first stop was the LSU campus. We had learned that most of the boxes in Baton Rouge were missing but there was at least one still alive. So we found the area and pretty quickly located the box, we stamped in and then decided to go and visit Mike V (the LSU mascot). We found the stadium and Mike's home (a much more elaborate and comfortable home than the one I visited years ago). Mike was just laying about relaxing, what an incredibly beautiful animal. We took some pictures and just watched Mike for a while. After our visit with Mike we headed to the State Capitol building. There was a possibilty of two boxes in the area. We searched for one that was found recently but we were unable to locate it. A little disappointed but not enough to stop us from trying to find the other box. Another miss for us. So after a two box no find we decided to call it a day in the Louisiana capital and return to Lafayette.

We needed to drop off the key to the apartment in New Orleans to my Aunt in Lafayette. We stopped at her house, returned the key and had a quick visit. We returned to my sister's house and began getting things ready for our departure in the morning. This didn't take very long and so we spent about an hour just sitting and visiting with my sister and her family until dinner time. My godson and his wife wanted to go with us to dinner at my all time favorite pizza place - Pizza Village. This is a place I have been going to since high school, I have never found another pizza joint that can match them. So every trip to Lafayette involves one outing to Pizza Village and I always get the same thing - a Dupe Special (hamburger, pepperoni and shrimp) - yummo!

Well, dinner turned into a family affair, my two sisters and their families joined us. We had a great evening and some great food.

Well, we have gotten everything ready for the morning and I guess I better get to sleep - I'll probably wait until we get home to post again.