strike that

best day ever

Last night Chandra and Ian and I drank forties in front of the A&P. It was a bad sign for the trajectory of the weekend.

But today! Redemption.

Today was all about driving in Nathan’s car from one fit-this-in-your-last-day attraction to the next. And to be honest? Just driving around in Nathan’s car all day would have been enough (d’ayenu!) because the windows are down and the singing is loud and the pauses between singing are filled with laughter, and Nathan and Chandra are fucking Awesome, and driving always puts me at ease. But on top of all that we drove to the ferry, which took us across the Mississippi to Algiers where we snuck past the $15 ticket gate into the Mardi Gras World warehouse full of floats. And we drove to Cooter Brown’s for the New Orleans Mufaletto sandwich, and to Fat Tuesday’s for five dollar twenty ounce mudslide daiquiris. And we drove to the Imax theater for a movie about the hurricane that would have been great if we were ten. And we walked around the French Quarter drinking two dollar beers and snacking on gumbo and lingering in doorways listening to jazz.

And damn, what a good day of tasty food and fabulous company, in a city where every scene seems strategically assembled for a movie, masks and music and gas lamps casting long dark shadows. You could do the same stupid shit here each night for a year, frozen drinks and jambalaya, or you could find something new every time working through the alleys and the dead ends and the unmarked doors. Following the sound of a piano or the smell of crawfish.

And I hate to leave, I hate to leave, but this was a good way to go out.

posted by tortaluga @ 11:35 PM