New Orleans

The sport science conference was at the convention center right next to the New Orleans River Walk on the Mississippi River. I actually didn't go out and about too much while I was in New Orleans because I preferred to spend my free time back home with my family. Luckily, there's a satellite site of Cafe du Monde right in the River Walk, so I managed to get my beignet fix a few times without having to go all the way to the French Quarter!

Of course, a visit to New Orleans just isn't complete without a walk down Bourbon Street! The last night of the conference, a few colleagues and I went to a great restaurant recommended by my Uncle Doug who lives in the city. We ate at GW Finn's right off Bourbon Street where we had some scrumptious seafood dishes for supper. It was more of an upscale restaurant so I refrained from pulling my camera out and taking pictures of the food like I usually do. OK, actually I was too into the food to stop and take a picture of it!

Not exactly fine dining, but Lucky Dogs have been on Bourbon Street for as long as I can remember. Since I was frequenting Bourbon Street well before my 18th birthday (18 was the drinking age back then), it's been at least 20 years! The joke back then was that you'd better like the looks of the Lucky Dog because chances are you were going to see it again before the night was over! I don't remember how many of these Lucky Dogs came back up over the years, but quite a few of them went down before I became a Dietitian!

Our stroll down Bourbon Street inevitably ended at Pat O'Brien's! For those of you who haven't been to New Orleans, Pat O'Brien's is a famous bar that serves a drink called a hurricane. This flame is part of the outdoor patio that connects St. Peter and Bourbon Streets. The picture of me, April and Jay T was taken in the piano bar of Pat O's. The bar of the dueling pianos is great fun! You write down a song, ANY song, on a napkin and pass it up with a couple of bucks to the pianists and they will play and sing your request. People request everything from Neil Diamond to Guns and Roses!

Part of the entertainment in the piano bar is the "thimble man." I don't know what he's really called, but that's what I've always called him. Back when I used to frequent Bourbon Street often, there was an elderly African-American man who we called the "thimble man." He was tall and skinny and wore dark glasses and stood between the two pianos and did his thing. He wore thimbles on all his fingers on which he balanced a metal tray with coins on it. He would strum and tap his fingers under the tray and make the coins bounce in rhythm to the music. He always had a grin from ear to ear and was quite entertaining. I heard that the original thimble man didn't survive hurricane Katrina. The guy in the picture between the pianos is the "new" thimble man and he was just as entertaining!

Unlike most nights I've known on Bourbon Street, the night ended fairly early and with very little alcohol. Hey, things change as you get older, what can I say?!