New Orleans – Day 3

Since Jonathan was doing conference stuff Thursday morning, I had the morning to myself to leisurely get ready and do a bit of shopping.

I headed to the mall beside our hotel and had some beignets and hot chocolate for breakfast with Flat Sally.

I ate way too many beignets while we were in New Orleans. They were so good.

View of the Mississippi, from the west bank even though we hadn’t crossed the river. That was so confusing.

I met Jonathan at the conference center and we walked up to Mother’s for lunch. A few of his coworkers joined us too.

At Mother’s we shared a Famous Ferdi Special with baked ham, roast beef, debris, gravy, and coleslaw. So good.

Michael, me, Jonathan, Sharon, and Gene

After lunch, Jonathan headed back for more sessions and I headed back to lay out by the pool and read.

For dinner that night, the entire Registrar crew went to dinner at Bourbon House. What a great night! The food was delicious…Jonathan got Redfish and I had Parmesan Crusted Fish with clams…and it was great company.

The AACRAO group and spouses

After Bourbon House, Jonathan and I headed to Pat O’Brien’s for the piano bar.

This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. There’s just something about being in a crowd of people and singing Neil Diamond.

Enjoying our night out together on the town.

The pianists are amazing. The crowd can request songs on a napkin and put it up on the piano (along with a tip, of course) and they play it. From Nirvana to Sinatra, they seemed to know it all. The first night we went, one of the pianists had a fake book. The next night, the pianist had a netbook. I guess that’s what they use if they need a little help with the tune and the lyrics.