The Big Easy

January 16th, 2012 Posted by Rachel. Published under Mini-Adventure, National Parks, Personal Stories. No Comments.

New Orleans, Louisiana has a reputation. Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably heard something about the city. Since I was a small child, I heard about the amazing music, the wild nightlife, the debauchery during Mardi Gras (and the rest of the year too). Like most people, I’d heard how New Orleans was a city like no other, one definitely worth saving the citizens said in the aftermath of notorious Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But I wasn’t sure I was a believer in all that.

In 2001, my family and I came down to New Orleans (NOLA as the locals lovingly call it) to look at University of New Orleans. Being 17 and excited at the prospect of going to school in a city with such a fun reputation meant I was looking forward to our trip. All I really remember is a gigantic, thong clad bottom on Bourbon Street, the smell of trash, driving through poor neighborhoods and being only slightly impressed with the university. And then again on my second trip this past June for my cousin’s wedding, I felt like I was going to get hepatitis C simply walking down Bourbon. I wasn’t all that impressed.

Jessica and I still wanted to come down to the Big Easy on this trip though. I mean, you don’t go to Gonzales (about an hour driving north) and don’t make the trip down. We were a bit worried about our safety, worried that it wouldn’t live up to it’s reputation yet again. But we hopped on the LA Swift bus last Tuesday anyway. Side note: We took the bus down because it was only $5 and we’re completely over riding our bikes into cities. It whisked us away and within an hour, Jessica’s high school classmate, Hillary, was picking us up to take us to the apartment she shares with her husband, Zack, in Uptown.

During the 5 mile drive from the tip of the French Quarter to their apartment, Hillary gave us a quick rundown of the area. Turns out that the St. Charles Street has a streetcar line and as a result is a vibrant, albeit pretty rich, community along it. She pointed out Loyola and Tulane and a gigantic park called Audubon Park, home to the NOLA Zoo and a 2.5 mile running and bicycle path that is very well used. Hillary also took us back to the French Quarter on her way to a meeting so we could have dinner that night. Thanks to her, we had an amazing meal. Check out Coop’s Place on Decatur if you are ever in NOLA. Jessica highly recommends the Creole Pasta. It’s her fave of the ENTIRE trip so far.

Over the past week, we’ve discovered that NOLA is exactly, exactly like the reputation. Its citizens are unbelievably sweet and so grateful for your business. The owner of the restaurant Fat Hen in Uptown gave us cookies and lots of extra dressing for our food just because we were new patrons. An antique store owner told us we absolutely had to go to Frenchmen Street, and then every single other person told us the same thing. Apparently, it’s THE place for good food, good music and more locals than tourists.

What really made the trip special though, was the warm reception from the women we ended up interviewing. On our first night in town, we walked past an Urban Outfitters where I hesitated because I had become obsessed with getting back into jeans, which are my favorite item of clothing. Jessica said, “Just try a pair on to feel it again.” To which I replied, “I’ll never take them off again.” When I didn’t like the first pair, I sent Jessica to find a second one, and the fitting room attendant stepped in to help. Jessica said, “Sorry she’s being so picky, she hasn’t worn jeans for 5 months.” The conversation was started then and we asked if she would be willing to talk to us on camera. Aba, that was her name, is amazing and so strong. We can’t wait to share her story with you all.

Then on Thursday, the evening before we were supposed to leave, we met up with 4 women whom I’d emailed from the National Organization for Women Meetup, hoping they might know someone we could interview. The conversation was easy and fun. They explained that NOLA is very, very liberal and a great place to live. They also convinced us to stay an extra three days so that we could interview them later. It was easy to say yes! And so worth it as well. It also allowed us to see a few more sights we’d been meaning to get to but time hadn’t allowed. There’s a fantastic World War II museum, and the National Historical Parks are informative and great. They talk about what life in LA is like, its history and the Jazz park has free performances, so we caught some great jazz too.

As much as I have loved every single place we’ve stopped, loved the people we’ve met and stayed with, the food we’ve eaten and the cities we’ve gotten to know, I haven’t been actually tempted to actually move to a place yet. I’m not sold since I absolutely melt in temperatures over 85, but NOLA is now my second favorite city on the planet after Berlin. I’m even a little sad I didn’t go to school down here afterall. It is alive like no other city. It should be at the top of everyone’s list for places to visit. Just make sure you ask Jessica and I to hook you into the local crowd. Locals love to show off their city and will make sure you don’t just get the Bourbon experience. We’ll be back for Mardi Gras and for Southern Decadence (their “pride” weekend) and just for fun.