Last Magical Night in NOLA

Girls in Pat O's

A trip to New Orleans isn't complete unless I venture at least once into the French Quarter to wander down Bourbon Street, drink a hurricane at Pat O'briens bar, sing a song at the Cat's Meow, hug and kiss a strange woman on the street, and suddenly realize it's after 1:00. So was last night. At 1:00 most of Bourbon Street is just getting started, but I realized I had a long drive in front of me today, so I'd better call it an early night. I made my way past the hawkers, all trying me to come check out their nude dancers and live sex shows, which along with a free cover charge and five dollar beer, were almost too hard to resist. Almost? So it's now approximately 1:37 A.M. as I make it to the corner on Canal Street to wait for the street car up to the "Hotel Lyles" on St. Charles. I wait a while and a cab pulls up and tells me that the street cars are about an hour apart. So I decide that I'll go ahead and jump in a cab.

The Sign on the Building Next to Us as We Pulled Up.

An almost magical life event takes place at that magical hour. Out of nowhere a girl appears and jumps into the cab after me. She says she is going up St. Charles and would love to share the cab with me. Who am I to say no? She chats me up and tells me that she's going to an all night restaurant. As we pull up she says, "Why don't you come have dinner with me?" Must have been my charm and good looks, or the sign on the wall which I saw as we pulled up. Magic life is amazing when you just let it guide you. And of course who am I to say no? Well we have the "best Jambalaya you can get at 2:00 in the morning. And before you know it she is telling me her life story, and I'm thinking this is going to be great. However, the life story ends with, "... and I love my boyfriend so much. He is my everything. I want him to have my babies." So ends my magical story and it's now 3:00 A.M. I'm way too tired and I have so much to do before I leave New Orleans.

I'm up at 8:00, have a cup of coffee, pack the Jeep, and now I'm at Starbucks hacking away at my blog. I am bound and determined to get this article on the magician, Jon Racherbaumer out before I hit the trail to Houston town. But I just had to share my last night in NOLA with you before I did. I'm trying to download a little video clip of Jon doing a trick for me and it's pretty cool

And so it continues...