In case anyone didn’t know the Big Easy is New Orleans, Louisana.  The locals call it NOLA, Nawlins, and they are all proud to be part of the "Who Dat Nation" (that is what the Saints fans call themselves).  Brady and I went there for a business trip with my company.  We figured since I had to go anyways, he might as well tag along, we went a couple of days early and stayed one day late so we could check everything out.

New Orleans was a fun city but we don’t plan on ever going back.  The city was very unique and unlike any place either of us had ever traveled to.  The city was alive, it pulsed with music and art.  Many of the streets are constantly closed with bands playing on them, donkeys pulling carriage rides, and palm readers telling people’s destinies.

All in all it was a great trip and I am happy we went.  There were many things we liked about the vacation and some that we didn’t love so much.  I’ll start with what we didn’t like so much.

The Strippers 
-usually this isn’t an issue because we don’t go into strip clubs so we don’t see strippers…well in New Orleans it is a little different story.  Bourbon Street is peppered with strip clubs and cabarets where the naked girls stand in large doorways that face the street and ask men to come in.  I am an extremely open person about nakedness and sex, but I do believe it should be confined to the covenant relationship of marriage and it just grossed me out that these girls were shaking their thang on a busy public street and I am not even kidding, the only thing that was covered up was their lady cha cha.

The Poverty
-There were a lot of homeless people, which is common in most cities so it’s not like we were super shocked.  But one unique thing about the homeless people in New Orleans is that they all had pit bulls.  I love, love, LOVE dogs and have nothing against pit bulls, but I do have something against homeless people who take on the responsibility of having one.  If you can’t afford a house for yourself and food to put in your own mouth, then don’t bring a poor little pup into the mix.  Just a side note on this whole subject…I love to be generous and help people out, especially “the lesser of these” but if your health is good enough to sit on the street and heckle people for handouts, then I am sure you
are capable of getting a job somewhere.

Bourbon Street 
-was extremely filthy.  Yes it was entertaining and had some cool bars and shops, but overall it was pretty nasty.  The cops patrolled the street by horseback.  It didn’t make an already dirty city any cleaner having cops riding around on horses that would crap everywhere.   In addition to the horses, 90% of the people walking around on the street are hammered…you are even allowed to have open containers on the street so many of the bars sell cocktails “to-go”.  When the drunk people barf on the street in addition to the crap that the horses already left behind it's not a good mix.  Also let’s not forget about the strippers and homeless people that are already roaming the street.  Horse crap + drunk people + strippers + homeless people = don’t touch anything and when you get back to the hotel first wash your hands in boiling water then give them a nice soak in some hand sanitizer.  PS…I saw girls walking on Bourbon Street with no shoes on!  AHHHH!

Now onto the good things about New Orleans…

The Food 
-Oh my gosh…the food was amazing.  I thought I knew what good food was since I grew up fairly close to Chicago, but Chicago food can’t touch the Cajun flavor of Nawlins.  One thing we especially liked was the Beignets (pronounced ben-yay).  These are French donuts that are light and fluffy and covered in a mountain of powdered suger.  Next up...Bananas Foster…this is made of rich vanilla ice cream covered with a delicious rum sauce with slices on banana in it.  Yum yum yum we are going to try to make this one at home. 

The Southern Charm
-The people were so nice.  You could just feel the southern hospitality everywhere and it was awesome. 

My Co-Workers
-I am planning to do a post on my job in the near future so I will elaborate on this sometime very soon.  All I can say is that I work for an awesome company with lots of very amazing, fun, and downright crazy people!

Houmas House
-One day we left the city and did a tour of a grain export facility, a barge trading company, and a plantation.  The grain export facility was amazing...they could unload a barge filled with 84,000 bushels of corn in 45 minutes (thats 4,704,000 pounds)!  The barge company was also really neat, but I really can't think of any highlights except for the fact that the tour guide's name was Bobby Brady =)  The highlight of the tour day for me was a place called Houmas House.  The house was built over 15 years from 1810 to 1825 and today is restored to its natural beauty.  In it's prime the plantation sat on 300,000 acres of gorgeous Live Oak Trees and thousands of acres of cotton and sugar cane. 

Isn't that house amazing?!  I want a plantation for Christmas...hint hint Brady =)