| Road Trip Challenge: Part 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At three o’clock in the afternoon we all finally rolled out of bed and got dressed. We had had a very long drive from St. Louis to New Orleans the previous day, combined with mandatory visits to the local pack and pard leaders to pay our respects and offer gifts to ensure that we would be welcome here during our visit. Nathaniel, Zane, Cherry, Jason, and I had come to New Orleans to see one of our favorite bands – Lords of Acid – on their current tour. It was one of the closest cities they were playing. That and the fact that they all wanted to see New Orleans we decided to make a road trip of it and take a vacation. I was very nervous about being back in the Crescent City. I still didn’t remember anything and wasn’t holding my breath about it… I mean if I went home to meet my family and my memory didn’t come back, what would make this any different? The difference came when we stepped out the front door of The Pontchartrain Hotel (http://www.pontchartrainhotel.com) on St. Charles Ave. in the Lower Garden District. The sights, smells, and sounds of New Orleans hit me in a dizzying force and I sat down hard on the curb, momentarily stunned. My mind stopped spinning and my eyes refocused on my surroundings, on the clanging streetcar going lazily on its tracks uptown, on the myriad of brightly colored beads forever stuck in the branches of the trees lining the Avenue. A soft hand on my cheek turned my head to the right, bringing me eye-to-eye with Nathaniel. “Are you ok?” he asked, sounding very concerned. I smiled sweetly at him, “Never better.” He pulled me to my feet and I turned to them and gave a full-throated laugh. I remembered New Orleans. I remembered everything about it. Where I had lived, what I had done, who I had known. Most of all I remembered how much I had loved it here and how it had broken my heart to leave. But even that memory was not enough to make me want to give up what I had now. Cherry pulled a map out of her backpack purse and opened it up. “Ok, it looks like we’re quite a ways from the French Quarter. We need to find out how to get on that Trolley, according to the map it goes into downtown.” I stared off towards the tall looming buildings that separated The French Quarter from Uptown. “It’s not a Trolley, it’s a Streetcar and it’s not a downtown, it’s a central business district. And we don’t need a map anymore.” I said casually, turning back to look at them. They stared at me in curiosity. “It’s said that you can never forget New Orleans. That it gets in your blood… in your very cells and becomes part of you. I understand what they mean now.” I explained quickly that I remembered my life here, still nothing prior to that, but that I remembered New Orleans. I pointed to the large median that separated the lanes of St. Charles Ave. “That’s called the ‘neutral ground’, and there’s a streetcar stop just across from us at the intersection.” I looked uptown and saw a streetcar a few blocks away. “If we run, we can catch the one that’s coming.” We made it across the street to the stop in plenty of time. We paid our fare and found seats on the vintage benches as the streetcar lurched onward, stopping at every other block to deposit and pick up more passengers. We were all silently staring out the windows, watching the beautiful scenery pass us by when Jason nearly yelled, “RABBIT!” Zane leaned forward with one arm still around Cherry and smacked Jason on the back of the head. “Road kill count only counts when we’re on the road, so no points for you.” We road on through the towering buildings of the central business district, finally stopping at the corner of Carondelet and Canal Streets, and answering the driver’s call of “Last stop” we all got off. Instant gripes of hunger started coming from the boys. I rolled my eyes, grabbed Nathaniel’s hand and dragged them across the street as soon as the sign said ‘walk”. The first thing you learn when living in New Orleans is that if the sign says ‘don’t walk’… ‘DON’T FUCKING WALK’ cause that cab right there at the corner WILL run your ass over! When we got to the other side of the street I turned right and walked a block up river and turned left at the next street taking them up Royal St instead of Bourbon St where we had crossed at. Royal Street was less traveled so I knew we would have a faster walk, than trying to drag Jason out of ever strip joint on Bourbon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part 3 Index |