New Orleans Day One

Arriving Wednesday afternoon, TJ headed off to his first workshop while the girls and I settled into our room and explored the hotel. We were right downtown along the border of the French Quarter on Canal. It is a very busy "business" hotel which holds lots of conferences. We didn't see a whole lot of children there. But, we enjoyed our view from our 31st floor window. We had a fabulous view of the Mighty Mississippi. Jaylyn and I had already traced the Mississippi River on a map earlier this year, so it was fun to revisit that and connect how long it took us to get down here and really what a big river it is. Exploring the pool deck/outdoor lounge area.

After our exploration, we rested a bit and waited for TJ to come back and take us to dinner. We met up with our friend, Jared, and started off at a little place for some Po Boy's. I had a roast beef Po Boy and TJ had a shrimp Po Boy. This was the beginning of lots of good food and unique New Orleans experiences.

We followed Jared back to his house in the city (Metairie) and then he hopped in our van to give us a brief tour of some areas. Jared actually was in seminary down here when Katrina hit and now works for First Baptist New Orleans coordinating volunteer groups that come down to rehab homes and help with the restoration of the city. He was able to fill us in on the area and the affects of Katrina. Their house was actually a home that was flooded at that time and has been gutted and redone. They bought it about a year ago. He said a lot of young families have been moving into the city and taking advantage of the opportunity for starting new businesses, etc. It is an adorable house. He showed us pictures from the previous owners and where the water came up. The house next door actually still has the big spray paint X that was painted on all of the homes that were affected by the water. Another tidbit for your enjoyment, one of the guys from the "Imagination Movers" (kid show) used to live just down the street from Jared’s family. :-)
A couple other people you may know that frequent this city is Brad Pitt who has a home there and happens to be helping people rebuild some of their homes here and Emeril (who apparently was NOT friendly to Jared at their chance meeting). One of Jared’s friends saw Mandy Moore here while we were in town as she is in the area doing a movie. We actually drove by an area with lots of “Hollywood” Trucks like they were their for a set of some movie. (I couldn't quite get my camera out fast enough, but I did catch a quick shot. Jared said that was the same area that his friend had seen Mandy Moore. New Orleans is a location for many movies and he said there have been quite a few recently shooting around the city. Sidenote – we drove near the big white Benjamin Button house which Jared says is for sale for $2.5 million. Any takers???

Some other possibly interesting facts: Jared’s church was newly built a year before Katrina and just happened to avoid the flooding. The waters came very close to the building. So, they were able to set up help stations and now some other churches and schools have been using their building as many places continue to need rehabbed. He said about only about half of the 100,000 homes that were damaged in Katrina have been restored.

The girls love trips and hotels and exploring new places. So, we were off to a good start.