I have wanted to go to New Orleans for as long as I can remember. I probably first saw scenes of Mardi Gras on a TV show, or maybe in one of my mum’s magazines, and the colours and costumes, and the glitter and sparkles on the people and the incredible floats were mesmerizing to me. I mean, who doesn’t love a parade?
As I got older, I also wanted to see the sights…the architecture of the homes and buildings, the cemeteries (always the cemeteries!) and of course the Mississippi River. (Side note: like all kids, I learned to spell “Mississippi” to do the counting of seconds, plus it’s just fun to say, in that rhythmic sort of way. I also learned to spell it backwards (“I pee pee I ess ess I ess ess I em” Try it! Chant it! It’s fun!) Anyhow, one day as I was spelling it out loud the right way, my dad said “Sure, but can you spell it backwards?” Let me tell you, it was one of the great joys of my young life to be able to spout it out in a heartbeat! But, as the old cliche goes, I digress.
I also wanted to eat some of that food with such amazing names…etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya, beignets, po’ boys muffalettas, and so on. All of it. Except okra. Never the okra.
I started to plan a trip quite a few years back, but I could never quite get holidays and life to all line up at the same time. Then of course the world shut down for a few years so that put a halt to all plans. However, finally everything came together and the plans were finalized. Yahoo!
So this is our New Orleans story. Excuse my profuse use of parentheses, Oxford commas (and regular commas!) and exclamation marks. My punctuation is not great, but I write the way I talk. 😁
I checked out all the various flights from all the various airports, and sadly there were no direct flights at all. Everywhere connected through either Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal or Denver. I’ve changed planes in every one of those cities except Denver over the years and they are all nightmares….especially Toronto. I decided to give Denver a shot, and the best flights were out of Kalispell. And I love that airport; so small and easy to navigate, no having to take a train or bus to another concourse, and impossible to get lost in. Plus, it’s a 2 hr drive from home as opposed to a 4 hr drive to Calgary’s confusing airport.
Once the flights were booked it was time to look for hotels, tickets for excursions, and that sort of thing. But wait! The most important reason for going was this:
Me: Want to go to New Orleans this fall?
He: I don’t know, not particularly.
Me: Do you want to go to a Barrett-Jackson auction this fall?
He: Yeah, I’d like that.
(We went to the one in Reno a few years ago and have wanted to go to another)
Me: Well, glory be, the September auction is in New Orleans this year! Imagine that! 😉
So those tickets were purchased first. Then all the other things fell into place; flights, hotels and excursions.
So Tuesday September 26 finally arrived and we headed off to Kalispell. It was a grey day, a little bit of rain now and then, absolutely no one at the border and we were in Kalispell by noon. I booked a room at the Glacier International Lodge (with their odd wooden room keys…how does that even work?) which is right by the airport. Literally a 2 minute (if that) shuttle drive. Definitely within a few minutes walk. I like to be as close to an airport as possible. By the time we did a bit of shopping and had a bite to eat it was time for a hot tub and then early to bed.
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