Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans-Convention Center

Commander's Palace deserves the great reputation it "commands". Any foodie will love the soups, and mains. Do not miss the bread souffle, with the delious accompanying sauce. The city has recovered from Katrina quite well, with the French Quarter and Garden District showing now signs of damage. In fact the French Quarter is now cleaner than ever and tourism is back on the upswing

... tell you not drive through Miami due to the gunfire, you probably shouldn't (damn motherf-ing TomTom apparently didn't get the message).


Even though our plan was to camp in the Everglades, the humidity and my disposition was not a match (POOR DAVE AGAIN) and better heads prevailed and we headed north to cooler temps. We landed in O'leno State Park north of Gainesville and what a welcome relief. If we could have stayed ...

... Ninth Ward). They did a really great job although being first cab off the rank they were quite nervous. We were able to stay for two more presentations before we had to head to the airport for our flight (with strict instructions left that they were to msg us to let us know who won - p.s. the new school cam 3rd and their community organisation are so happy with the design that they are going ahead with the build which is fantastic).
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States hannah.goanna

... of them don't have cars. It's complex putting it all back together and you have to hope that it will be possible to bring back some sense of the close knit community that was there.

In complete contrast, that evening after taking the students out for dinner (with Lisa insisting we try a Po Boy - essentially a baguette roll stuffed with some sort of sauced meat, this particular establishment's reputation was hung on their bbq shrimp one - bbq sauce I learned has ...

... endless. I could go to Bourbon Street, that famous den of sin, and have a drink and watch the people. I could visit the Superdome, home of the Saints, but now more remembered as the shelter for so many during Hurricane Katrina. Speaking of Katrina, there was the Lower 9th Ward to see, an area devastated in 2005, now finally trying to rebuild, but so very, very slowly. There were certainly options for me, and I drove past them all. I didn't quite know why, but as I ...

Here is where things are at after day two. We have settled in to working on the house to which we have been assigned. Today the mold remediation continued and the heat dissipated a little so that things were slightly more bearable. Here is the process ... all of the wood in the whole house has to be scrubbed with a wire brush ... the next step is to wipe every inch of every beam with "Shockwave", this is done with a individual pieces of ...

... As we round the corner, I notice a sign that reads "Cruise Ship Terminal" and immediately I feel that I've been PUNKED! We're not going to the airport after all; we're going on a cruise! I can' believe he pulled a fast one on me! I glance over at Michael and he's got this big smile on his face. We exchange no words. As we pull up to the unloading area, a friendly fellow rushes to remove our bags from the truck ...

... out as were jammin Primus-Too Many Puppies....so we could laugh without running into a tree/car/wall/another dog
5.We get there and get gas...its like 3 o'clock in the morning
6.Our search begins for a hotel.
7.Our search is suckin hardcore.
8.WE Find a Hotel....$250 a night...**** THAT
9.Get directions from some local with a heavy accent.
10.Get totally ...

November 12, 2005: I'm mad. Can you believe it: we will finally get our chance to visit Egypt and one of those "must see" sites -- King Tut's final resting place -- and wouldn't you know, he will be out of town vacationing in sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Florida thanks to the National Geographic Society and their cronies. Okay, it's good that they're bringing history to the masses. But this is our trip of a lifetime and we won't get to ...