Turning 29 in New Orleans!

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June 4th 2005

Published: June 5th 2005

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Travelgirl

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Sally getting into trouble at my Birthday party yesterday!

I turned 29 yesterday in New Orleans' French Quarter.....29.....wow.....one more year and I will be.....30....oh my! You know, something I don't do too often is sit back and think of all I have accomplished in my 29 years of life. It is usually what I HAVEN'T done yet, but as I sit here at 8:55am June 4th I am pretty amazed at "where I am" both physically and mentally. This Wednesday will mark 5 weeks on the road. How amazing is that? FIVE WEEKS and out of all that time we had one complete down day where we didn't go out at all. If you would've asked me back in April if I would be here right now I would've said NO, but here I am. Having a small piece of birthday cake for breakfast -- in New Orleans, getting ready to head to Memphis, TN. I also realized this morning that August will mark my 7th year anniversary of owning Out & About Travel. To think that my small little business has not only survived 9/11 but BIG companies moving in on the gay market (such as Orbitz, Travelocity etc.,)!! And every year it seems we grow just a bit

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Sally didn't like the fact that trash talking terry was flirting with ball busting barry!

bigger. That is a huge accomplishment and I feel SO blessed and lucky. I mean how many people get to BRING their job with them wherever they go? I can literally work from anywhere in the world. That in itself makes me feel rich! Also, in my 29 years I have encountered so many amazing people. Made so many interesting friends and yet, have a very small amount of people that stuck with me through EVERYTHING -- to those people, I love and appreciate you more than you will ever know. I have the best partner in the world, MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS April! LOL! May 3 was our 9th year anniversary --- 9 YEARS!! Some people don't even stay married that long...lol. Ape is not only my partner but my absolute best friend. We can literally spend 24/7 together and get along perfectly -- accomplishment indeed! Other big things I have gone through is my mother's cancer scare (thank GOD that was taken care of and she is 100% better now), the blessing of having a 2nd mamma -- Elizabeth who loves me just like a real mom and who I love, the mothering of 4 CATS and 1 DOG -- lol

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She started to attack him! OH NO!

-- I mean really, what type lesbian couple would we be if we didn't have an entourage of pussy cats!??? LOL! I lost my aunt Rose who was also like a mother to me and a best friend three years ago, yet I feel like she is with me EVERY day because of all she tought me and all the love we shared. I am back in touch with my Father which I thought would never happen!! I guess the journey is just going to keep continuing! :-) There is still so much I want get done before my 30th b-day. A lot of private things that I won't mention, but hopefully I will have the people I love in my life for my next 30 years and lots of great adventures!!!!

With that said.....

I love New Orleans....I mean, I loooooooove New Orleans! What a city! There is SO much to do here that 8 nights wasn't enough to even touch the surface! Granted the heat (95-100 + humidity) stopped us from doing things like ghost & swamp tours, walking tour of French Quarter, the Zoo, horse & buggy ride, etc., --- we did still manage to

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One eyed tootin tootie couldn't see the cake that well!

do A LOT! We explored all of the French Quarter -- a lot of walking and a lot of sightseeing via our car. We went in tons of shops and dined at some great/fun restaurants. We toured some of the most beautiful, if not spooky, cemetaries around --- Masonic Cemetery and St. Louis Cemetery # 1, we toured the Garden District, went to RiverWalk, Canal Place, had a beignet at Cafe Dumond, dined in a beautiful tavern dating back to the 1700's, walked down Bourbon Street, and explored residential areas such as Metairie, LA located 6 miles from downtown New Orleans. It has been such a chock full week. I must've taken close to a thousand pictures. The architerchture here is out of this world. It is a photographer's dream being here. EVERYTHING is worthy of a picture --- especially the people and old buildings in the French Quarter.

Speaking of the French Quarter, let me just say -- there is nothing quite like it. It gives you a total sense of place. You almost fee you are on a movie or theatre set. Everything just seems so perfectly old and almost recognizable at first view. How can this

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Stained sock puppet had no problem finding his piece!!

be? The reason probaly is, as a culture we are so intuned to the French Quarter section of New Orleans. Just Mardi Gras alone makes us think of one place -- Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. Also, many movies were filmed here, TV shows, books written about this area -- it is a popular destination and it SHOULD BE. Everyone should experience New Orleans. The characters alone are worth the trip here. I will never forget the little old lady that had to be close to 100, standing on her balcony, lowering a basket on a rope down to the young lady at the market located below her apartment. The lady put something in her basket and the old lady lifted it up. She must be too old to walk down the stairs. It was a scene out of a children's fairy tale. It was so strange looking -- the lady (who looked like a very old witch...not being mean, just trying to describe her) was standing on her balcony of a VERY old building (1600's / 1700's), LOWERING a basket for something....maybe you had to be there, but it was a sight to see! I will also never

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Naked sally strutters torso doll decided to stop attacking ball busting barry and went back to eat her second piece of cake! LOL!

forget the drunk man who came out of a bar on Bourbon Street and starting yelling at the car in front of us. It appeared to be for no apparent reason.....Ape and I never put our windows up so fast.....but he walked right by us (Bourbon Street is open to cars until 4pm). I will never forget the crazy, punk rock girl who made us take a picture of her on Bourbon Street, or the homeless nice lady that scared the crap out of us at St. Louis Cemetery # 1 as we were leaving. It was 95 out and she had a long sleeve shirt on WITH a long sleeve flannel shirt over that.....we not only gave her some $$ we also gave her our mini motorized fan....lol....the woman looked hot and I almost fainted of heat exhaustion looking at her. She was so happy and couldn't believe we did that. I will never forget the crazy guy that molested April's foot on river overlooking the Mississippi. Yes, he was (is) probably a stalker/killer with a fetish, but it was interesting nonetheless..lol...OH GOD, I shouldn't joke about stuff like that! UGH! I will never forget the street performers on

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We went to Margaritaville yesterday for an early lunch.

Decatur street doing some amazing acrobatic dance moves in the hot sun, or the nice man we met just the other day that makes the most beautiful book/journals by hand. We also loved the people at the first Marriott Residence Inn on St. Joseph street. It was our first "welcome to N'Owlens" greeting.....I will never forget listening to the jazz music and watching people tap dancing on the corner of Bourbon Street, or driving down the French Quarter's narrow streets at night looking at all the gas lamps and flickering lights.

I will never forget April surprising me with a birthday cake at the hotel yesterday. How sweet was that????????? Not only was the cake delicious we had a birthday party with all the sock puppets and other strange toy people! LOL! It was a gay ol' time!

One experience I know we will absolutely NEVER forget is --- MULATE'S! We went there twice. The first time was for lunch and it was the best meal I ever had. The second time was last night, for my birthday, and not only was it the best meal I ever had (again), it was the most fun we had in

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The decor is so upbeat and fun!

New Orleans! There was an EXCELLENT Cajun band playing and tons of people dancing. The crowd was mixed. Old and young, families with babies, couples, gay people -- everyone! People were there to eat, listen to music and dance! The staff was SO nice and the music is SO infectious that I SOOOOOOOO wanted to dance! If I didn't have flip flops on, I probably would have -- next time definitely. Everyone HAS to go to Mulate's when in New Orleans. It is world's apart from the craziness of Bourbon Street. To me, Mulate's is PURE New Orleans --- 100% Arcadian.

I was half hoping to see a ghost or have a spooky encounter while in New Orleans. I say 1/2 because I think it would've been pretty cool, but the other half of me knows I would've been freaked out. One thing that did happen at Cafe Dumond and Mulate's are -- ORBS. There were so many orbs in one picture I took at Cafe Dumond, that it just HAD to be ghosts. It definitely wasn't dust, a finger print, or rain......we were inside.....and one picture I took has tons of perfectly round circles of light in it!!!

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After lunch we walked across the street to the French Market and Flea Market.

Also, last night when I took a picture of a couple dancing at Mulate's....another perfectly round, circle of light appeared on the bottom of the picture. There was no explanation for it. It was dim inside the dance hall, there was no dust, no reflection -- nothing. I think that's pretty amazing. I also got a picture of two orbs sitting at an empty table at Napoleon's restaurant (opened in the late 1700's). Once again, no reflection or dust....just balls of light. I have watched ghost hunters plenty of times to know -- THESE WERE ORBS....how awesome.

I am sad to leave New Orleans, but I know we will be back. Hopefully this winter. It will be nice to be here when temps are in the 60's. I would love to do the tours and walk around the quarter more. It is such a walking city because you WANT to explore everything. Yes, New Orleans IS truly a feast for the senses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look out Memphis -- HERE WE COME!

Til then....

Happy Travels!

Des & Ape

PS. I miss my cats and Speck!!

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