Keynote Speaker

At our annual convention we are given the honor of hearing from some very interesting and inspiring people. In Chicago it was Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the speaker in San Francisco was Rudy Giuliani(great speech, not political). At our convention in Nashville in 07 we heard from Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest(very inspiring). This year in New Orleans we heard the story of Nando Parrado, he is one of the 19 survivors of a 1972 plane wreck in the Andes. There have been books written and movies made about this very moving and inspirational story. Nando lost his sister and mother in the wreck had severe head injuries and after 62 days at the crash site walked for 10 days to get help. He claims he is not a hero, if he is not, I don't know what is. Alive!!

More Nawlin's

Po Boy sandwich this one was Ham and Swiss, consumed at US Prime Steakhouse
It were good!

Riding the St. Charles Trolley Car, this runs past Tulane and Loyola into the Garden District, lots of old BIG homes.

One of the more interesting shops in the French Quarter, no smashed pennies here but they could shrink your head.

Jody and I at the Masquerade party with our friends, this was supposed to be a black tie event, and I do have one on, but you can't see it for all the Mardi Gras beads. They let me in anyway, Shaklee raised almost $750000 for NOLA recovery and pumped over $10 million into the local economy during our convention.

Fun Stuff in New Orleans

We did more than eat, but it seems that the food was definitely a high light. The above picture is a yummy little appetizer called "Swamp Bites" half fried and half blackened. The drinks are Hurricanes, don't order the class "5" it will be the last thing you do for a couple of days.

Bourbon Street is everything you heard about and more, lots of good music, a bar on every corner, strip joints, bead throwers, flashers, drinks to go, 3 beers for a dollar, and that was on a Monday night.

There was a big oil spill clean up going on right out the back door of our hotel, this of course shut down the free ferry to Algiers and all the paddlewheel boats, which we where going to do, next time.
We had a great trip and I am tired and will post more pic's tomorrow or the next day, Oh Gale we found one penny smasher and it was out of order, and if you try to visit the Museum of Art it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, nobody on the Trolley told us until we got there. The cemetaries are open all the time 24/7, and there are bunch of them, more later. Good Night

I Haz a Post

Well it seems I got caught up in a Blogger Bug and my blog was locked by mistake. A very nice explanation from Blogger in my Dashboard and all is well. I loved the answer and I quote:

"You Are Not Spam"

Jody and I will be leaving for New Orleans early Tuesday morning and as dumb luck would have it we purchased our ticket just before the deadline to get all our luggage on the plane at no extra cost.
So a little more coin in the pocket for our extended stay, after convention we will be staying in the French Quarter someplace and going on a steamboat cruise and checking out the night life. Gotta find some Blue's and hear some Jazz, but I hear that is not a problem in The Cresent City. We will post photo's when we get back. Ya'll have a good one.