How we spent our stimulus check .....

I've always wanted to visit New Orleans and the Packers ended up playing the Saints in a Monday Night Football matchup this year, so we decided to go help stimulate the local economy there. We've done a couple road game trips on our own, but for this one we went through Packer Fan Tours and it was a great experience.


The first half of the game was actually quite exciting, with the Packers matching the Saints score for score, but unfortunately they flamed out in the second half.


I don't know if the rain kept people inside or if they just don't have the "tailgating" culture we do here in Green Bay, but we did see a few diehard Saints fans partying in the parking lot.


Seriously folks, this is the real name of the local bus company that took us to the game!

Packer Fans Invade the French Quarter

The city put out the welcome sign for the Packer fans, who rolled into town ready to party.


Of course we managed to find the local Packer fan bar, which happens to be an Irish pub called Molly's that is managed by a guy originally from Wisconsin.


We also had a few "Hurricane" drinks at Pat O'Brien's restaurant, where one of our local sportscasters from Green Bay was taping his weekly pre-game show.


I just had to include a photo of the flaming fountain in the courtyard because I thought it was really cool!

Lots of beer, but no brats here!

Our fan tour package included a nice 3-hour tailgate party with unlimited food and drink on the Creole Queen riverboat. It was windy and raining all afternoon so we didn't spend much time out on the deck, but we had fun watching the scenery go by from inside.


We ended up sitting with a really nice family from Utah, of all places. They don't have a team of their own so they've adopted the Packers and they try to go see them play in a different city each year. They've been to more road games than we have over the years!


We also met lots of other Packer "groupies" like this bunch.


There was plenty of food for everyone, but it wasn't the typical brats and burgers you get here in Wisconsin. The only sausage to be found was in the jambalaya. Yum!!!

Cities of the Dead

Since we were only in New Orleans for two days, we hopped on a bus one morning for a 2-hour city tour. It was a nice introduction to the different neighborhoods and it gave us a chance to see some of the areas still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. It also included a stop at one of the famous cemeteries.


We learned that many of the larger tombs contain several generations of the same families, and the families with money have some very elaborate tombs.


For those who don't have a family tomb there are many religious orders and social organizations that maintain larger tombs like this one above.


And then there's always a "hole in the wall" for those who don't have any other options or just prefer to be buried alone.


We saw that people leave all kinds of stuff in the urns besides flowers.


We also got a peek inside one old tomb that has fallen into disrepair, which shows how they stacked the bodies and then swept the remains to the back after they decomposed. All very creepy, yet strangely interesting! You can read more about it all here.

Random Snapshots

I'm not sure what this guy is doing, but it looks like he's asking "Do these asses make my ass look big?"


This guy was standing on the corner outside our hotel preaching and singing the whole time we were there.


I didn't get close enough to really hear what he was saying, but I imagined he was preaching against the evils found inside the liquor store across the street.


Apparently public affairs is very important to the New Orleans Fire Department because we saw three of these vans parked outside the station on Decatur Street.


Excuse me, but I'm off to update my resume and get it in the mail right now!!!!!