Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Vacation day 9 of 11. Breakfast at Cherry Coffee with Chris, Andy, and Patrick: we each had overnight oats. Chris and Andy shared a scone; Patrick and I shared mini chocolate croissants. Coffee or chai. We returned to the Airbnb. Patrick and I walked to Parcels and Post on Magazine Street. Sam arrived later than expected due to a misunderstanding of the work schedule and helped us mail a package home full of gifts and things we no longer wanted to carry on the remainder of our trip. We returned to the Airbnb and packed. We split up. Chris and Andy rode the streetcar and visited the World War II Museum; Patrick and I rode Lyft and visited Audubon Aquarium and lunched at Napoleon House: Patrick had red beans and rice with andouille and a peach italian soda, I had a hot roast beef po'boy with unsweetened iced tea. We sat and peoplewatched in Jackson Square before walking closer to Canal Street and riding Lyft to our Airbnb to meet Chris and Andy. We all briefly chatted with Airbnb owner Mark before our checkout and departure. Lyft to MSY. Late lunch or drinks at Leah Chase: southern fried chicken sandwich with fries for Chris, creole chicken breast with greens and jambalaya for Andy, Patrick and I shared a bowl of creole gumbo. Chris and Andy each had an Abita, Patrick had a margarita, I had a Malibu Voodoo Juice cocktail (Malibu rum, pineapple, sunshine and tropical banana rum added to fresh orange, cranberry and pineapple juices, conjures all our voodoo spirits). Service was very slow, but the food and drink were great. Our gumbo order was for a cup but we mistakenly received a bowl. Delta flight from MSY to LAX was uneventful. We watched How to Train Your Dragon on their entertainment system, which works well except (a) we had to manually synchronize, and (b) the swiping behavior is handled poorly. Dinner on the flight: Patrick had beef pot roast with mashed potatoes and carrots and gravy and side salad; I had breaded chicken breast with carrots and green beans and side salad. Dessert was a packaged pink cookie. Patrick had a glass of cranberry juice; I had a glass of red wine. Upon arrival at LAX, instead of taking the LAXit shuttle, we walked, and this saved us lots of time in traffic and let us exercise. We had difficulty securing a Lyft ride, which forced us to wait 15 minutes before seeing driver results then another 25 minutes before the ride arrived. In the future at LAX I would again walk to LAXit and avoid Lyft entirely and just get in a taxi. Checked in to Palihouse West Hollywood. To bed.