The Big Easy

I traveled to New Orleans this weekend for an American Library Association conference. While it was technically a work trip, I managed to find some fun things to do as well. I wandered the French Quarter, explored Bourbon Street--as a spectator rather than a participant in the significant festivities going on there on a Saturday night!--but my favorite stop of all was Cafe du Monde, where I ate a lovely meal of beignets and hot chocolate. Yum!

I hadn't been on a trip that was more than a day or two in over a year--and all of those were for work, too--so it was nice to settle in a bit and feel that I got to experience a new place, especially a place I've been wanting to visit for a long time. I found the journey both inspiring and relaxing, which is a pretty stellar result for a business trip, in my estimation.

I suppose I've posted about travel before, but there is something so soothing to me about getting up, packing my suitcase and hitting the road. I don't know if it is the sense of forward motion, or the opportunity to see new things, eat new food and meet new people, but every journey makes me excited. It seems whatever piece of me that is satisfied by travel adventures lives too deep to isolate or to name. I've tried for a long time, and I can't get underneath it. Oh well. I will just have to enjoy the surface of things--and in New Orleans, the surface is pretty great!

Speaking of the surface of things...in the part of the city I was in, you don't see much evidence of Hurricane Katrina; whether the area wasn't directly damaged or has been rebuilt, I'm unsure. I do know that it made me think about how things appear versus how they really are. I have a feeling if I'd been able to walk in the right direction, I would have seen the damage that is still felt around the city. I guess there is a parallel there, between how I feel as a traveler, affected from the inside-out, and how a city like New Orleans is repaired from the outside-in. I could write more about that, but I guess I still feel like I'm on vacation!