Den 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just got back from New Orleans.  It's been a while since we've been there.  And it seems that much of the  City is finally coming back from Hurricane Katrina and the one that followed a few weeks after that.  Back in the 90s, I was in NOLA pretty often.  Along with a group of environmental activists, we created a southern states climate change organization and New Orleans, Nashville, and Austin were the cities we met in.  So I got pretty comfortable there, spending much of my time off of St. Charles where the trolleys run. In my many visits, if I did go to the Quarter it would be to go to the Napoleon Bar, where I would work in that little cubby hole in the back of the restaurant.

I was pleased to find that not only do the trolleys still run, they have been restored.

And downtown in the Casino district, the World Trade Building is no longer a boarded up eyesore.  After languishing for almost a dozen years after Katrina, it has been transformed into the new Four Seasons Hotel.  The lobby bar is flashy and the view from the 5th floor restaurant is worth the effort.

So my partner and I flew to NOLA on Saturday and had dinner at Irene's that night in the quarter.  The next day we would join my pals who, believe it or not, have been friends since we were in Den 2 together back in the Texas panhandle almost 70 years ago. Six of us, plus 2 others from our boy scout troop have met at least every decade over the last 35 years. Only Larry has crossed over.

And all of us follow the Cub Scout motto  to "Do Your Best", and to have fun doing it.

Beginning on Sunday, we ate dinner together for 3 nights in a row. All but 2 of us had our partners with us.  All of us are successful hard living party types and this three days was no different.  But we did let off a little bit this time.  The first night, we ate at  the Court of Two Sisters in the Quarter on Royal.  We closed it up.

The next night we ate at Luke just off Poydras. It was only 4 blocks away from our Hotel, but somehow Hal got lost and followed his phone all the way to Lee Circle, almost exactly the wrong direction.  He told me that he didn't get back to the Meridien for two hours.

It was there at Luke that our truly exuberant server came over to me and lathered me with a ridiculous story about needing boots to go back into the freezer for just a moment.  She could have sold me my own car if she set her mind to it.  So I pull off my Blundstones and she leaves her shoes as collateral.` Then she goes over to the other side of our 12 top, shows Rick, Hal's twin brother that she had indeed succeeded in getting my boots off.  Rick, being duly impressed, went to his wallet and dished out 5 20s for her efforts, as his wife Annie looks on with little surprise.  

That's the kind of people we are.

The last night, we ate at a James Beard Award winning restaurant off Magazine Street called Pesce.

During the days, we visited the greatly improved World War II museum, rode the trolleys through the Garden district to Carrolton, and took in the Aquarium with its butterfly room.

Now, let me explain something.  The Texas Panhandle is one of the most Republican districts in the good old US of A.  And except for John, my college roommate who moved to LA after graduation, all of these guys are Trump voting Rs. While John lived in LA he made his living counting cards in Las Vegas for 10 years until they finally threw him out with the help of cheap video cameras and inexpensive storage.  John later bought a bank supply company in Amarillo.

Tommy, who almost fell to his death in Stonewall, Colorado, except for me catching him as his rope broke, instead grew into a successful lawyer in Waxahachee .  His partner, Nancy, is an Episcopalian Priest. Jimmie and Beth live in Colorado where he started his Beef Jerky company.  McCloskey used his Indian blood to become a dentist in California.  The Cree twins ran their grandparents oil business while owning banks,  and many other ventures. We even worked together on his Wind investments.

If anyone mentioned the election, I didn't hear it.  But whoever wins, we will still be friends. And this country will need for friends to find their commonalities in order to heal from one of the ugliest political movements we've seen in a 100 years.

It's hard to erase  the racism and misogyny in our superego.

Eating together instead of each other will help.

Thanks Den 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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