what time is it? it's about a quarter to party.

wow, it is really difficult to get updates in from the road! i know i haven't really covered much after houston, so here's an overview of new orleans, and i'll try to get more in hopefully tonight about places after that:

so after houston we took the long drive into new orleans. the drive was absolutely incredible, and many parts of the highway were on stilts in water. there were white herrings everywhere, and everyone felt like we were driving into some exotic jungle or far away swamp. most of the houses were raised above ground too.
patricia knows how to pick the best pitstops somehow, and we stopped at one with a tiger. yes, just an ordinary gas station in the middle of nowhere, with a tiger.

we accidently drove through the french quarter looking for the venue and got really excited about spending some time there. the venue was just outside there, in a really old looking two-story house among a myriad of gigantic, modern buildings. the bottom floor was the bar and the venue combined which was a very small space. but doable, as is pretty much anything with this group.
everyone only and apple miner colony played preceded by westin and mitch, which earned the whole gang a free shot at the bar, which in turn earned the bartender a free cd. the group was divided on going out and going to bed, and eventually it was decided that we'd stay in new orleans another night and go out then.
so the next day i gave cole a haircut, we walked around the neighborhoods, showered, dealt with angry neighbors, then we all met up again at our hosts house (thanks betty!) to go out on the town. after eating some disappointingly bad seafood, we all headed to the absinthe bar and partook. something about the street and music and bar reminded us of parts of mexico. then we wandered bourbon street.

bourbon street looks incredibly charming, even moreso than the rest of the city, but walking down it was pretty disgusting. every single place was a bar and/or venue and/or strip club. about 75% of these places were one of three different chains. the streets were filled with tourists, almost completely naked girls, and big guys trying to convince confused people that they were actually supposed to be in this bar, over here. the girls danced around not even half-heartedly with little to no expression on their painted and exhausted faces, luring men to them with their index fingers. nonetheless we got a beer and walked around.

finally we got to a bar that westin had picked out and the mood greatly changed for the better- it was the oldest bar in new orleans. it was lit only by candles and had a grand piano (with a pianist) with a counter built over it so you could sit around it with your drinks. we did, and the pianist was really nice. he asked about our tour and eventually asked dave up to play the piano. we pretty much took over the piano for the rest of the night until they closed and had rowdy sing-a-longs. it made the whole night worth it. we opted to take the van home rather than the trolley and cashed out.