I'm Going (Geauxing?) To New Orleans Tomorrow

By this time tomorrow, if all goes well with my flight out of Denver, I’ll be in New Orleans. Probably somewhere in the French Quarter. Perhaps drinking a hurricane. (Yes, most bars are open.)

My visit has nothing to do with Hurricane Isaac — I’m not on assignment from Pajamas Media or anything like that. Rather, this is a long-planned trip, related not to hurricanes but to college football. I’m just flying into NOLA Friday and staying there overnight at a hostel (no idea if they have power; we’ll see how that part goes), before driving up to Baton Rouge on Saturday for the LSU-North Texas season opener at Tiger Stadium. I have no connection to either school, but as an avid college football fan, going to a night game at “Death Valley” has long been on my “bucket list,” and I had an expiring Southwest Airlines travel credit to burn by mid-September, so I decided months ago to use it on a football weekend trip. I considered various games around the country, but once I realized there was an LSU night game, and that I could combine it with a night in the Big Easy, my decision was made.

As you might imagine, I considered cancelling the trip due to the aftermath of Isaac. But after much deliberation, I decided tonight to go ahead with the trip. After all, the game is on, the airport is re-opening, the friend I’m staying with in Baton Rouge has power, and heck, I’ve got these perfectly good football tickets; why let them go to waste? Besides, I imagine Louisiana could use the Labor Day Weekend tourism dollars, in light of all the other trips that are undoubtedly being cancelled.

Anyway, although I’m not going to Louisiana specifically to cover the hurricane, I’m sure I’ll wind up tweeting and blogging some first-hand observations. Meanwhile, if any readers here, from Louisiana or otherwise, have some suggestions about things I should do or see while I’m in town — either hurricane-related or not — please feel free to leave them in comments. And if there’s anything aftermath-related that locals might know, which I should be aware of in terms of planning or safety, please let me know that too!