The First Time

I remember my first trip to New Orleans. I went with my girlfriend at the time. We were just out of high school. The plan was to go so she could visit with her aunt. I picked her up and we left a little late. It was a long drive-a real long drive. I think back then we had to take Highway 1 but since then the trip has gotten a lot easier. I remember sunset, listening to tapes of The Beatles, Queen, Bad Company, and Bowie, talking, the piney woods, long bridges, water (which is something you don’t see much in Dallas) and then darkness/water the rest of the way. This time and place seemed so different-swampy towards the end of the drive, so mysterious, so exciting. This was going to be special.

I had heard about New Orleans-the stories from Mr. Roland and learned a little more on my own. Now I was including the “party” aspect of New Orleans. I had heard stories of being able to drink under the age of 21. I grew a beard just in case, though, since I was 19 or maybe 20. This was going to be about Pat O’Briens, Café Du Monde, more beverages, food, and exploring. After all-that’s what’s in New Orleans, right? And by the way, the drinking age there had changed to 21.


We arrived late and tired. I was a bit nervous-totally out of my element in a place I had never seen. I was excited to get out but we needed sleep. Our tours would have to begin the next day. We got up at different times, visited with my girlfriend’s aunt, finished our breakfast, got dressed, and prepared for our first adventure. Right across the bridge, 17 miles away, was New Orleans.

There was such energy there. Yes, we did the Pat O’Brien’s thing, the Café Du Monde beignets, and walked around the quarter. We saw different street vendors. There was art, performance art, even the “Bubble Man”. He performed bubble art and sold his bubble toys. This may or may not be the same guy, but a few years later I got my first apartment. My neighbor downstairs just came from New Orleans. He sold bubble toys. What are the odds it was the same guy? I recall the many different types of bars-even one with legs that popped in and out of the wall. We visited a couple of those clubs, even saw a woman dance with a python then the python danced with her-very wild.

It was a different scene in New Orleans-a party scene unlike any I had ever seen before. I also knew there was more to it than just partying and drinking. This was a special place with a different culture. I ran across the Joey the Bubble Man who I would later see again as a neighbor. I may have even heard a female singer coming from one of the clubs-a singer who would years later become my wife. I sucked the heads of crawfish and ate raw oysters. Back then, I wasn’t quite ready for turtle soup though. They eat turtles there? This was my first time-in the place known as the Crescent City-the city of New Orleans and the city that celebrates life. I had to make it back someday.