Hey Kids,
Just a quick note to let you know a couple of things:
Home Again, Home Again
In some parts of the city, things are getting back to qualified normal.
Ariana and I moved back into our apartment right before the New Year and are glad to be home to largely unchanged (but completely repaired) digs. Coming home after four calendar months had a surreal quality to it — kind of like taking a trip with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Maybe this whole hurricane thing was just a crazy dream…
Ariana’s Mom
Some of you know that Ariana’s mom, Sherry, has been having some pretty serious health problems over the past few months. Good news on this front: thanks to a new treatment, she’s doing much, much better in the recovery department.
Mardi Gras: The MOST Wonderfullll time… OF THE YEAR….
Luckily, we made it home in time for this year’s somewhat shortened Mardi Gras season. This year’s parades run from 18-28 February, and as always, we’re hoping to see some of you here. If you’ve stayed with us before, you know that we’ve got plenty of space in the Festive Flophouse with beds, futons and couch space on first-come first-served basis.
Holler if you want to be part of New Orleans’ first post-storm. More on this in the coming days.
NYT Article: New Orleans on the Rebound
This one slipped past me, but it’s still available online. I wrote a piece for the New York Times travel section this past Sunday. It’s one of their formula pieces — similar to the “Going To” — about New Orleans’ tourist infrastructure (restaurants, hotels, etc.) that will be up and functioning during the upcoming spring travel season. Check it out onine if’n you want:
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/travel/22going.html
That should about do it for now. For the new year, I’m hoping to churn out more consistent updates as New Orleans goes through its complicated and somewhat schizophrenic rebuilding process. As always, if you’ve got questions or want to come down and see for yourself (an important component to understanding the city’s situation) — don’t hesitate to call.
Now more than ever, we’d love to see you.