New Orleans
March 11-13, 2005
New Orleans... The Big Easy... No matter what you call it, this city is fantastic and rich in history. I recently had the opportunity to visit and tour the town and have supplied over 50 photos and captions to take you with me on the adventure!
NPC International (Pizza Hut) awarded me the trip to New Orleans to "StarTracks", the Pizza Hut award program for outstanding performance on our store's Scorecard for 2004.
When I arrived at the airport (ILM in Wilmington at 5am) I took a small plane to Atlanta and then flew to New Orleans. I met the welcoming party around 10am who had a sign with my name on it, a limo took me to the Hilton and I unpacked. Then I went down and I tried on my tux, picked up my Pizza Hut info package (which included $100 spending money), and then hit the town. From Bourbon Street to Canal St., the place was packed with locals and tourists. I visited several gift shops and discovered the preferred Big Easy drink: the Hurricane. I guess they call it that because you feel like you've been hit by one the next morning!
That night I went to the Pizza Hut gathering at the Aquarium. It was free admission, food, and drinks that began with a parade that led us over to the event. After that, I went to Bourbon Street. First stop: Pat O'Briens. It took a while to get a table, but it was a lot of fun.
Next stop: You don't really want to know.
The next day got a late start since the night before lasted until about 5am. However, I did make it to lunch with two fans of Quantum Leap that I have known for a long time via Al's Place Quantum Leap Fan Site, which I run. We ate at the Napoleon House. The food was great, even though the service was not. I literally had to throw my credit card at the waiter... long funny story!
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the awards ceremony. After getting into my tux, I made it over to the NPC cocktail reception. Not much to it, so went to the Pizza Hut, Inc. reception and met Jeff Foxworthy! Then it was over to the main ceremony which was a lot of fun as well.
Later that night I visited Club360 on top of the World Trade Center and finally ended up downtown at Coyote Ugly. If you've seen the movie, you know it was a blast!
The next day I did some last-minute souvenir shopping and rushed back to catch the limo to the airport. I learned a lot about crawfish from the driver on the way.
My first flight was first-class and it really is the way to travel! I asked the stewardess what they had to drink and she looked at me like "yeah, this guy is new to first class." She said "Well, would you like a vanilla milkshake?" And I said that sounded good. She then said "Well, we don't have that," and everyone laughed. A fun ride...
After a 3-hour layover in Cincinnati, Ohio, I finally hopped a puddle-jumper plane back to Wilmington and the tip came to an end.
It was a great time and I hope to make it to StarTracks again next year, which will probably be in Las Vegas!
Click a thumbnail to enlarge the photo.
The streets of New Orleans in the French Quarter. Took a carriage tour and got many
of the following pictures from that tour. Learned many interesting facts about New Orleans
and other related topics. One that comes to mind is that the term Jazz comes from the
music that they used to play in Brothels. Jezebel music was given the term Jazz later on.
Check out the architecture from several buildings downtown.
You can spend days going in and out of the many shops, taverns, and clubs located on every
street in the Quarter. Notice the ladies with mountains of beads around their necks.. must
have been a busy day for them!
Near Franklin Square in the Pedestrian Mall, you can find all sorts of street
performers and artists looking for cash. Some of them were very good at what they do. The
artist sketching the young boy was incredible! I'm not sure what the guy on the ladder is
supposed to be doing, but I did see a man holding a stuffed dog on a leash with a cigar in
his mouth... the dog had the cigar. People were actually giving the guy money!
One of the many above-ground cemetaries was fascinating! Many of the tombs were
dated back beyond 1799 and written in French. I even visited the tomb of Marie Laveau,
the voodoo queen of New Orleans. If you mark three X's on her tomb
and make a wish, when the wish comes true you go back and circle the X's. I did that of
course...
A fountain at Riverwalk - a series of shops and restaurants that lines the
Mississippi River. This is me and my two friends from my Al's Place Quantum Leap
website... Eleiece and Jennie, who both live in New Orleans.
New Orleans at night was beautiful as well! On the left is Harrah's casino. On the
right is a view of the Quarter from a club called Club360 which was atop the World Trade
Center 33 floors up.
One of the most memorable spots I visited was the famous Pat O'Briens tavern. I spent more time than one
should there, but it was a lot of fun and jam-packed elbow-to-elbow with people from all
over the country! Never drink more than two Hurricanes, trust me. Found out the hard
way...
At the NPC cocktail reception, I had my picture taken with Jim Schwartz, president
of NPC.
At the Pizza Hut Inc. cocktail reception, we got to meet the CEO's of Pizza Hut,
Inc. And for a surprise, I met Jeff Foxworthy and had my picture taken with him! (I'll
post that picture when it gets mailed to me.)
Moving on to awards night, a brass band played as I entered the Grand Ballroom at
the Hilton
Riverside (where I stayed 2 1/2 days). The food was excellent and they served over
1200 people in no time! Notice the little saxophone butters... I also had my picture taken
on stage with the CEO's of Pizza Hut, Inc. as you can see in the lower photo. The awards
ceremony lasted about 3 hours. I was recognized as one of about 65 others who made it to
"Superstar" status in the entire Pizza Hut system.
Our guest comedian for the awards ceremony was Jeff Foxworthy! He did an hour and
a half show for us and it was hilarious!
Another fun night was had on Saturday at Coyote
Ugly Saloon. I know what you're thinking... the movie was set in New York City, not
New Orleans. It seems there are several of the theme bars throughout the U.S. but it was
great fun! The bartenders danced on the bar and taunted the patrons who weren't drinking
just like in the movie. They even sprayed a few guys with water.