Quarter Vacation Part 3

The following was written and slated for posting on Saturday August 27^th, 2005. With everything happening in New Orleans I wanted to make sure this was posted before it got lost in the shuffle.

Venturing out to Cafe Beignets for breakfast made us realize something very important: green with white striped awning and a name containing "beignets" does not mean they actually serve or make said doughnuts. Shame yes but the French toast was very tasty. Added to the fact they were next door to a police station made us feel very secure (and left me with the itch to go joyriding on a NOPD Vespa but I controlled myself until it passed).

Continuing on our Nola Madre inspired quest throughout the French Quarter, we passed Jackson Square and came upon a model, an assistant, and a photographer in a fountain. Well the model was modeling in the fountain, the photographer was photographing and the assistant was lighting. And to think we were expecting artists, psychics, and bums. We didn't stop to get any names but Jessica does wonder if dirty old men pose as photographers just to take pictures of semi naked girls in fountains. I started to look into a career change.

We found another few clues before heading back towards the hotel to check out. There was one false trail we found heading to lunch but fortunately it put us in the vicinity of Nacho Mamma's in the CBD so all was well with the world. We figured now would be as good of a time to head home, shower, and pet the kitty before the keg tapping party at Gordon Biersh.

I ate way too many jalapenos at Nacho Mamma's. Fortunately, there was a wide selection of beers at Gordon Biersh to make me forget about any abdominal discomfort. The beer du jour was the "Seasonal Ale" which was okay, nothing spectacular, kind of harsh. The Märzen, on the other hand, was tasty and went great with the BBQ sauce of the same name on the burgers.

We ventured one final trip to the quarter hoping to retrieve more clues to the puzzle. We found about four more and the location of a Lucky Dog vendor named Smitty. No dice. Smitty didn't remember squat about the clue. One letter that's it! We still had one more stop before heading back hopefully we wouldn't end it on a sour note. Strike two. We had a wrong location so no clue. Soon my stomach was doing jumping jacks and it was time to head home. Upon our arrival we broke out the rest of the puzzle pieces and worked on the final riddle with what we had. It wasn't making sense so we went back through our pictures and figured out the problem with two of our answers.

Then it hit us.

We figured out the location of the mailbox mentioned on the website.When I wrote this, we hadn't retrieved the final clue but that story will wait along with the details of the hunt. This trip did a few good things for us; it got me out of the house and away from the grind of work and school. Jessi was reminded of what she liked about the French Quarter. Not the frat boys, drunks, bums, and crowds but the history and architecture. It was a very good trip.