The Big Easy

I spent the whole of last week in New Orleans for a business trade show for the collision repair industry where we were exhibiting. So this was the first trade show that I was in charge of putting on so that meant we bought all the stuff from Walmart instead of spending a fortune to rent carpet, tables, and chairs. And we did a pretty great job at branding while we were at it with our scrappiness I would have to say. The show went really well for us. We couldn't sell anything because our product is not finished yet, but we created a ton of buzz and talked to a lot of the influential guys at bigger companies that are really excited about our product. Lots of people would like to rep it for us as well. I've included a few pictures from our humble little booth. And remember we carried everything you see here in and out. That was exhausting!

This was our little 10'x10' home for more hours than you want to know about.

We had heard about the notoriety of Bourbon Street and decided that if we were going to be in New Orleans that was one place we needed to see. Alongside that it is the heart of the French Quarter which is supposed to be noteworthy. This place was disgusting. All kinds of weird and crazy people were just walking around doing whatever they wanted. This place makes Vegas look tame. I'm just glad we followed the advice of our friends Michael and Aly Davis to not be there after dark. I mean we were there at 5PM and everyone was drunk and doing crazy things already. That is one place I will never be returning.

Here's the street sign without a bunch of stickers vandalizing it.

Above is a very neat statue of Andrew Jackson in a square outside the cathedral in the French Quarter. And the cathedral below.

Heather's visiting teacher in Provo, Aly Davis, and her husband Michael are living in New Orleans for an internship. We were able to go to dinner with them one night and they showed us these Amazing (that's right I capitalized it) French dessert pastries called beignets. Wow! These were delicious and one of the definite highlights of New Orleans for me.

My only real regret is that we didn't have time to walk through one of the amazing cemeteries. Since the water table is so high they don't bury people underground. Everyone has their own tomb and you just pass row after row of these epic looking tombs. Luckily, everyday on our way to the convention center we passed two such cemeteries on the freeway and could glimpse the majestic rows of tombs.

Another cool part of the trip was this glass elevator. I was mesmerized looking out at the other buildings. This elevator felt like an amusement ride on which you weren't buckled in. It was quite the wild ride. Probably my favorite elevator I've ever ridden. Check out the view from the elevator below:

And this was the view from the plane over the Mississippi as the sun rose.

Overall it was a successful trip for the business. That was the whole purpose of the trip, but one has to eat and to wander around town a little bit if there is time right? It was a long trip though and I'm very glad to be home again with Heather and Will.