Father’s Day

Every year I get a day. This is it. Marika has said nothing. Emily just hung up on me because she feels ignored. No other calls or texts. Happy Fathers Day to me.

We ate in the room this morning. We are on a vacation diet you know. We have a visit to the Cabildo and Presbytere in Jackson Square this am. Both have been turned into LA State Museums. Jackson Square has a monument to the hero of the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson. Seems a central point in the French Quarter. I have been through here every day at least once.

The first museum deals with birth of the city to current. History. The usual. Fun to find out how everything got there. Haphazardly it appears. With plenty of violence and death. Ahhh, history.

The next building, the Presbytere is all Mardi Gras and hurricane Katrina. I guess they ran out of other history. You can see both for about $12 a person. I would say a $7 value. At least to me.

After the museum culture we wandered and decided to find a cocktail. That turned into a trek. Where we were, Royal St, had no bars for several blocks. We started criss crossing. Found a nice gay bar, Lafitte in Exile. No thanks. All the stools were upside down. We wandered more and finally found a bar advertising drinks to go. My speed. I want to go. Marika bought me a drink for Father’s Day.

Next up, Clover Grill which self advertises “worlds best” hamburgers. Took our drinks in and decided to split a burger.. Very good but hardly top o the world. Sorry. Nice people. And they have pie. I like pie. We are post meal sitting here and enjoying the half drunk digest red meat feeling. Always good.

We wandered out. Walked. Stopped in a leather goods store where I purchased four insulting coasters, leather, for my home bar. The store owner, Jimmy, also gave us a few pointers and suggestions. Oh, the coasters never got home. They disappeared out of my luggage in transit. God love the TSA. Can’t keep anything safe.

Ok. Quick trip back to the hotel. Clean, comfortable restrooms. And a quick nap. We are about to go out again. I have a feeling tonight will be legend…wait for it…dary. Or close. We gonna try the Port of Call burger (Jimmys suggestion) and a monsoon (sweet and too much liquor). Then Preservation Hall Jazz. Then who knows. It’s how legends are written. Of course, legends need money so first stop is an ATM.

Up from nap promptly at whenever. We decided to go to the early show at Preservation Hall. That’s a 5 o’clock. Which means you need to get in line by 430, first come first served. We got there and the line was not doable. There is a show at 6. And Pat O’Brien’s Bar is next door. So we got in line by going to Pat O’Briens and having cocktails. We got back in line around 530. This time very near the front. I think it’s the cocktails that did it.

The show was fun. Small room, holds 50 people and the band. The crowd is just a couple of feet in front of the band. I think intimate would be a fine description. They played a couple of their choice and then told the audience to give requests and money to hear what they wanted. I don’t go for shakedowns and I already paid $20. All in all about 8 songs in a 45 minute set. And I can check it off the list.

We again wandered a bit after the show. We are good at it. Finally, decided to go to The aforementioned Port of Call for dinner and drinks. Long walk, about 8 blocks, but we are superhuman, which is because we have been drinking all day. Every day.

Walk was good for us. Still light out and went through areas we had no seen before. Not much different than any other neighborhoods, but new to us. About a 15 minute walk.

Port of call was not overly impressive from the outside, but the area is nice. Inside the place, it was packed. The bar is right inside the front door and two people were leaving and we grabbed their stools. It’s first come first served at the bar and we probably jumped in front but too bad. How it works. The bartender stepped up quick and we had our order in immediately. Burger fries 2 Monsoons. Love it when the planets align.

As a rule, I prefer to eat at the bar if I can. Service is better. I have someone else to talk to, the bartender, folks sitting next to me. It’s a better situation. You can watch a lot going on too behind the bar, which can be entertaining. All positive. Most of the time at least.

The burger was fantastic. Much better than the “worlds best” I had earlier in the day. Very enjoyable. The drink was sweet and strong and ok I guess. Neither of us was able to finish out drink. We took them with us and dumped them. Marika wanted the cups and they were to go. I should mention, this meal was the cheapest one so far, it felt like not paying at all.

We finished up and started the wander again. Ended up on the far end of Bourbon St. there is a bourbon bar there and we have it a shot. We hardly need more booze, both of us have been drinking all day and are drunk. But the bourbon called our names. We decided old fashions were appropriate and a couple shots of some other bourbon they had on the shelf. They had over a thousand different bottles. Had a nice discussion about bourbon with the bartender. He had far to much information.

By now we were drunk. No lying about it. It was late. We headed to the hotel, and, strangely, passed out. Tough day.