Yesterday was the last full
day of the 2013 Roothugger reunion in New
Orleans. The
first event of the day was something I was really looking forward to – a visit
to see the World War 2 Museum. This is a
fairly new museum and it was fascinating to see some of the new concepts being
used to make the experience much more interactive. There were dozens of side booths as you made
you way through the war years where you could listen to the recorded survivors
from all sides relate their own experiences in the war. We also got to meet in person a paratrooper who
jumped into France
for D-Day. He was extremely pleased to
meet some fellow airborne personnel.
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| The WW2 Museum |
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| My Wife and I in a German Bomb Shelter |
The intrepid Roothugger who
made most of the arrangements for the reunion adamantly encouraged all of us to
see the movie Beyond All Boundaries in the Solomon Victory Theater at the museum
and boy was he right. This was one of
the most impressive multi-media experiences I’ve ever had. Tom Hanks was involved as the narrator and
there were sound effects, smells of the battlefield, shaking seats when the
tanks went by and heat and light for the bombs.
Different props would appear in conjunction with the events in the screen. When they talked about the Battle of the Bulge it actually snowed inside
the theater. This was really something
very, very special. If you’re ever in New Orleans make time to
see this remarkable film. At the end I
stood up to clap and said “Wow!” I wasn’t
the only one saying this.
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| Awesome Experience - Beyond All Boundaries |
Sadly we had to say goodbye following
the museum to the first of the Roothuggers to depart. Their departure left a hole in the group that
would require alcohol to repair. As we
walked away from the museum the designated Roothugger Joker somehow learned a Norwegian
cruise liner was docked in town and would leave that afternoon on a one way
cruise to Sweden.
He spent the entire walk and the rest of the afternoon trying to convince us to
take the cruise.
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| Lunch Site |
We wandered back towards the
waterfront looking for a late lunch. We
placed the ladies in charge of selecting the site and they over-achieved to say
the least. I was a little nervous when
we passed in front of a restaurant with the name Manning on it – anathema to
all Patriots fans. The ladies brought us into the Ernst Café which had an
absolutely gorgeous and friendly waitress named April. By the end of lunch we had almost her entire
life story and she did a great job of making some middle aged gentlemen feel
special – without pissing off the wives.
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| On the Ferry - Cruise Ship in the Distance |
After lunch we drifted over
to the Riverwalk to inquire about taking a cruise on a paddle wheeler plying
the waters from there – the Joker needed water under his feet for some reason. The schedule did not work out so continued on
until we found ourselves on the Canal Street Ferry which provided free passage
across the river. The Joker achieved his
driving need to get out on the water and two comely local ladies acted as tour
guides informing us that passage was in fact free and would deposit us across
the river in Algiers which had a couple of bars close by (say no more).
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| Setting Out on the Ferry - Joker on the Left |
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| View of Jackson Square from the Ferry on the Mississippi |
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| A Paddle Wheeler that Passed Us |
We spent an hour at the aforementioned
bar which was definitely a local scene based on the looks we received during
our tenure there. Roothuggers don’t
intimidate easily so with the Joker leading the way we spent an enjoyably quiet
round of drinks before jumping back onto the ferry to return to the hotel.
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| The Bar in Algiers |
We gathered for the farewell
dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery which was part of the Harrah’s Casino. The maître d' said she could only get us
seating in the bar area. We said we
would ranger our way through that onerous situation. The intrepid planner of the reunion was
suffering a bad headache but he carried on and maintained his role as the
brains of the outfit. Like everything
this past weekend the dinner was perfect – a group of like minded friends who
seemed more like brothers and sisters than mere friends.
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| Farewell Dinner - Such Great People |
We didn’t want the night to
end so we hit a sports bar adjacent to the hotel for one last round of beers
before we retired for the early morning flights and departures. It was kind of bittersweet because we all
realized a very special time was drawing to a close. No one volunteered to
demonstrate their prowess with the large speckled hula hoop so we called it a
night. There was a frantic
redistribution of remaining alcohol stocks to those Roothuggers driving instead
of flying home before we settled down.
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| Roothuggers Leaving Sports Bar |
A truly fantastic weekend,
finally experiencing New Orleans
but much more so because of the time with this group. I love em all.
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| Our Fabulous Hotel - Minus Cheerleaders on Final Day |
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