I’m waiting to go to Baltimore for work and I realize I never wrote down the details of my New Orleans trip.

It started with Ezra’s story about the lady next to him on the airplane as he was picking through his bag of trail mix, digging out the peanuts. “You’re going to eat each one of those peanuts individually, aren’t you?” Ezra had to give it to her - she had him nailed.

Ben and Mark were already by the pool when we arrived. The hotel was just on the edge of the French Quarter - Chateau Bourbon.

Thursday we grabbed lunch at The Joint - a great dive BBQ. We had tickets to the BYU/Florida game, but stayed in the hotel bar to watch UConn/San Diego St (after a disastrous trip to a “sports bar” around the corner). UConn won and BYU/Florida went to overtime, so Mark, Ezra and I jumped into a cab and high-tailed it to the arena and caught the last few minutes of OT, but it wasn’t close.

Our seats were up on the top level, so we ventured lower and got seats behind the Wisconsin bench for Butler/Wisconsin (despite Mark’s attempts to get us half-way across the stands to “better” seats). Butler pretty much whalloped Wisconsin. I was expecting to have a rally and go out to Bourbon Street with Ben, but he was already in bed when we got back.

Friday (and everyday after that) started at IHOP, then moved to the pool.

NOTE: that’s all I wrote for this trip. My memory of the rest of the weekend is mostly blank which is weird considering how much I enjoy New Orleans and how memorable the UConn run to the National Championship was that year. I do remember being in a bar watching UConn beat Arizona in the Elite Eight, but little else. Sadly, I haven’t found any photographs to jog my memory, although I do remember pictures existing of Ezra with the Florida Gator mascot…