happy new year y'all

It seems that if you give this town a reason to celebrate, they'll take it. Of course, its hard to tell how much of that is tourists coming and looking for an excuse to party, and how much is local. It actually seemed about half and half, but who knows - and I don't suppose it really matters. I checked out Jackson Square early in the evening - New Orleans switched this year from a gumbo pot drop to a fleur de lis from the top of the Jax Brewery building at midnight. My friend Kevin was working, but I met up with him for dinner and tried my first turtle soup. I wandered through a few local watering holes (easy to do when you can walk the street with your drink) and made it back down to Jackson Square for the midnight drop and fireworks. Bars here don't close, so the party lasted a lot longer than I did, but the new year has started out fun.