Anticipating a very busy summer, we thought we'd change things up a little bit, and travel to Mobile over Spring Break, hoping to ease some of the summer travel madness. Immediately, complications cropped up. A friend's son decided to get married that first weekend, and I was asked to sing at the wedding party on Saturday night. Of course! I wouldn't miss that for the world! We decided to simply take a red-eye out of Portland that night. We'd have everything packed and in the car, and leave from the party.
In typical fashion, it was decidedly cheaper to fly in/out of New Orleans than Mobile, so that was the plan. Everything was on schedule until we hit Detroit, where we were to change planes. That was where our first delay occurred. We boarded the plane, and were all buckled in, half asleep still, when the pilot came on the intercom and announced that we were disembarking. It seems they discovered a nick in a door gasket during their pre-flight check, and we couldn't fly until the problem was resolved. It was resolved 3 hours later when we were put on a new plane. Darn! That change in schedule meant we'd miss our opportunity to see the Mardi Gras Indians parade. Oh, well; we'd still have a chance to hit Martin's Wine Cellar and pick up some alcohol on our way through town. :-)
We deplaned in New Orleans, and treated ourselves to beignets at Cafe du Monde en route to our rental car. Ready to be on the road at last, tired, groggy, and really not looking forward to the three hour drive ahead of us, we made a quick stop at Rite Aid - and discovered we had a nearly flat tire! Back we went to the airport rental car lot and traded the car for a model with air in all four tires. Now we were really ready for a stop at Martin's!
Once again, we headed down Veteran's in Metarie - and ran smack into the Irish-Italian Society's St. Patrick's/St.Joseph's Day parade. And what a parade it was! There was no end in sight. Families were picnicking all along the route, pausing to catch candy and throws as float after float passed their spot. It continued for blocks and blocks and blocks - negating any opportunity to make a left turn at any intersection. Including the one we needed to take to get to Martin's. Grrr!
We finally made it to Mobile about 5:00 p.m. - too late to even crash. We checked into our room, freshened up, and headed to Mama's for dinner. What a treat! Some family members had already given up on us and left, but we got to see the sibs and - most importantly - collapse for just a little while. With a long-awaited and well-deserved drink!
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