N.O. Trip: The Road In (II)

From Lafayette I dedided to take the old Highway 90 in to New Orleans. I was expecting a two-lane blacktop with lots of potholes, and lots of storm wreckage. In fact, I was completely wrong. HWY 90 was a very nice road, perhaps nicer and with less traffic than I-10. There were occasional slowdowns, and even stoplights. But if I had it to do again, I'd take 90 over I-10 just for the convenience. I also saw little or no storm damage. But this was west of Katrina and east of Rita landfall, so maybe I should not have expected much damage. I also got to take the pretty new bridge over the Mississippi that connects in to the west side of New Orleans pretty conveniently. I know it's been there a long time; I've just never had occasion to use it.

Getting in to the French Quarter was easy and the hotel (Maison Dupuy) was very nice looking, well staffed and absurdly cheap ($75 a night). Strolling around the French Quarter, everything seemed 'normal'.

One thing struck me as I was at the pool. There was no long list of rules posted. No "No Diving" signs. No visible safety equipment. The waitress strolled over and asked two older European women in the overheated hot tub if they would like a drink. They asked if it was safe to drink in the hot tub (something that also occurred to me). The waitress just shrugged and the ladies ordered two Margaritas.

Then I realized that we had walked around Avery Island with alligators all over the place with no particular warning signs, and certainly no fence. It was a bit refreshing to see that at least some of America's lawsuit culture seems to end at the Louisiana border. Perhaps I would have sued if an Avery Island croc had taken off my leg, but I suppose it wasn't worth worrying about. Surely no one there seemed worried about it.