I originally wasn’t going to write about this due to the lack of quality pictures, as my camera met its untimely demise and I had to rely on my iPhone. But then I thought, why the heck not. Anyways, here’s a little lagniappe (French-Creole word for a little something extra; pronounced lan-YAP) to start this TR off right.

August is to football as February is to baseball. It is the start of a new season full of hope and promise. Unlike the casual fan who is only gets excited when the regular season starts (or fantasy drafts in this day and age), my excitement starts building as August nears and training camps begin. Ahhhh… Training camp, a time honored tradition. It reduces multimillionaires to whiney children (yeah, I’m talking about you, T.O.) and brings smiles to the faces of small children. For a true football fanatic, training camp gives you the first accurate glimpse of how your team may fare in the upcoming season. Also, it’s a smaller more intimate setting, kind of like a concert at small venues, and you really do get up close and personal with your team. Growing up in New Orleans, I used to go to the Saints’ training camp on fairly regular basis after they moved camp back to the New Orleans area. However, I moved to Texas in 2006 and haven’t been to Saints camp since. I had planned a trip back to New Orleans for a little get together with some of my high school friends on the last weekend of July, which happened to be the very same weekend the Saints opened training camp. I didn’t realize it until a few days before I left for New Orleans, but I quickly rearranged some of my plans so I could go to camp.

My day of departure was like any other Friday on an in territory assignment, wrapping up and closing out with the client and then leisurely hitting the road. I was able to leave work before noon and made 200 mile drive in a little under three hours. After familiar routine of parking my car in the Remote North lot and hopping on the terminal shuttle bus, I found myself entering Terminal A at just past 3PM



I know most you don’t care too much about a sub 500 mile domestic flight, so I’ll keep this section of the report brief. My upgrade cleared at T-100. The new check in area at the lower A gates looks great, but not very functional per the friendly agent that checked me in. The premium check in area feeds directly into the priority security line. As I was the only person in priority security line, I was through very quickly. A couple of minutes later, I was in the Terminal A Admirals Club pre-gaming for the weekend.



Unlike my last visit to the Terminal A club, there was no (alleged) Playboy model to chat up so I tried standing by for the earlier 3:35PM flight. When I got put on the stand by list by an AAngel, I was number 3 on the list. When I got to gate I was magically number 7 on the list, and they cleared 6 standbys, the last of whom seemed really buddy buddy with GA. Ugh. Anyways, I went back to the club for another G&T. My flight was uneventful enough, and the FA was absolutely wonderful. I knocked back a couple more G&Ts on the flight,
and I was feeling good by the time our Mad Dog’s tires touched down Runway 10. I got a Hertz Mobile Alert while en route, and was pretty ticked off I got assigned another crappy Dodge Avenger. I guess I really couldn’t complain given that fact my rate was only $40 perday, and I was using the great Entertainment Book BOGO weekend coupon. Thankfully, there was a nice 2013 Nissan Altima available in Gold Choice area so I quickly grabbed that and was on my way to the hotel within minutes.

When I go back to New Orleans, I usually stay at the Westin Canal Place or the Marriott Lakeway, due in large part to my loyalty program affiliations. Both of the properties are wonderful, so I usually choose based on what I’m planning to do in town: the Westin if I’m partying downtown or the Marriott if I’m just hanging out. For the purpose of this trip, I chose to stay at the Marriott Lakeway. Thanks to my Platinum status, I was upgraded to a very nice Corner King Room. After meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks, I was fast asleep on the comfortable bed. I woke up early the next morning to a great view of Lake Pontchartrain and the Causeway Bridge.



During our junior and senior years in high school, my friends and I went on a kayak trip in Mississippi with our school. A few of us kept up this little tradition for a year or two after graduating high school, but then Hurricane Katrina struck nixing our trip in 2005. And then we all got busy with college and other things, so we haven’t been since. Over the course over the last two years, many of my friends have gotten married and/or in serious relationships, while I am still living out my Ryan Bingham phase of my life. With one of my friends on the verge of fatherhood, we realized it may be the last time we could really “bro out” like the old days, if you will. So we planned a kayak trip for old times sake, among other things.

I woke up around 6:30 the following morning, and headed out to round up my friends. Since I had a rental, I offered to drive. We stopped at nearby McDonalds and convenience store for a spot of breakfast and to load up on the essentials: Natty Light, beef jerky, Cheez-Its, Zapp’s chips, and Lunchables. Oh yeah, the old days. Food? Check. Booze? Check. Tunes… Check. With the standard pre-trip check list complete, we hit the road with my lead foot mashing the gas pedal to the floor and the poor little base audio system pumping out a little Three 6 Mafia. Two hours, later, we pulled to the parking lot of the Okatoma River Outpost near Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Kayaks were rented after we ponied up $30 each. We were then herded on to a bus to take us to the launch point. It didn’t take us long to secure our gear onto the kayak, and we were soon knifing down Okatoma River. Thankfully, it wasn’t very crowded and the weather was rather cool due to the over cast skies. Everything was going rather smooth until we reached the first rapid, where I flipped my kayak and got to watch my camera (which was stupidly sitting on my lap) fall into the murky waters of the Okatoma, joining the keys I had lost in 2003, ironically at the very same spot. We ran out of beer and snacks before the halfway point, at which point we realized we forgot pack water making for a potentially miserable second half of a trip. But Mother Nature intervened and sent thunderstorms our way. The sheets of rain drenching us were welcoming, but the bolts of lightning crashing all around us were not. The last 2.5 miles or our journey was a bit of a hairy experience to say the least. While it might sound like the miserable day, but we actually had a lot fun. We got to catch up. The Natty Light tasted much better than I remember, and paired quite nicely with the gourmet name brand snacks we had brought with us. And we got a great work out. All in all, a very successful trip

We rolled back into New Orleans just after 6PM, and made plans to meet up for dinner. Dinner was going to be at one of my favorite restaurants, Shogun in the suburb of Metairie. It’s one of, if not the best, Japanese restaurant I’ve ever been to. Their regular menu stuff is good, but if you’re feeling adventurous belly up to the sushi bar and ask for Kazu. He trains with chefs in Japan regularly, and brings back many new great ideas each time. In fact, he just got back from one his sessions the week before we went. Unfortunately, I only remembered to take one picture of the meal, but we were treated to an hour long orgy of salmon, tuna belly, amberjack, sea urchin, and blow fish.



We had originally planned to hit the town hard that night after we ate. But after thinking about how much it hurt to put on a shirt after showering, a comfortable bed sounded much more tempting than a night of boozing and God knows what. Even a year or so ago I would have ready to hit up the town and let the pictures on my phone tell me what I did the next morning, despite how sore and tired I was. But then I turned 25 last year… and it all went downhill from there. Naturally, I didn’t want to be the first one to wimp out so I stuck around chatting hoping someone else would bail first. Fortunately, my married friend decided to call it a night a few minutes later, citing the need to get back to the wifey. Whipped.

Anyways, we didn’t have a lot of room to talk as we weren’t far behind him in heading home.

After a solid 8 hours of sleep, I woke up refreshed at 7AM once again excited about the day ahead. I quickly got ready and met a friend in the lobby for breakfast. Thanks to changes in Marriott Rewards program, Platinums now get continental breakfast on the weekend if the club lounge is closed. At this particularly property, it translated to the full buffet which was decent. Unsurprisingly and understandably, one of my friends bailed as he was still tired from the day before. So that left me with just one person to pick up. 15 minutes later, I was pulling into the Saints’ practice facility.

Despite arriving rather late, we lucked out in picking seats in the part of the field the team was utilized the most. I was beyond excited as the last time I had seen the Saints play in person was the December 2011 Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons, when Drew Brees broke the single season passing record. Much has changed since then, and I was eager see the changes up close. Practice started smack on time at 8:50. At this point, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.


Breesus loosening up ol’ cannon




Running Back Pierre Thomas (#23)


Inside Linebacker Jonathan Vilma






Wide Receiver Lance Moore (#16) awaits a pass while Head Coach Sean Payton looks on

One of my friends had a prior commitment so we were unable to hang out after practice for autographs (yeah I’m still a kid at heart), but I really wasn’t complaining since the heat and humidity was really getting to me. Despite it being fairly early in the day, temperatures were pushing the 90s already and humidity was near 100 percent. I should be used to it living in Louisiana for nearly 20 years, but man it’s been awhile. Despite that, practice was fun, and made more entertaining by the gentleman sitting in front of us giving color(ful) commentary in his thick Cajun accent.

After dropping off my friends, I headed back to the hotel to shower and check out. I was feeling pretty hungry as it was past noon. So I called up one of my friends, and decided meet up for lunch at an old standby, Parkway Bakery, which in my opinion makes the best po-boys in town. It’s bit out of the way to find if you’re a tourist, but more than worth it in my humble opinion.


Parkway

The trademarks of a good roast beef po-boy is how much of a mess it makes when you eat it Parkway’s is no exception, and they take one step further for those who want the best of both worlds like me. Lo and behold the surf and turf po-boy: their great roast beef topped with a generous portion of succulent fried shrimp. Pure bliss.


Nom, nom, nom