As the Pinettes sing it, “There ain’t no city like the one I’m from.” So true. So true. And to help celebrate our inescapable unusualness, here are 10 essential New Orleans experiences to put a smile on your face.
1. Learning that the power went out in your neighborhood for, like, four hours because of an electrocuted racoon, squirrel saboteur, bird, Mylar confetti, (fill in the blank) …
Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band performs on the Festival Stage during the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Sunday, May 8, 2022. (Photo by Scott Threlkeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
2. Hearing those bright green parrots cackling in a palm tree. Feeling real Jimmy Buffett about it.
3. Listening to the WWL radio broadcast while watching Saints on television where the stupid national announcers are always rooting for the other side.
4. Blistering your finger with a hot glue gun, because you forgot the glue was so hot.
5. Learning to start a generator. Hoping there are enough extension cords to reach the window AC unit in the bedroom.
Annie Zintak catches a head of cabbage during the Irish Channel St. Patrick's Parade through Uptown New Orleans Saturday, March 11, 2023. The event featured hundreds of marchers giving out flowers, kisses and garters; and 30 floats with riders tossing cabbages and other vegetables, beads and trinkets.
6. Getting smooched by a sweaty guy who says he’s Irish and wants to give you a paper carnation. What you really want is a cabbage.
7. Finding a possum eating out of the kitty’s bowl. Thinking the possum’s scary, but kind of cute.
8. Seeing a dude speed by on a Segway carrying a giant albino python. Not being surprised, since it’s the French Quarter.
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9. Still wishing they'd called the Pelicans the New Orleans Bounce.
10. Parking your Corolla up on the neutral ground and hoping Margaret Orr is wrong this time.
A car stalls in floodwaters at the Canal Underpass as water continues to rise during a flash flood warning in New Orleans, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune)
And always remember, the town can’t be unique without U, so send your own essential experiences to dmaccash@theadvocate.com.
