New Orleans, The Big Easy

This past weekend Nic and I went to New Orleans to visit Matt and Erin. We flew out Friday morning and Matt picked us up from the airport. After we got our bags dropped off and settled in we went to a bar close to Matt and Erin's apartment for some pizza. We tried the Cajun alligator pizza. It was really good.

After that we went back to their apartment to get cleaned up a little and then went downtown to the French Quarter. We wanted to tour this cemetery but it closed just before we got there. We took a few pictures anyways of the above ground graves.


After that we walked down Bourbon Street and stopped at a popular bar called Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. It was built around 1722 and is rumored to be the oldest bar in the US. It is only lit by candlelight.


After a few drinks there we walked around the square a little. Below are a few pictures



We then stopped out an oyster house for some local food. At the top of the picture Matt has the New Orleans sampler that had a little of everything in it. To the right Nic has some type of craw fish meal and at the bottom I also had rice topped with chicken and craw fish. I can't speak for anybody else but mine was really good!

After we ate we went to a few bars around the quarter and on Bourbon Street.

For the remainder of the evening we went to Pat Obrien’s Piano Bar. The lady playing the piano in this picture is from Celina Ohio. We had a really good time here.

After we left Pat O's Bourbon Street was packed with people. We had a few drinks as we walked back to the other end and caught a taxi home.


The next morning we went on a swamp tour. We saw a few alligators up close. The large on in the picture is 13 feet long.



We chilled out at their apartment for a while after the swamp tour. For dinner went to a local place to get something to eat, have a few drinks and watch college football. We stopped at a few local bars on our walk home. One of them was called St. Joe Bar. Unfortunately they didn't sell t-shirts with their name on it.

The next day we went back down to Bourbon Street during the Saint's game. It was pretty crazy.

Bourbon Street was a little wild for us considering it was Sunday and our flight was at 5:30am the next morning. So we went to at bar inside a hotel off bourbon street. It was a really nice place. The bar is shaped like a carousel and rotates. It was a nice place to relax.



After that we went back to Matt and Erin’s and grilled out for dinner. After a late night swim in their pool we called it a night. Unfortunately the next morning we had to leave the 85-90 degree weather for the cold rainy weather in Ohio.

If you are interested there are a lot more pictures on my shutterfly site on the right of the page.

Thanks for the GREAT time Matt and Erin!!!

New Orleans

Tomorrow Nic and I are flying down to New Orleans to visit Matt and Erin for a few days. We went down there earlier this year during Mardi Gras. It was a great time but we didn't get much time to hang out or do much sight seeing. The last trip was a GREAT time but this should be too. We already have plans to go on a swamp tour to see alligators. I've been watching "Swamp People" on the history channel (shown below) to get prepared for this trip.



When we get back this will be a picture of me with the alligator!

Ohio State vs Ohio University

Ohio State may have won the game but OU won the battle!



Evidently the guy who was the mascot doesn't even go to school at OU. He some how wiggled his way into becoming the mascot for this game and for the soul purpose of tackling Brutus Buckeye. Hats off to this guy, I think it was freaking awesome!

Funny Info Commercials

More picture from the Purdue/ND game

These are pictures from Nic'c camera. If you want to see all of them they are on my shutter fly site. Use the "Josh's Pictures" link on the top right of the page

Purdue and a Birthday Party

I have been a little behind on updating this lately. I finally have some free time.

Last weekend the Vogel sisters, Iggy and myself went to the Purdue/ND game at Notre Dame. On the way to the game we stopped for some beer and Nic bought a Smirnoff Ice. He thought he was going to "Ice" me. If you don't know what that is it's a game where some one present someone else with a Smirnoff Ice and that person has to go down on one knee and chug it wherever they are at. It's commonly played by college dudes and not so much the ladies.

Well Nic put the Ice in the backseat of the car so when we got out of the car I grabbed it and iced him instead. Below is how we started out tailgating. Some ND fans thought it was funny and took some pics also


Below is a picture of the north end of the stadium.

"Touchdown Jesus"

Tailgating

Three bad ass mofo's!!

The start of the game

The sisters

Iggy

ND student section


Part of ND's campus from the top of the stadium



The game didn't turn out like I wanted it too but it was still a great time. The ND fans were great. I didn't get harassed very much at all wearing a Purdue jersey. It's much better than OSU fans. I don't ever want to go there wearing Purdue gear.

After the game we checked into our hotel and got a bite to eat. After that we went to an Irish bar. Go figure an Irish bar in ND! We then proceeded to drink until we all thought we could dance. It was a good time. Nic has some good pictures from later in the evening. If I get ahold of them I will post them sometime


Sunday I had my nieces third birthday party. As you can tell she was really excited. It was a "princess party".

I think she was really happy with the dress, jewelry and toy lipstick I got her. She gasped when she opened up her jewelry. She is such a girly girl!

Purdue vs Notre Dame

Tomorrow I am going to the Purdue/ND game at ND. The video below is how I imagine the game is going go. The train obviously represents Purdue and the cow represents fat Brian Kelly and ND





*warning: now that you have watched the video I should have told you it contains an F-bomb and the death of a cow

Below is another motivational movie put together by the Paint Crew. Then ending is pretty good even if you are an ND fan.

Chicago

Last Friday I wemt to Chicago for a work related show. It was for the product we supply for emergency vehicles.

On the way to the show I saw a guy driving a PT Cruiser with a Batman sticker in the back window. I hate to judge people but as you can tell from the picture below I was 99% sure this guy was gay or bi curious but then I saw the other bumper sticker. It's hard to see in the picture it's a picture of a wiener dog and the saying is "My wife loves my wiener". If he is bragging about his wife loving his wiener then I guess i was wrong to judge him and he may be straight...but I'm still not convinced


OK, enough about gay batman. Below are some pictures while I was driving into the city.


Below is the entrance of McCormick Place in Chicago. The show was held in one of the halls.

This is a picture of Soldier Field (Home of the Bears) and the Willis Tower (formally known as the Sears Tower). In March 2009 a London-based insurance broker called Willis Group Holdings, Ltd bought the naming rights to the building after the Sears contract expired.

The last three picture are from the show. Nome of them are too interesting except the pink firetruck created for breast cancer awareness. Save the breasts!!