[Journal Entry for December 10-15, 2017; New Orleans, Louisiana] Dallas and I are attending the annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

[December 10, 2017] After checking into the Marquette Hostel (2249 Carondelet St, New Orleans, LA 70130), Dallas and I walk downed St Charles Avenue, passed beneath the Pontchartrain Expressway overpass, and then weaved out way to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (a distance of about a mile and a half). We stopped at the VooDoo BBQ & Grill New Orleans (1501 St Charles Ave) for lunch, where I had a Cajun sausage sandwich. The Convention Center is by the Mississippi River waterfront, though separated from the river by a railroad right-of-way. Dallas stayed at the Convention Center while I took a walk that took me along the waterfront and then inland to Louis Armstrong Park. The weather was sunny and, though warmer than New York, was still sweater-weather. The Mississippi River is about one third mile wide at this point and has a muddy-blue appearance. The Crescent City Connection (bridge) spans the river just south of the Convention center; I headed north towards Woldenberg Park, which is a broad pedestrian thoroughfare with some lawns along the riverbank. Two large boats were maneuvering as I passed: the paddle wheeler Natchez and the ferry Col. Frand X. Armiger. The thoroughfare was sparsely planted with palm trees and beds of pink flowers. Though I spotted a few ducks swimming in the river and a few terns flying above it, wildlife was relatively scarce. I then headed westward, away from the river. I walked through Jackson Square and passed by the ornate St Louis Cathedral. A group of musicians were performing on the street beside it. I then worked my way through the French Quarter and up St Anne Street, to the big metal archway at the entrance to Louis Armstrong Park. The park has stately trees (mainly oak and cypress), formal gardens and ponds and is decorated with many sculptures of Armstrong and other jazz musicians. I took a path that wound around the pond and that crossed back and forth to an island within it. Two Muscovy Ducks, with iridescent blue-green bodies and bare, gnarled red faces reminiscent of turkeys, paddled in the water. I then headed back to the Convention Center, again taking a route that took me along the waterfront.

Dallas and I met our friends Bryndis Brandsdottir and Jeff Carson for dinner at Felix’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar (739 Iberville St, New Orleans), in the French Quarter for a seafood dinner. I had fried fish, and Jeff and I split an order of oysters on the half shell, too. Afterward, Dallas and I walked back to the Marquette Hostel.

[December 12, 2017] It’s another clear, cool day. I take the morning off from the AGU Meeting and walk from the Marquette Hostel to Audubon Park, about four miles further south along St Charles Avenue. St Charles is a broad avenue with a street car line in the center median and with many old, fern covered oak trees overhanging the sidewalks. My route passes many historic mansions and houses, all surrounded with luxurious vegetation and some decorated for Christmas with wreaths and ribbons and the occasional Santa Claus. The park, too, is full of oak trees, some sporting beards of Spanish Moss, and with Cypress Trees, too, with their “knees” (protrusions that jut up from their roots). I take a path that follows the edge of one of ponds, and offers great views of many types of waterfowl. The most common bird is the Black-bellied Whistling Duck (which really does whistle, not quack). It’s one of the smaller ducks and is mostly reddish brown in color, but with a black belly and beige head. I spot many other birds as well, including American Coots, Anhinga, Cormorants, Domestic Geese, Snowy Egrets and White Ibis. I find especially fascinating the Anhinga, a bird are about the size and shape of a cormorant but with a sharper beak and spiffier plumage. I complete a loop of the northern half of the park, staying north of Magazine Street; I don’t have time to visit the zoo in the southern half of the park. I then head back. I retrace my route along St. Charles Avenue, stopping briefly at my hostel and having a Po’ boy pulled pork sandwich at the VooDoo BBQ, before walking over to the convention center and rejoining the meeting. Overall, I walked ten miles or more in three and a half hours.

In the evening, Dallas and I walked from the Convention Center to Lowes New Orleans Hotel (300 Poydras St, New Orleans), where we attended the Lamont-Doherty Reception. Afterward, we walked back to our hostel.