Sneauxday in New Orleans

Living in a city that never hits temperatures below freezing has been great. I get the pleasure of experiencing warm weather throughout a majority of the year, with winter typically lasting a month or two tops. Guess I brought the cold from New Jersey down here! This cold front that has been sweeping the south has shown me just how incapable cities like New Orleans are in dealing with cold weather. It has been below freezing for 72 hours and pretty much the entire city shut down. There are no plows dumping salt on the roads and since New Orleans has many bridges - including the Causeway which is the longest continuous bridge over water in the world - they were all frozen making it nearly impossible to go anywhere.

I live right below the "N" in New Orleans and I work at the blue dot...it was an adventure getting to work this morning! All the redness signifies closed bridges and highways.

One thing I have noticed walking around the city is that no one in New Orleans seems to own a winter coat. This makes complete sense as there is not usually a need for one but the alternate methods I see for keeping warm is nothing short of comical. People have resorted to just layering clothes and scarves tied tight around their heads. I truly have taken for granted not only my winter coat but the snow plows and ice trucks of the north that can so adequately deal with snow. This is what happens when temperatures go below freezing in a city like New Orleans:

• The city government shuts down
• The Fire Department stages crews and resources to folks living in Algiers and the Lower Ninth Ward in case they are isolated in their community due to bridges being closed off
• The NOPD is stationed at all bridge and highway entrances in case they are ordered closed (which they were)
• Streetcar service is shut down and limited bus service is available in certain areas
• Any flight leaving after 11am on Janurary 28th was cancelled at Louis Armstrong Airport
• You see a car in a river on the way to work

A car in the water. 

On a lighter note, I got a snow day yesterday and our house planned a murder mystery dinner. I had never done one before and it turned out to be A LOT of fun. There were 8 parts and we all got dressed up according to our character descriptions (which was probably the best part). Then there were 4 rounds where through conversation and clues information is revealed to try and find the killer. It's basically like playing interactive clue while also eating dinner and drinking wine. It was a ton of fun and we all got really into it.

Our murder mystery dinner! We all dressed up and were looking pretty fly if you ask me :)

There were 9 of us and 8 parts so Jess and I decided to be the same character. Our name was Rogan S. Coundrell so I drew on mustaches and made us "Fine Ass Cigars" out of paper. Jess donated the matching scarves...and this is what you get!

Lesson from the Journey: I like being in a warm place (or where it's warm most of the time!) I honestly don't miss the cold or the snow at all. I think snow belongs on mountains and I really like being warm. It's supposed to be in the 70's this weekend and I can't wait :)