Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Alexander filled our car with boxes yesterday, so we put our stuff in packing cubes in put them into boxes. We were going to go to Benjamin’s house first and unload boxes, but Elizabeth had her wisdom teeth out today, so we decided not to make any interruptions to rest. We are staying at Melanie’s house, so we asked Benjamin for eastside dinner recommendations. He suggested North of the Bayou, in case we were missing New Orleans food. Great idea!
We walked in just before 8pm and were immediately greeted with an offer to play trivia. They were about to begin. Okay! We sat at the bar so we would be near the action. Keith ordered a jambalaya chimichanga with adobo sauce. That seemed like a very weird thing, but I suspected it would be great, because otherwise why would they have invented it and put it on the menu. He liked it a lot – he kept saying, “It shouldn’t, but it really works.” I had a blackened chicken po’boy that was absolutely perfect. They even fly in their bread from the bakery – Leinenkugel’s! (no, that is not the right name, but it definitely, maybe starts with Lein..). I got a lovely side salad instead of fries. [ Keith: “Leidenheimer” ]
Two people sitting by us at the bar were encouraging us to play trivia and chatting with us and the bartender (Zander). It turned out that they were from Waukesha and we all went to high school together! Seriously! The guy graduated with me (Rick Hale – don’t recognize the name at all) and his wife Lisa Sneider graduated a year later (and therefore with my sister Donna). They said they had been to the reunion over the weekend. I never get invited. I’m not too sad; I don’t think I would go. My friend, Susie, has given them my address every time there is a reunion, but I still never get invited. I wonder what I did to whom to get that specialized treatment.
Trivia was hard, because I didn’t know the answers. They were not great questions, because you either knew it or you didn’t. There wasn’t much figuring anything out or narrowing it down. What member of Public Enemy was on the Bachelor in the early 2000s? I gave that a big ????? There were a couple multiple choice questions – I think we got all of them wrong! Multiple choice are made to be tricky and we fell for all of them. Team Happy Birthday Lacey won, which I thought was wonderful. Lacey deserved a win on her birthday. They did have 5 people on their team, which is always a help. We took second place by only one point! Whoohooo us!! We got a $20 gift card, that they offered to let us use on tonight’s check. We had already paid, so we happily took the card. We will send Benjamin and Elizabeth – hopefully on a Wednesday night so they can play trivia.
They invited everyone back for Disney trivia next week! Not only was I wearing a Disneyworld shirt, I told them I had been to three different Disneylands this year. They were very excited to have me come next week. I said I would be back in Minnesota, but I would be happy to create the quiz. The quiz master gave me his email and invited me to send him questions. IT’S ON!!!! I’m so excited. I’ve already started working on it.
Speaking of Disney, I lost my Mickey/letter B ring that I have been wearing for over 20 years today. We were getting in the car and I noticed it was gone. I had done dishes, so it could have gotten away then, or while packing, or anywhere. I don’t think it was gone long, because it felt SUPER WEIRD that it wasn’t on my finger. I don’t think it could have been gone long. The first hour in the car it just nagged on me and I kept rubbing it – telling my finger that it would be okay on its own. We didn’t spend any time looking for it, so it may pop up when we get home. I am not wearing anything with Mickey on for the first time in over 20 years. THAT feels super weird.