After living in the Treme for four very full and fulfilling years my restlessness (and desire/need for more work space) got the best of me and I decided to move to a bigger place on Napoleon. My dad’s retired, doesn’t mind long drives, and is generally one of the kindest and most helpful people you’ll meet, so he offered to come down from the DC area to help me with the move.

Memphis is a good midpoint between New Orleans and Northern Virginia– and it boasts one of the closest IKEAs to New Orleans– so we decided to meet there to hang for a few days, hit the IKEA, and return to New Orleans for the move. Dad drove and I took the train (around 8 hours), which was actually a pretty marvelous experience. There was this awesome observation car with enormous windows on the sides and top of the car, and it was a beautiful day to pass through the swamps along I-10 and Lake Pontchartrain.

We stayed at the Exchange Building (where there seem to be a bevy of Airbnb and other types of short-term rentals), which was a great central location. We had a couple fun nights on Beale Street (despite a number of things being closed from the terrible ice storm they’d just had), and visited numerous points of interest in and around town on the day in between (Lorraine Motel, Bass Pro Shop Pyramid, Stax Museum).

The second night on Beale Street might’ve been a little too fun, extending into the wee hours at an absinthe bar/pool lounge, making the next morning’s trip to IKEA a little less fun, but I got my shopping knocked out and off to New Orleans we went. I was beyond thankful to have the help moving up three flights of stairs, and am really enjoying Uptown life so far.