…before I depart New Orleans and return to the heat and dust of Phoenix:

* The French Quarter appears to be both more vibrant and cleaner than it seemed to me a year ago. There seems more foot traffic at night – even on weeknights – and perhaps that can be attributed to a number of corporations scheduling their conferences for New Orleans this week. Unfortunately, the lack of foot traffic during the day seems to be making things difficult for the various shops and art galleries in the FQ that simply cannot wait for weekend traffic to make up for the loss of tourism in a post-Katrina world.

* I highly recommend the char-broiled oysters at the Acme Oyster House.

* …as well as Tujague’s for as good a meal as you can get in these parts. Their roumalade sauce is to die for.

* There’s still a lot of locals here who appear to be on the fence as to whether their long-term plans include staying here. I kinda get the feeling that one more hurricane might cause more than a few to say enough is enough.

* If you want a cozy bar to simply enjoy a cocktail in while watching the foot traffic pass by, you can’t do a whole lot better than the Omni Royal Orleans’ Touche Bar on St. Louis Street.

It was a lovely week, but all good things must come to an end. See y’all on the bsackside in the Valley of the Sun!