Rich leaves for work at 5:15 am and as he was leaving, Kateva woke up and our day began. After all the routine morning stuff, we were on our way.

We had smooth sailing until we were about six miles outside of Baton Rouge and then it was dead stopped. It took us about an hour to get over the bridge and my nerves were just about shot by then.

Traffic was very heavy coming into the city--lots of activities going on and our hotel is very near the convention center. The cheerleading nationals are being held as well as a bunch of other groups, which resulted in total chaos.

We managed to figure out where to pull up at the hotel so I could drop off our luggage and Kateva went in to check us in while I went to park. Rich had made us a parking reservation at a place near the port and had prepaid, so I should've been all set. First thing that went wrong was I couldn't find the parking garage. No where does it say the name of the parking garage, only has a Hertz sign. So I drove around the block (thank God I'm used to downtown one way streets!) and found a back entrance to the garage. Second thing that went wrong is I'd forgotten the prepaid paperwork -- it was in my little suitcase which was with Kateva.

I felt like I was in a "fortunately/unfortunately joke!! The fortunately part that came next was that a very helpful parking attendant came over and let me into the back entrance with a temporary ticket and I was on my way. He told me I had to come back in the morning with my prepaid paperwork and they would issue me a new ticket. Rich had paid for roof top parking which ended up being on the 9th floor. I was about motion sick by the time I got up there. LOL

I then walked back to our hotel which was about a half mile and stood in line to find out what room we were in. While waiting, I met some very nice people who will be on the trip with us.

I made it to our room, which doesn't sound all that exciting except that this hotel is like a freaking maze!! So many different levels and none of them connect to one another. Truly testing my navigation skills. :))

Met up with Kateva and we walked the maze to dinner--I felt like I needed to drop bread crumbs to find my way back!! LOL since she's got her walker, we had to take the elevator, which only worsened the problem of navigating. Anyway, we had a nice dinner, including a big glass of wine for me...and then she was ready for bed. Since it was only 7:15, I wasn't. I managed to entertain myself until 10:30--are we having fun yet??