The New Orleans Jazz Fest is the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May each year. I haven’t been since Katrina and it is time to go back. My first Jazz Fest was when I was 5 or 6 years old. I figure that is a perfect time to start taking my family too. A while back I went ahead and reserved two 2 bedroom suites for the entire length of Jazz Fest. It was kinda wishful thinking, but also I wanted to influence the future so I was acting as if. I talked to my Dad and Sister and they decided they would just Sabrina and I in taking all of our kids to Jazz Fest.
The question then became how would we get there. We could fly, but 8 tickets are expensive. We could drive but 8 people don’t fit in a single car. Then I remembered that when I lived in New Orleans a couple of my friends came down for Mardi Gras via Amtrak. There is no Amtrak station in Nashville so we would have to drive to Birmingham, AL but the kids would get a kick out of it.
Yesterday my Dad and I looked at the price for all of us to take the train. Amazingly the round trip price for all 8 of us came to a total of $346.50. That is cheaper than driving! Some of the other perks of taking Amtrak are the dining car, the freedom to get up and walk around, and booze (hey, we are going to be en route to New Orleans). After a quick deliberation we went ahead and bought the tickets. We aren’t going for the full two weekends, but we will be there Thurs-Mon and the lineup looks great.
mmmmm. Crawfish.
