There were older threads with the object of trying to find the place or places where most Dopers had been. And where the fewest Dopers had been.
This is one of those threads, with a little twist. There’s a public poll so you can vote without having to post. If you choose to post and would say when you were closest, that could be fun, too.
Poll coming right up…
Last time I was for sure there was 1986. We were in Louisiana in the late 80’s but I don’t think we got closer than I-10 on the way to Lafayette. That would make the 1-20 choice the most recent.
My wife and I got married there a couple years ago and we’ve been back a few times since. It’s absolutely my favorite place on Earth.
My roommate in college was from New Orleans. I got to crash at his house three times for Mardi Gras. Great memories.
I went to one Sugar Bowl game. Still had a great time, but my team (FSU) lost to one of our big rivals (UF). For the Mythical National Championship. To this day, I regret NOT buying the FSU National Championship t-shirts they had on sale CHEAP the next day.
I took a team of 16 and under boys to Junior Olympic volleyball nationals in New Orleans. (We got a bronze medal…really cool. They called my name up as a coach, I bowed my head, and they put the medal around my neck. Just like the ‘adult’ games.)
That trip was a little more trouble, because the girls tournament was going on at the same time. And, well, I had a bunch of 15 and 16 year old boys with me. In New Orleans.
But yeah…been there…great times…would love to go back.
-D/a
Cool stories, y’all! That 1986 trip for us was over the Bastille Day week in July and we decided to eat Sunday brunch at Brennan’s. Thinking it was the thing to do I wore a suit! Everybody else was in tennis shorts and sneakers. I felt the total fool, but we had a monster breakfast and that (to this day) was the most I ever paid for two people to eat a meal! Over $80. But damn! It was fine.
Do you, or people you know, call the place NOLA?
I was in Texarkana in about 1982. I think that’s the closest I ever got.
Most people I know from there never call it NOLA, but they would write it. NOLA is also the name of one of Emeril’s restaurants there.
We try to visit several times a year. Got married there many years ago on Mardi Gras day at the cathedral (well…outside, they wouldn’t let us in).
I think the closest I’ve been was in Miami.
I went to undergrad there (Tulane).
I was on a cruise that disembarked from NO. I loved the city, the atmosphere just felt like a city that didn’t take itself too seriously and realized life was to be enjoyed rather than conquered. I liked it a lot and would gladly go back.
Jazz Fest, right after Katrina. Before that was in about 1995, I’m guessing.
Spent a few days in the French Quarter en route to a holiday in Central America. It was just before Mardi Gras but there was already a good warm buzz going around. The entertainment, on the street and in the bars, was fantastic, the best I’d seen and heard to that point. We left when our hotel rate suddenly doubled, signalling the official start to Mardi Gras, I guess.
It’s probably way too early for this observation to mean too much but judging from the responses so far anybody who’s gotten within 100 miles of New Orleans went ahead and visited the place. Is that a fair conclusion from our poll?
Spent a week in New Orleans in 1982, and a couple of days in the mid-'90s.
I don’t remember it, but our family went there in 1978 when I was a wee kid. My dad took us on the bus to go to the zoo and he said he got some funny looks for not matching the ethnic and/or economic profile of the rest of the folks riding the bus.
My dad’s family has lived in Louisiana for five generations. Approx 200 miles from New Orleans.
I visited New Orleans in 1994 for a computer conference. We were downtime on the Riverwalk. There was a large shopping mall underneath our hotel. Elevators took us down there to shop and visit the cafes.
Only went there once, party in the French Quarter FTW. I’m surprised more people didn’t answer 21-50 because I must have bypassed it on I-12/I-10 more than a dozen times.
Jacksonville, Florida, which I am surprised to learn is 548 miles from New Orleans.
mmm
No closer than several thousand miles - the other side of the Atlantic.
Google Maps tells me that Atlanta is ~472 miles from NOLA, so that’s my number.