When it all goes right - E63

Rick Denton  0:00  
Sometimes things just simply work out, and let's celebrate it.

Clancy Denton  0:02  
This is the loud quiet living the empty nest.

Rick Denton  0:17  
Everybody. Welcome to Episode 63 of the loud quiet. You can tell that we are not in our studio again, hopefully, both from the background noise and for those of you watching, you can tell that we are looking at Jackson Square in New Orleans. We're

Clancy Denton  0:31  
not coming from you live from Arizona, and this one is a different place, right?

Rick Denton  0:35  
Not in a car. Now, who knows what's happened? If y'all saw how this is set up. This is the most rigged camera setup that we've got. Somebody could just kick it here in a second. That'll make for some good bloopers. But we are in New Orleans and are excited about this trip.

Clancy Denton  0:52  
Yeah, we just, you needed to do a miles run, and we threw around some places, and New Orleans came up and we're like, we've been there 20 some odd years ago as young married couples, took a trip. Things got a little crazy on that trip.

Rick Denton  1:12  
What did I say as we watch my mother's today? I said, I think that's I

Clancy Denton  1:17  
don't really remember being up against a brick wall. But anyways, so yeah, it was. We had never been back here, and I don't know why we just it wasn't on our list, but I am so glad I

Rick Denton  1:34  
know why, because that trip was so much about party and all that kind of stuff, and that wasn't what I was interested in. And and you get kind of reputation of New Orleans is hot and swampy and Bourbon Street is gross and all that. Well, we had a totally different trip this time. Yes,

Clancy Denton  1:49  
it was now where this episode is about. Everything went right now. This is our last day. We hope to continue that. But I mean, everything going from New Orleans tomorrow, everything went right on this trip well, and it didn't start.

Rick Denton  2:07  
It didn't start that way. It we were we'd planned an hour to get to left field, a trip that's normally 35 minutes, but it's high traffic time we start out. It's an hour five, and it just kept ticking up more and more and more and more. And so when I say I wasn't sure we were going to make the flight, that's not true. We knew we're going to make the flight, but with Southwest, if you don't board, when you board, you get the crappy seat. Yada yada. Well, this was a case of we thought this was going to the trip was going to start out badly. We should have realized the fact that we showed up and boarding was starting as we showed up is a sign that this was going to be the perfect trip.

Clancy Denton  2:49  
Yeah, and it really flight was great. On time. Everything was good. We get to New Orleans, and we had even we don't need, you don't really need to rent a car here. Planning on doing, if you're planning on doing things outside of the main areas, then yes. But so, you know, we just got here and hit up Uber or Lyft. I don't remember what it was left, but yeah, so,

Rick Denton  3:14  
and imagine, just, I want to set the stage a little bit, imagine that we're talking about hundreds and 1000s of people who are booking ride shares, maybe not 1000s, whatever. It doesn't matter. Lots of people. There were a lot of people. And there are lots of potential combinations between us and the ride that we're in. Yeah, and we got a shockingly perfect ride for us. Yeah,

Clancy Denton  3:36  
it was. We get in the car, very nice car that our driver introduced himself to us, Chris, he and then he said, Can I tell you all about my morning? We were like, Sure, go ahead. And I wasn't in the most chatty mood. We've been up early. It was fine. But so he starts telling us about how he owns his own car company, driver service, but he had this mishap with a customer. She put in her home address, which was back in Houston, so their head in that direction, he had to turn around. So then he ended up coming to pick us up. So we're continuing to talk to him, and

Rick Denton  4:18  
he revealed that he was an empty nester, and we're like, oh, you've got to be kidding. We're empty nesters. That's why we're able to travel out here on a random Thursday. We got a podcast and all that kind of stuff, and he decided to go ahead and tell us his empty nest story. Now I was rolling tape on this, and we hope that we may be able to share this with you. Haven't asked his permission as of today, and so hopefully y'all will actually get to hear his story from his words. But he had the classic story of my wife and I did not know what to do with each other, and here we are. You know, two good deeds podcasters in the backseat. I don't know we can help you, dude, but we're going to listen to your story. He said, Well, you may. Remember the sentence

Clancy Denton  5:00  
well. And he also said, you know, he when he found out that we had a podcast, he said, That's so good, because he said we couldn't find any information. There's not a lot of books on this subject. But so he said, first of all, he said, you know, my wife looked at me after we took our youngest and they were a blended family to college, and said, I don't really like you. And he said, he said they had been having some issues already, but he was like, Oh no. And then he just continued to tell us about, or, well, Rick, Rick went into interview. But so he goes on to tell us his story. He also mentioned that he had gotten laid off. That's why he and he used the word I had to reinvent myself, and that's why he started his car business. And you know, I'm sitting there going, oh my gosh, we did an episode about reinventing ourselves. He really was our target listener. And storyteller of what

Rick Denton  6:04  
the emptiness can be. And I think that right there is the kind of the trip has been perfect, and it's just barely starting. I think it also reinforces that this is not an emptiness journey that is unique or rare. So many people go through that moment of, I don't like you, or in our you know, I don't know you. Or how are we going to be who we are after the kids are gone? And for him to reveal that to us, he did reinvent himself like we did. I thought what he did to try to start to connect back with his wife was really special. He paid attention to who she was and what she liked and what she needed. And I will be the first to say that I'm not great at that. It's hard, especially I'm going to play gender role here. It can be hard to crack the female mind, especially because a lot of times y'all don't necessarily verbalize what you actually need. You you use other words, and somehow we have to crack that code. He knew that she was at her happiest when she was back with her family, back home, and everywhere back home was But back home Georgia, I think, and so he booked him a trip so for her to go back home. Kids are empty now, so they can go out there. She works remotely. She's a therapist, and he goes back there. And I don't know when he revealed this to her, but he said that was just a one way ticket. We're gonna go home at the point at which you are ready to go home? And he said that was that was clearly a moment.

Clancy Denton  7:27  
He said that that was the turning point. And for her, yes, and they had been there for several days, and she looked at them, said, Okay, I'm ready to go home. Yeah. And they went home, and he said they'd been working on it ever since, and things are good. There

Rick Denton  7:41  
was a specific moment that he described that was for him, revealing that it was going to happen. I forget the timing. Thank goodness we've got it, you know, on tape. But they were discussing that this was hard, and there was a challenge, and there was this was not going to be easy, to be empty nesters. And she reached out and squeezed his hands, and

Clancy Denton  7:57  
they were in the I think they were in the car on the way, because that's where he met the guy that used to be one of his tracks stars, and he talked about how much he was making being a driver. And so, yeah, that's it. Was everything for them came together in that one moment. And yeah, so that was just really interesting.

Rick Denton  8:19  
And he said he was the first affection that they had in years. And there could be exaggerations in the story. New Orleans is very much, I know it's an overused phrase. New Orleans is a storytelling culture, and we have had incredible stories along the way for that to have started this off, yeah, it

Clancy Denton  8:36  
was just, we're, like, our job was, I mean, we got to the hotel, we were just getting out of the car and just did that really just happen? Of

Rick Denton  8:44  
all the things, of all the rides for God to put us in that ride, and hopefully in reverse, I sent him a text afterwards. Oh, and we'll put his business in. If you're coming to New Orleans, he's the guy you want. Yes, yeah. And so I actually text him, because he had his number there. I said, Hey, man, thanks for sharing your story. Your story. Being an empty nest is amazing. It's challenging. It's always an adventure. You got this? Thanks for being our driver today. Game allowed quite, of course, you know, for him to check out, yeah,

Clancy Denton  9:11  
so then we could get into our

Rick Denton  9:13  
Yeah, now it's vacation.

Clancy Denton  9:14  
Yeah, our hotel room was ready. Hours, yeah. I mean, yeah, late checkout given, I mean, everything with smooth a room is awesome. I mean, we look out, we'll put some pictures, and we look out over the super dome. Yes, oh yeah. I mean, it's beautiful here. I

Rick Denton  9:33  
said to you yesterday, I said, I haven't seen blue skies like this since Arizona. Like, it's usually Arizona where you get this kind of color blue and it I don't know why, but it's been fantastic to have this weather here. Yeah. So what do we do? We go and wander. Yeah, we went

Clancy Denton  9:51  
to the Garden District, wandering around. Found a great little place to stop in little cafe,

Rick Denton  9:59  
yeah, we just. Walk down the street, looked at okay, well, we're not going to go to Commander's Palace, which is the famous one, famous one, but there was a crepe shop right next door, kind of bakery, crepe shop, and it was excellent. Let me tell you, pimento cheese and cracklins, as in a crepe. Holy cow. That was good stuff.

Clancy Denton  10:17  
No, the only thing we had planned on the for the entire weekend was I booked a food tour for us, and that was on Friday,

Rick Denton  10:25  
wait that we did a food tour. You choosing to eat.

Clancy Denton  10:29  
So you know that that was the only thing that I had booked. I had some restaurant recommendations from your sister. So we decided, and also this bar that she said she wanted to really go to the last time, but they had their girls with them and couldn't go. So, you know, we went back to the hotel and got ready, headed out to the carousel, which is inside of, I don't remember the name of the hotel, yeah, but if you look at the carousel bar, you'll find it and so, and we'll put up a picture of that. I mean. So this place was packed, and this was 430 now we looked at it yesterday at 11 packed, so we didn't describe

Rick Denton  11:09  
it. It's a carousel, yes, and it rotates slowly around the bar. You're in

Clancy Denton  11:16  
a carousel, yeah? And they just Yeah. It's really, really and maybe 2030,

Rick Denton  11:22  
seats. Maybe

Clancy Denton  11:25  
this place was jammed packed, yes. So of course, we're wandering around like, and we're not going to so we kind of, I mean, you can see all the lurkers and stalkers who are trying to get seats. So we were lurkers and stalkers. We're not sparing them. But we were not like, right up again. There were some people that right up against people. We stood back. So all of a sudden I go, Oh, that person's leaving. So we got one chair, walked up, got it, and then Rick just stood beside me and rose. And then the lady next to me said, Hey, I'm about to get up. So you and she's like, now, come over to this side. So you, I mean, it was like

Rick Denton  12:02  
I thought about it last night. You know how Indiana Jones is trying to get the idol of the first thing you rolled a sandbagging. That's exactly what she wanted me to do. So as she slid out of the seat, her butt left, and my butt took over.

Clancy Denton  12:13  
It was that kind of you had to get into the chair

Rick Denton  12:19  
without any plans. Without it, we're rotating around the carousel. It just feels like things just, oh, I don't want to, you know what I do want to say, sometimes things just simply work out and let's celebrate it.

Clancy Denton  12:29  
And we were just so that shocked us. We're like, that's good, yeah. Then we were like, Okay, well, let's head over to the restaurant that and there's a bar section that you could wait for.

Rick Denton  12:40  
You would call no reservations. We called for weeks, nothing.

Clancy Denton  12:44  
Restaurant, yes, because I had tried to make the reservation three weeks earlier, and the girl said, Oh, you got to do at least a month, at least a month out of like, really. So GW, fans, excellent restaurant. So we get there and you had called earlier, and manette the hostess. Yeah, I

Rick Denton  13:02  
was talking manette around two o'clock. I'm like, Hey, anything? Shut up, no, and she told me, but you come up to the bar, we can put you on a wait list on the bar, but yeah, there's not gonna be tables. Oh, seven o'clock. No, you're not gonna get any tables then. So she was nice,

Clancy Denton  13:13  
yeah, we walked in, everyone Yes, we walked in and you addressed her by name,

Rick Denton  13:20  
two o'clock. Oh my gosh, yeah, hey, if we can get, you know, we'd love to sit, you know, that whole thing of just being kind and we're like, just put us on the wait list for the bar. We're and that's the part. We just were, we were we weren't because we didn't have a plan. Yeah, we didn't really care. Well, they had a shuffle some I could tell that, okay, they're putting us on the list and that kind of stuff. And then she goes, All right, your tables ready? Yeah, what? We walk into a restaurant that has one of the hardest reservations to get into New Orleans, and are seated within five minutes. And no, I did not slip her $20 to get seated. She just after a week. It's a reward as opposed to a bribe. And she didn't know that was gonna happen. And it was a spectacular. GW. Fins was amazing. I had the excellent the service was spectacular. The appetizers that the dumplings, the scalloped, the scallop, it was fake. So imagine a halibut that is wrapped in scallops. I need to say, no more

Clancy Denton  14:24  
did. Yeah, they were. It's very weird how they make that. Yeah, snapper. I mean, it was the biggest piece of fish I've seen. Yes, everything was so Noel

Rick Denton  14:34  
was a brilliant server. She was so delightful the whole evening. And then the dessert was a ice cream, salted caramel, pretzel pie. Things, so good. So, yeah, very, very

Clancy Denton  14:45  
good meal. Again, another thing worked out, yes, yes, totally. So then we are like, well, let's just walk on Bourbon Street, you know. And I will say the Bourbon Street now versus the Bourbon Street then, like when we were your last. Time I was like, okay, too many pictures of girls

Rick Denton  15:03  
strip club, yeah, but

Clancy Denton  15:06  
they're still there, but they didn't have all those posters plastered up like they did the last posters, yeah. So they've, they've cleaned it up a little bit, and feels that way. And there were definitely, I will say, there were more people our age and older out on Thursday night. Then Then there were, well, last night, we walked back out, and it was crazy. But, you know, we walked up and down, found a band, heard a band. We're like, oh, let's go in here. Well, it ends up it's the same. 20 something years ago I had a recognize the stage. So, yeah, it had

Rick Denton  15:43  
a lot more to drink back in my 30s. This time I remember there was, this was more for those that are in Dallas. This was the Emerald City kind of vibe. Is that music just fun? Of the horns, just a good, good, good band. Good

Clancy Denton  15:54  
time, that sort of thing. Super fun. So again, worked out just a stumbling up there. Watch back to the hotel. Loved it. Good, you know, got some sleep. And so the next day, we really were just like, we had our food tour book, but again, that was it. So I had been looking and I was like, Oh, there's the hop on, hop off with us. Why don't we try that? And you've seen

Rick Denton  16:15  
it here in the background come through a few times. Actually, it's the ripping red bus, Double Decker. So again,

Clancy Denton  16:20  
got over here, got our tickets, got seats up on top

Rick Denton  16:24  
everything, which is the coveted seat, be up top and all that. So yeah,

Clancy Denton  16:28  
our little tour around New Orleans. It was great. So much. Then

Rick Denton  16:32  
at every other stop, people couldn't get seats. So again, it just worked out that it was perfect for us. And so then it was food tour time, yes, and that was absolutely delightful. Yes, amazing. The started with red beans and rice, ended with a bread pudding, and had about six or seven other things in between plants. You'll put the link so good, yeah, you'll get the link down there in the in the show notes, so that y'all can do that same food tour. Spectacular. Yes, it was, Mike. Was an awesome tour guide. Yes,

Clancy Denton  17:00  
this was one that we did not have. There was nothing that I was like, That was okay. Everything was excellent. And everyone was so friendly again, just Yeah, and our tour guide was great, he and it was funny. He actually mentioned, because he he came around, it's like, Okay, is there anything you're looking to eat here? Let me give you some recommendations. And someone said something, and he said, Well, if you can get into this place, he said, I doubt you can, because it's right. He's like, the GW fence, and we're like, oh, went there last night, the Scala bit. Rick was like, I had the Scala. Yeah, it was just

Rick Denton  17:34  
a fun that was a reinforcement of, because, okay, maybe everybody can walk in and get a reservation, but to have that reinforcement of wait y'all actually got

Clancy Denton  17:44  
and again, shout out to Rachel for giving us that recommendation. So, yeah, so and he had mentioned we were like, we wanted a more little more tame night, not that we went crazy or anything, but although I don't know if you're gonna put my dancing video up anyway,

Rick Denton  18:01  
well that's quite a tease. Maybe that'll just be a short subscribe.

Clancy Denton  18:06  
So he had mentioned this place in Jackson Square, which we are, and I could it through the trees over there, but he said it's a great balcony if you can get up there and get a drink. So we showed a little

Rick Denton  18:19  
crowd around sunset, but yeah, maybe you get in. We

Clancy Denton  18:21  
showed up, and the girl was like, yeah, there's a wait. We're like, Okay, well, how long? Oh, about 15 minutes. Okay, that's nothing to us. I don't even think it was that long. We got up. Great experience. You're

Rick Denton  18:34  
overlooking the cocktail. And I don't know that. I wouldn't say, right, the food didn't expect. We didn't have any food there. But what have you

Clancy Denton  18:41  
drink? Bread with excellent. Yes, the bread was very good. They were eating this paper bag of their warm bread. Oh, so good. I think it's in the Brennan family. So people who know New Orleans, but very, very good. So yeah. So then we left there when they ate some Creole food. You

Rick Denton  18:57  
skipped over the oysters that we stumbled Oh, I forgot so again, yeah, but the tour guide had suggested an oyster place, and I had lost confidence in my note taking, and we were going the wrong way, and Clancy. Somehow our gender role or our roles reversed. She's the one who said, No, it feels like it was this direction which is such the way I usually do maps and guidance. She was right. Took us right there. We walk into a place that's empty. We're wondering, is this gonna be any good? And he had said they were really cheap oysters, though. Tour Guide actually told us the wrong price, but we're talking between 90 cents and $1 right? And the guy gave us the shuck the oysters right in front of us. Served those up. They were delicious, and then he made a CharBroil garlic parm. It was, I've never done charbroils, really, yeah. And then had our creole Cajun food. Did a little walking. Oh, yeah. What about skip the. The

Clancy Denton  20:00  
Jets, I know. And this was another recommendation from our tour guide. He was like, go to the mahogany Hall. You know, again, it's going to be slammed. We walked in, yes, the front part, right by the band was slammed. I mean, this is a tiny corridor of a house and so. But then if you walked back, there was another room that had leather couches, nice ambiance, really cool

Rick Denton  20:22  
life that you're now looking at. I show you this picture of Clancy in front of this

Clancy Denton  20:26  
lamp. Yes, so it was just again, it stumbled in, found a place comfortable, and we know was excellent well,

Rick Denton  20:35  
and this is about how it just everything kind of works out. The moment we sat down, suddenly there was a flood of people behind us trying to find

Clancy Denton  20:42  
seats. Yeah, we were always, like, two steps ahead of everyone else on this trip, so

Rick Denton  20:46  
it's going to counterbalance so get ready for the next episode that's gonna have somebody

Clancy Denton  20:52  
else. So, yeah, yeah, great music. I mean, we stayed there for probably a couple

Rick Denton  20:57  
hours. Good cocktails, great jazz, and then it was time to come home. Yeah,

Clancy Denton  21:03  
wander down Bourbon Street, one lot, one more time. And then, and I would say we were not interested in going. So, yeah. And

Rick Denton  21:10  
then, so this is our last day. Here you can see we decided to come out and shoot the episode with Jackson Square in the

Clancy Denton  21:15  
background. I know I have on my cheesy tourist shirt, but I had something else on, and I was it was so hot, I didn't realize it was going to be this hot and humid today. So I had to pop into a shop and buy some

Rick Denton  21:27  
scale on that. Though, hot and humid means it's actually 72 right? It's not, yeah, it's, it's a beautiful day. Just a sweater doesn't work today. So yes, you get to have a little tourist big, easy New Orleans t shirt. Yes, I do. You did not get the I shook them, well, t shirt, they're talking about oysters, right? So,

Clancy Denton  21:49  
yeah, now it's been a great trip. And where we've already, you know, said why we need to start coming here more.

Rick Denton  21:55  
I described it as we used to think of, where can you go for a weekend? In Dallas? Well, Austin, of course, but because of family there doesn't always feel like the tourist doesn't. It's just San Antonio always kind of mine. I want to this one adds to, or almost replaces, San Antonio as a because there are so many restaurants, and maybe there aren't as many activities left to do, but there's so many other places I want to eat. Yes, yeah, that's all I want to do. And there are a lot

Clancy Denton  22:19  
of places to eat in San Antonio. But when you're on the river walk, we've kind of done

Rick Denton  22:24  
them, like, here's an example. We didn't do the World War Two Museum, which will say it's spectacular. We didn't have the time to do it right, so we chose not to do it wrong. So we will come back. So we're gonna go, we're gonna watch the Tom Hanks documentary at the beginning, and then do the the museum.

Clancy Denton  22:38  
Yeah, when our tour guide suggested. So if you're coming here and you're gonna do that, that's what he suggested. Is

Rick Denton  22:44  
the best way it shapes the whole museum, because then you know what's going on. So there's, there's a little tip, all

Clancy Denton  22:49  
right? So now we'll continue with our day and hope that everything else just keeps going, right? And we should

Rick Denton  22:55  
hope so. And I guarantee we're gonna do some more eating, yeah, of course. Well, it's been fun here being in New Orleans. It's been fun recording another episode of the loud quiet living the empty nest.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai