I find it difficult to describe the high levels of satisfaction I experienced in New Orleans during the past two days because of the efforts of those who worked so hard to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans. Most of all I want to thank the American and British reenactors at the battlefield in Chalmette, the employees of Pat O'Brien's on St. Peter St. for creating and serving me the Battle Crye rye whiskey cocktail with its commemorative glass, the workers of the Historic New Orleans Collection's Andrew Jackson exhibition on Royal Street, the scholars who contributed to the Battle of New Orleans Historical Symposium at Nunez Community College in Chalmette and the crew of the Creole Queen who safely took us down the Mississippi on Friday afternoon's Battlefield Cruise. You have all reignited my lifelong burning passion for learning more about this most significant event in the colorful history of my homeland, the Gulf Coast. http://mobilebicentennial.blogspot.com