We are at Oak Alley Plantation, which is about 30 miles outside of New Orleans on a small dusty country road. Funny how such a beautiful, popular place is still so off the beaten path. This is where they filmed scens from Interview with the Vampire, and has a line of 26 huge gorgeous oak trees thought to have been planted before the USA was even a country!

Anyway, we are walking up the front path to the plantation house, only about 40 people on the whole plantation so very quiet. We see a couple and their son posing for a picture in front of the house. I see the woman who looks dressed just TOO nice to be with a guy in t-shirt and jeans. I keep looking as we approach, and his face just pops into view. There is no mistaking him, even behind those shades.

I tell my wfe "That's Nick Cage!" in a whisper, which gets her looking. As we pass, she notices too, but he is looking up into the oak trees, so we dont make eye contact.

We walk past, hearts racing from excitement. And.....we keep walking. We did nothing but take pictures from afar. Then later, as we are walking through the plantation, we are regretting not saying anything to him, seeing as we (as well as everyone in the world) are huge fans.

Well, as we are walking back to our tour bus, I see him and his family strolling down another more secluded path toward us. No one else has een noticed he is here except for my wife and I. I knew we had to talk to him or regret it forever. I told my wife to get her camera ready and walked up to him.

"Excuse me Mr. Cage, do you mind if we get a picture?"

"Not at all!" he says.

My wife says, "We don't want to bother you on your vacation."

"Oh, no problem, don't sweat it" Nick says, extending his hand for a handshake with both my wife and I as we introduce ourselves. He is grinning widely.

"Raising Arizona is my favorite movie", I tell him. He smiles and says "Thank you."

Then I go as far as to say, "I'll be taking these Huggies!" a great line from Raising Arizona, to which Nick laughs aloud.

I put my arm around him as one of Nick's friends snaps some pics. Then we thank him for the pics, shake hands again, and off he walks with his family as we float back to the tour bus on Cloud 9.
Our tour bus is gawking at our pictures, and now the members of our tour are taking pictures of my wife and I. He becomes the talk of the bus as we drive back to New Orleans. Awesome guy and an unforgettable experience!