I don’t believe New Orleans is gone for good. For one thing, dealing with watery tragedy is something that people on the Gulf Coast are used to — while the aftermath of Katrina is horrible, I suspect its horror looks a lot worse to those unused to hurricanes, like my wife.

Secondly, New Orleans is too much of a tourist destination to not be rebuilt by various hustlers, crooks and stubborn old SOBs, which is approximately the same set of ingredients that gave us the original New Orleans (although New Orleans has flooded and burned down more than once in the past).

And finally, I haven’t seen it yet. It’s yet another thing that I’ve put off seeing, even though I really want to visit, because “it’ll be there.” You’d think I’ve had learned my lesson when I turned down a chance to see the Berlin Wall (oops), visit the Soviet Union (oops) or see the Grateful Dead in concert (oops).

No more delays: When they reopen for business, I’ll be bringing my tourist dollars to help with the effort.