Days 215 - 218 (Thu 2/21/13 - Sun 2/24/13)- Shreveport, LA

 

 Excluding their college, Shreveport really only holds one main attraction, the R W Norton Art Gallery. This is how we decided to spend our Saturday. The gallery is so large, we took an hour lunch break in between the museum's two main wings.

Ranging in subject matter from American history to Modern Art the fantastic gallery also included abundant information on artists and artistic movements, placing them in their historical contexts.

Some tidbits were learned:

-Perceived as timid, General Robert E. Lee was initially nicknamed "Granny Lee" who following the war admitted his support for abolishing slavery.

-The official copy of the Declaration of Independence was not signed until August 2nd.

-Benjamin Franklin was a beloved Ambassador to France leading many to comment to Americans "he was the best President you ever had."

Original Audubon illustrated book worth several million

 

Done by a Face Blind artist

Day 214 (Wednesday 2/20/13)- Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rogue the "little red baton" of a city (we originally thought some lewd Frenchman was responsible for the naming ala "the Tetons") ended up having downtown parking issues which shrunk our itinerary. We did make it to the Acadian Cultural Center and were glad we did. We learned about the original inhabitants of Nova Scotia, at one time called Acadie, and their devastating persecution. After being deported from their homeland many landed on the shores of Louisiana with no knowledge of the land or how to survive. That the early Cajuns (an Americanized pronunciation of Acadie) were able to not only survive but thrive on the swamp land is amazing.

In continuation of our cultural experience we headed for a catfish buffet, because when unsure about whether you will like something, why not experiment with gusto. (It increases the likelihood of vomiting) Breaded catfish with tons of fries (a trick from the kitchen to try to slow down Isaiah's catfish intake. It didn't work) This was probably not quite the same as a true Acadian feast, but that is not to say that Isaiah did not enjoy an impressive amount of catfish and I an impressive amount of fries.

Day 213 (Tuesday 2/19/13)- Natchitoches, LA

At Oakland Plantation National Park we found a very knowledgeable volunteer who gave us a tour of the grounds before turning us over to a Ranger who led us through the plantation home. The raised creole house is in excellent shape with the exception of the ground level, where the house slaves lived. Under the house there is a hatch door which leads up into what had been the children's room, so that the slaves were available at all times and at a moment's notice.

Oakland is unique. It is well preserved with items from the family that lived there (including the furnishings in the sharecropper shack) and the owner's descendants are actively involved with the Park (several members live down the street).

Next we toured the historic town of Natchitoches but my heart just wasn't in it. The town's downtown features more than fifty 100-year old buildings, including the home Steel Magnolias was filmed in. It should have been a treasure trove of fascinating history but even Isaiah's encouragement couldn't get my energy up enough to do more than drive by with him snapping pictures out the window (hence why the pictures are a little askew).

 

Oakland Plantation

 

 

 

Natchitoches

Days 211 & 212 (Sun 2/17/13 & Mon 2/18/13)- Lafayette, LA

Enjoying Lafayette so much the first time, we visited again. It wasn't as fun the second time around.

We had hoped to see more gators in Cypress Lake, but managed only a distant and obstructed glimpse of one (gators are surprisingly hard to recognize. Who do they need camouflage from anyway?). After the excitement of New Orleans one shy gator was a disappointment. Though Cypress Lake is located right behind the Student Union at the University, making it the only school in the nation to have live alligators on campus there is only a partial, diminutive fence around the lake. That we considered this boring only speaks to how fun our other gator excursion was.

In the afternoon we lounged at a nearby park (praying the gators didn't have the fortitude to climb through the non-fenced section and visit us) enjoying the sun, crowds of happy people and group of puppies that were frolicking around us. This led to a tinge of regret as we realized bringing an entire box of donuts to the park does attract puppies but also diminishes your donut supply.

Taking make-shift sink showers at the local shower less pool (LA is not so friendly to dirty travelers but at least the pool was free) we afterwards made up for our disappointment in the lack of amenities with mo Po boys.

Day 210 (Saturday 2/16/13)- Mamou, LA

Naturally when Isaiah said we'd be drunk by 10am I didn't believe him. How wrong I was.

The town of Mamou is the Cajun music capital of the world. We won't dispute their claim. If someone could do better, we wouldn't survive to tell about it. We hurried to get a spot at the bar before 8:30 am, when Fred's Lounge fills up. Our seats were fortunate as we made friends with the bartender/drinking partner Alex and spent our morning taking shots with Tante Sue (Grandma Mamou to me). Alex talked of squirrel hunting, showed us knifes, and gave Isaiah boudin Cajun sausage (so good). By the end of the morning Alex had invited his girlfriend to come down to hang out and meet us and Sue had told us she loved us.

After being given an hours notice to assemble a band and getting a flat tire on the way over, Don Fontenot, the Cajun bandleader, and his group played for over 4 hours and the performance was broadcasted over the radio. The band was Alex's favorite. To prep us for the show he played us one of their videos from Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qncJIc77i_M

My drunken dancing attracted the interest of a local biker and the sweetest couple invited us over to the dance hall across the street following Fred's 1p closure.

Fred's does an incredible amount of business, only being open on Saturdays from 8a-1p. The bar is not just a local favorite, but internationally known (we sat next to Canadians but many countries are well represented in their guestbook, though we were told we were the first Oregonians to visit) and this is clearly because of Tante Sue. A local hero in the town (literally painted on the town's Wall of Heroes) she is a firecracker, an 82-year-old who kisses everyone on the cheek, but who does not allow "lip kissing" in her establishment, who takes and shares shots and after each pumps her fist and yells "hot damn!" She gave us several free drinks, even more kisses and won our hearts.

Next to the after party (mind you it's only 2 in the afternoon) we once again ran into Tante Sue who took a couple more shots before she had to leave to pick up a friend at the nursing home for Saturday mass. She was serving communion and couldn't be late.

Also impressive was the band. People shuffled instruments, members of the crowd came up and sang or swapped out with a musician for a bathroom break. Everyone knew all the songs, everyone could play, everyone could dance.

We were done, but the town wasn't. There was another cajun radio show later in the afternoon and we were invited to an evening performance as well. We, sadly, could understand little of what anyone other than Alex had to say to us, but the town's kindness was universal. However because of the language barrier we couldn't find the next bar for more dancing. It might have been for the best, we were exhuasted.

The only thing that could dampen our day was the movie Ted. Since when does a racist teddy bear make for a good movie? How can someone treat the whole world as stupid and mock everything about it and not turn that criticalness to their own creation, how could McFarlane not recognize his work as at least as stupid as most of the things he spends his time judging?

 

Wall of town heroes

 

Day 209 (Friday 2/15/13)- Laura Plantation & Avery Island, LA

Laura Plantation came highly recommended by a friend. It was well worth the money.

Never having visited a plantation we expected to see a towering two or three story mansion. The Laura plantation house was two stories, but only if you count the open air basement. The history of the family that lived here is fascinating, based mostly on the diaries kept by the plantation's namesake. Several generations of the family were detailed as we passed through each room on a whirlwind tour. We loved our charming tour guide who provided excellent information and insight, but the whole thing was a bit too assembly line streamlined, with an exhausting pace and even so the next group audible in the adjoining room waiting for us to move on.

Many years ago at Laura, African slaves told each other stories from their homeland. One day someone wrote down the stories and they were put into print. They were called the Briar Rabbit stories. These slaves and their descendants would eventually receive their freedom but still many stayed, having no other place to go. Our guide told us that just a few years ago a free slave died still living on a local plantation.

On the grounds we also got to see crawfish holes (apparently the "mud bugs" get lost and dig holes looking for water) which are a little hard to describe but are narrower and deeper than gopher holes.

Finishing up the day on Avery Island we toured the McIlhenny Tabasco factory, getting tiny bottles of their most popular sauces and seconds and thirds of interesting samples like Raspberry Chipotle ice cream and Tabasco soda, both surprising good.

Counterpoint:
I personally thought the concept of paying the descendants of slave owners (or perhaps worse, outsider opportunists) to take pictures of the product of forced labor was screwed up. I mean do people go to Germany and give money to the grandchildren of Nazis to see pretty houses paid for by stealing from the Jews?

At least it wasn't a B&B.

Amanda points out that by my criteria I wouldn't go see the pyramids in Egypt, though I say, to my Philistine eyes, Plantation houses look similar to other historic houses in the region, ones that aren't quite as tainted. The pyramids are unique, ancient, and foreign. That America still needed a Moses in the 1960's is excruciating.

Crawfish Hole

Days 200 - 208 (Wed 2/6/13 - Thu 2/14/13)- Mardi Gras in New Orleans

A brief history of Carnival: Often mistakenly referred to as Mardi Gras, the days leading up to Fat Tuesday are called Carnival, with the Monday before Lent being Luni Gras and Tuesday, Mardi Gras. Bead tossing began as a European Carnival tradition which New Orleans adopted around 1838 when masked men tossed bonbons, sugar-coated almonds and other confections to ladies along the parade route. The first Krewe to form was Rex in 1872 in honor of a Russian Grand Duke who was attending the festival. It was also this Krewe that established the official Mardi Gras colors purple (justice), green (faith) and gold (power).

Present day green represents the faith one has when drinking for hours, waiting for the parade and believing the liquid will not have to exit. Justice seems to be inviting thousands of people to drink for hours, making bathrooms scarce, and arresting them if they attempt to unburden themselves publicly. Faith is teenage boys on the floats trying to barter beads for breasts, them thinking their plastic is gold.

Out of all the Blogs we have written this is one of the hardest for sure. How do you go about describing the madness that is Carnival? Having survived 12 parades we can attest to both the good and the bad that is celebrating Mardi Gras.

Some tips for surviving Carnvial:

1. Don't get angry: Saving a spot at the frontlines after hours of waiting means nothing when it actually starts. (unless, like some locals, you block off 30 foot sections with ropes and nets and tents and ladders) People will push in front of you and children will get the majority of throws, partly because floats aim for them, but also because they are on the shoulders of their parents, and are, frankly, damn quick. This is just how it goes. Remember you are visitors, it's mostly just a bunch of plastic crap you don't need and that sometimes these same people end up making you have more fun (like the drunk lady who elbowed and pushed to get through the lines just to break into the tootsie roll).

2. Don't come early: As stated above saving a spot means little when push literally comes to shove. The only exception to this is on Fat Tuesday when people camp out overnight to get their spots. Though from what we observed and heard corroborated, some of the best parades happen before Mardi Gras. The elaborate and ridiculously equipped campsite cookouts can be more impressive than the floats on Tuesday.

3. Make sure and see Endymion: This year their parade was hosted by Kelly Clarkson. Enough said.

4. Do not get more than you can carry: You will get so much crap that you can't even find ways to get rid of it. It's best to make sure everyone around you gets their fair share. This will endear you to the crowd and also make you feel good.

Another good tip: don't have your boyfriend dressed like a creeper (Grizzly beard-check, plain green hat like the guy from the Ford Commercials-check, poncho-check, I looked like every kidnapper in every Lifetime movie ever made) and defintely don't have that suspicious boyfriend abandon a 30 lb bag of unwanted throws on a busy street corner, it might be mistaken for something dangerous. Add our pedo-van into the mix and I think security was keeping close tabs on us.

5. Drink, or don't, depending on your surroundings: This is a time of celebration and alcohol is a very real part of the atmosphere. Plenty of people in the parade were drunk. Drinking in public is legal in New Orleans but technically booze is supposed to be kept in a plastic container or covered with a paper bag. As a side note it is very illegal to pee in pubic (from what we've heard) so don't. This could get you into some trouble. Automatic jail time, not just a ticket. As mentioned earlier, plan ahead before consumption. We tried several spots, some of which were miles from any port-a-potties. On those days there was no drinking. We did find port-a-poties on Canal and Lee's Circle and a park in between. Once we found them, the little circle shaped park became our basecamp and we could be more carefree drinking wise.

6. Don't Flash: We didn't see anyone do it, there are tons of kids around and as far as we can tell you are doing something really wrong if you have to flash to get beads. This isn't to say that the majority of Throwers aren't a bunch of horny adolscent men wanting you to flash but they still give you stuff anyway.

After spending two weeks in New Orleans we have many stories, but in the interest of time and space I include just a selection of highlights:

To avoiding parking costs and traffic we took a bus in from Algiers each day and got to know the neighborhood which took some time to get used to considering that half of it was deserted (we aren't quite sure why it could be the buildings were condemned or hurricane related).This was a great way to see the real New Orleans and a much cheaper way to travel, although it gave us an earlier curfew than we would have liked.

When waiting for a bus one night we made quick friends with a girl who was so drunk she was standing in the middle of the road "directing traffic" which consisted of pointing for people to continue driving straight, just as they were doing before her interruption, a direction now difficult, she being in their way. After getting her safely back to the sidewalk she drunkly rambled on in an adorable accent about "not wanting people to get lost." Sometimes its hard to know if people are drunk around here. Sometimes they only sound that way. This girl was defintely drunk. She had directions for us too, worried we would get lost, instead of "going," and this is a loose transcription, "whmrng" what we really needed to do, she told us, was "go blrngwk" This was just the first of many times we ran into her, four times in total, making us think the town might be smaller than we had originally suspected. That or the girl is perpetually drunk and despite relying on the bus, impressively mobile. We saw her along the road in the alligator swamp and at another bus stop weighted down with multiple bags from the Hustler store. Interesting lady.

Filming the last episodes for the final season of the HBO show "Treme" (From the creator of the incomparable "The Wire," I know, I know, I'm always talking about this show) coincided with our stay and twice we happened upon the camera crew in action. The second time we actually got to stalk Steve Zahn.

After they completed filming his final scene for the show, he just started walking down the street. It just happened to be the same direction we were going. Naturally we followed him. He walked for blocks and blocks. No limo, no entourage. He said hi to several people without anyone recognizing him. It was pretty cool.

We got a delicious meal in the back of a tiny corner store, ate on somebody's stoop, found Nicholas Cage's old house and talked to his neighbor who confirmed that when the bank repossessed it Mr. Cage absconded with the chandliers. He later had to come back and return them.

We visited North America's oldest bar (where based on photographs Mr. Cage was a regular), walked all along the beautiful French District, Treme neighborhood and visited an enourmous and beautiful city park. We found the coolest Park Rangers (sorry Buzz Botts. You've been dethroned) who put on jazz concerts, explored the New Orleans history museum and an above ground historic cemeteries.

We felt we made the most of our time and got to see a little of how the average New Orlean lives. We heard an unimaginable amount of local music, feasted on local cuisine and generally fell in love with New Orleans.

Treme

Treme

Steve Zahn

Beautiful Balcony

Beautiful Balcony

Mardi Gras Nose

Fire wielding parade

Dragon wielding parade

The "Waddling" Dead

                                                      Historic Cemetery #1

Lizard

On the Mississippi

Days 198 & 199 (Mon 2/4/13 & Tue 2/5/13)- Barataria Preserve

Monday was a day of rest and an excuse to avoid the rain. A low key day was just what we needed to prepare for Tuesday.

Just outside of New Orleans is 20,000 acres of swamp land called the Barataria Preserve. Coming on the heels of a soggy day with little sun we were told that, unfortunately, alligators wouldn't be out. Cold blooded creatures, they typically only come out of their holes after it has been in the 70's for a couple of consecutive days.

Walking the first two trails we were indeed unlucky, though that depends how you look at it I suppose. The beauty of the swamp, even in February, was unreal. With the exception of a few trees missing their leaves, green foilage and growth greeted us in every direction. Colorful lichen dotted the trees. The swamp was teeming with color and life. But no gators.

As a formality we went to the third trail, Twin Canals, to see how long it was. Right out of the parking lot we spotted a young gator, sitting still as a stone in the canal. Many more sightings were to come, maybe 5 in total.

The woods were alive and mysterious-rattling leaves, rusling bushes, splashes in the swamp. Since the trail floor was carpeted with discarded leaves, conditions favored by a poisonous swamp snake, it was also unnervingly alive. Giant flys, tiny salamanders, lizards and snapping turtles could be seen everywhere, if they were slow enough hiding and you fast enough to spot them.

Our greatest find of the day was a gigantic bull (adult male) alligator sunning, most of it's body out of water. Now for the faint of heart it's best not to think of how hard we had to work to get the pictures we did (Isaiah in full Crocidile Hunter mode at points climbing trees and dangling from branches over the water). It was a heart shuddering and absolutely unbelievable nature walk. To reassure those who might be concerned, we didn't actually see any real movement from any of the alligators, they merely sat eyeing us, perhaps hoping the tree branches underneath Isaiah weren't load bearing.

 

 

 

         

 

 

Days 195 - 197 (Fri 2/1/13 - Sun 2/3/13)- Superbowl

With a Superbowl party this good it is impossible to imagine how fun Mardi Gras will be.
Between free food, prizes (mainly handed out just for waiting in line) and an entire weekend of free, phenomenal, all day, multi stage professional and local (here they are the same) music, we had an amazing time. We got to hear the difference between Zydeco and Cajun music, much accordion, more jazz and a dude playing washboard like he was Jimi Hendrix.

Though the entire weekend was a blast, Sunday was probably the highlight. After the concerts had ended Isaiah managed to score us an entire case of Pepsi. We then spotted a crowd of Raven fans forming (they were hard to miss). Then they started marching. Needless to say we joined right in, chanting and yelling, shutting down the traffic that wasn't already shut down, dodging police, while people from balconies cheered and took pictures and clumps of the more disorganized 49er fans made threats on their teams behalf. Being two impartial bandwagon jumpers with no tickets among thousands of rabid fans in a procession from the waterfront to the Superdome was quite an experience, the one blemish being I was occasionally mistaken for a 49ers fan. Having limited clothing options and no strong affiliations for either team (though we wanted Baltimore to win) I had stupidly worn maroon. I wasn't booed or treated poorly in the tsunami of purple, but did get some nasty looks. I had a good buzz going so it only slightly dampened my mood.

Unable to find anywhere to actually watch the game we caught the last and most important minutes along side the electronics staff at Walmart as Baltimore held on.

We made YouTube! At 1:26 into the video, I'm in a maroon shirt wearing a sun hat and Isaiah is wearing a black t-shirt and, of course, carrying a case of Pepsi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GqZaGm_PpI

 

 

 

Throwing a football to win a tiny foam football

 

Signed autographs to help Drew Brees Charity

 

 

 

Mahogany Brass Band

 

Day 194 (Thu 1/31/13)- Lafayette, LA

After a night of poor sleep and a big drive ahead, a break sounded nice. We stopped in Dallas, Texas to see the Grassy Knoll. Here we took a brief auto tour of the site of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

An Aside: Not knowing at the time about the Grassy Knoll's dark associations when Isaiah's mom asked if we would be visiting what sounded like a park I said "oh yes the Grassy Knoll sounds lovely" while Isaiah waved wildly in the background. One of life's many lessons.

As soon as we crossed into Louisiana the temperature and scenery changed dramatically. It was much warmer and greener. I think Texans water their lawns with lighter fluid and WD-40. We took a break from driving in Shreveport and continued on to Lafayette.

We enjoyed Lafayette even though we were unable to locate its gator swamp in the dark. Perhaps that was for the best. Gators are rumored to be nestled in the middle of the Lafayette campus. We did, however, find Ol' Thyme grocery where Isaiah feasted on a delicious Po' Boy (a foot long and $5, but this was no subway version) and I got to sample a shake and fries at Checker's (the veggie Po' Boy sandwich shop was closed).

In a mad rush for New Orleans we hadn't the time we wanted, but we'll be back. Not just to find gators, but to get more sandwiches.

Days 185 - 193 (Tue 1/22/13 - Wed 1/30/13)- Albuquerque, NM

Though Monday proved to be well worth the drive, the rest of the week wasn't quite as exciting. Having been everything but promised a better role as an Extra (indeed "crazy s$%&" according to casting), Isaiah was very disappointed (we both were) when the week dragged on as we patiently waited to hear back. We continued waiting, though not as patiently, calling and eventually learning that the Director would be shooting on Fat Tuesday.
We already had wildly diverted from our route east and were all week impatiently weighing whether we should wait on Breaking Bad or head to Mardi Gras as planned. There was still a week of New Orleanean partying left to enjoy and we might even be able to make the superbowl too. We had wasted a week waiting, so we would have to drive a long way quickly. Although we also knew we might have to turn around and drive right back to New Mexico and wondering if it was worth all the gas money, it was clear Mardi Gras would be much more exciting than Albuquerque libraries. We would decide on the show if and when we ever heard back from them. Once we got a hold of casting, we left immediately and managed to get out of Albuquerque before a snow storm hit, but didn't quite outrun it.

We reached white out conditions near the border and it was here we shared a vacant lot with a dozen semi-trucks as we all waited out the storm.