What I Learned on My Southern Vacation

Last week, I was in Baton Rouge and New Orleans visiting family. Here are some things I learned while there.

* Junebugs may have a cute name, but they are disgusting.

* Sweet tea is readily available in Baton Rouge, but not in New Orleans.

* San Francisco is an incredibly segregated and white city.

* Any time is the right time for beignets.

* Cheap shoes and muggy weather do not mix.

* Just try and find the bathrooms in the Ye Olde Original Dungeon. I dare ya.

* Baton Rouge is a maddening collection of endlessly long streets with no signs that change names indiscriminately.

* It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

* That said, it's kind of refreshing having to go outside to warm up.

* The French Quarter is like Disneyland for drinkers.

* The South loves its salt.

* Boudin balls are delicious balls.

* Balls of the testicular variety tattooed in your armpit are not so delicious, even if you are a cute female bartender.

* New Orleanians do not believe in turn signals.

* If you drive to the New Orleans Airport in the middle of the night, you will for a moment think you have taken a wrong turn and are actually driving on the tarmac, and are about to get hit by a plane. Stay calm. It's only an illusion.

* Lunch at Commander's Palace, with 25 cent martinis (of various flavors), is an awesome deal.

* Off-street parking in the French Quarter is highway robbery.

* New Orleans cab drivers might very well take you for a ride, but it will likely be an entertaining one.

* It's hard to find a real New Orleans accent in the French Quarter.

* I miss my Southern kinfolk, but am glad I live where I do.

Because...

And Another Thing

The residual effects of vacation are still hanging on. I woke up with a sore throat, a swollen lip, and a neck so stiff I could barely move it. Add to that the fact that the mosquito bites I suffered while in Louisiana seem to be getting worse. I've got huge red welts all over my legs. It's really gruesome. West Nile?

Did I mention I decided to upgrade to first class for my flight home? First time for first class, and it was pretty sweet. I don't think it was really worth the cost--although I'm not sure what would make it worth the cost. Maybe food that was actually good and not just mediocre and free? And I suppose if I were still a hard-drinking girl, the free cocktails might make it worth it. As it was it was still awful nice, what with the warm nuts (dirty!), hot hand towels, and freshly-baked cookies. Didn't really help with my fear of flying, although I did have moments of thinking, "Well, if we crash, at least I'll have plenty of leg room when it happens."

In completely unrelated news, there's a new series premiering on CBS tonight called "3 lbs" and it sounds a lot like "House" but set in the field of brain surgery. Stanley Tucci is House. Being that I've actually had brain surgery in my lifetime, I'll admit to having some interest in the show. CBS sent me a copy of the pilot along with a squishy brain, but vacation came along and I never got a chance to watch it. I appreciate the brain, though.

It's Time For the Vacation Photos!

My Louisiana photos are up! Go to the Flickr photoset to view them and read all about our trip.

A lot of the photos would probably look better after a little trip to the Photoshop, but if I did that, I wouldn't have gotten them up until after Christmas. Oh well!

Man. I'm still tired. I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Sho Nuff

I'm back!

And I'm pooped. The trip was great. And sad. Sad and great. Great because I loved seeing New Orleans again; I really love that town. Also great was finally meeting my three Louisiana cousins, and seeing my grandmother, uncle, and aunt again.

And it was sad because New Orleans really is just a shell of a city right now. Sure, the French Quarter and the Garden District are still pretty much the same, but drive out of it and you'll see house after house abandoned, stores shut down, and neighborhoods devastated. It's truly heartbreaking.

I have stories to tell, and many, many photos to show (and will most likely relegate the stories to their accompanying photos on Flickr. I'll tell ya when!) but for now I have a LOT of work, email, blogs, cat petting and, most importantly, television to catch up on. It's good to be home!

Am I On Vacation Yet?

This time tomorrow I should be in New Orleans, stuffing my face with a mufaletta, or a po' boy, or something else delicious and completely bad for me. Whatever I'm eating, I won't be at work, and won't be there for a whole week, and that's just plain awesome.

I can't say I'm not a little worried about the trip (airplane flight notwithstanding) especially when I realize hurricane season isn't officially over yet. And after reading articles about how some people in the city have gone so nuts that they're killing and cooking each other, (I shit you not). New Orleans has always been a dangerous city, and that certainly hasn't changed after Katrina.

But I think once I set foot in the French Quarter, and smell the unmistakable stench of booze, puke, and horse manure, all those worries will drift away. With the help of a mint julep or two.

Meanwhile, I had to board Tori today, and that was heartbreaking. She was so sad! I wish there was some kind of kitty spa I could take her to instead, but she's such a skittish cat, I don't think she'd really enjoy that either. I can't wait to leave, because the apartment is very lonely without her!

Last night I had a horrible night of waiting for MUNI. I waited 45 minutes for the 27 Bryant to take me home. There were no cabs to be had, and normally I would have just trekked up the hill, but my feet were killing me. To top it off, some guy kept passing out below me. Weird! I was standing above the Powell Street station, listening to my iPod, next to some newspaper stands, and I moved my foot, and felt something that hadn't been there previously. So I looked down and I saw that I had just kicked some guy in the head. He didn't seem to mind, as he just kind of readjusted himself.

So I moved over to another bunch of newspaper stands, and looked down at the Powell Street Station plaza. Sitting on the stairs was a young couple. The girl was obviously completely blotto, and the guy was doing his best to comfort her. She alternately pushed him away and leaned into him--when she wasn't puking, that is. So of course I had to break out the camera and film it!



I was doing that for a few seconds when I felt something brush against my feet again, so I looked down, and there was the passed-out-guy again! He had gotten up from his spot, moved over to my corner and passed out again. The hell??

All that was entertaining and everything, but it was getting close to 11 and all I wanted was to get the hell home. So I ended up having to take the Powell cable car up the hill, and narrowly dodged a flying panini some asshole decided to throw at the cable car full of tourists. And then we had to wait five minutes as one of those groups of totally annoying rollerbladers blocked the street. Gah!

Needless to say, I need a vacation. I'm hoping the hotel will have some free wifi, in which case I will do my best to post some photos and stories during the week. If not, I'm sure you'll hear all about it when I get back!

I Can Almost Taste the Po' Boy

In less than a month I'll be going to New Orleans, woo! I'm excited, but also a little nervous as I always tend to be when a plane flight is a approaching. I also realized I am going to have to board Tori at the vet's for six days as she is now a special needs kitty. She's not going to like that one bit, but I think she's going to take it a lot better than this cat did.

Po' Boy, Mmm-hmmm

I'm going to New Orleans!

I'm not going until November, and I will be in Baton Rouge for part of the trip which, aside from the presence of some dear family, is a slightly less-exciting city to visit, but still, I'm totally excited. And I can't help it, but the one thing I keep thinking about is having a huge po' boy the day I get there. (And the day after, and the day after that. And on the fourth day: Mufaletta!) If you've never had a po' boy in New Orleans, you've never had a po' boy, chump.

Of course, I can't help but think about the fact that we've got three more months of hurricane season to get through before November comes along.

*gulp*