Louisiana for Days

 Wanderlust   

Oh NOLA. I never want to quit you. Just got back from 4 days in LA and wanted to give a rundown.

I had to be in Biloxi, MS for a conference last week and it was easy enough to fly through MSY and just drive to Biloxi. So on the way back to NOLA, we stopped in Abita Springs. Yes, that Abita. Home of Abita beer. First we went to the Brew Pub, which was the original Abita brewery which they have since outgrown. Had my first muffaletta of the trip and then we headed to the Brewery which is a much larger facility a mile or so down the road. We didn’t have time to hang out but I bought a lot of cool schwag and then we were on our way to drive over the lake.

I have wanted to drive over the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway for a long time. It was the longest bridge in the world until recently. At 24 miles, it is quite a wonder. About halfway on the bridge you can start to see NOLA to the east...it’s like this magical city rising up from the water. Quite an experience.

After driving over the bridge, we headed to the airport where I dropped off my friend who was at the conference with me and waited for my friend arriving from San Diego. Once she arrived, we were off to NOLA proper and the newly renovated Roosevelt Hotel. It wasn’t open the last time I was in NOLA - apparently it had been purchased by the Hilton Hotel chain and restored to be placed under their Waldorf-Astoria brand. This grand old hotel certainly lives up to her sister hotel in NY. I appreciated its Old World charm and impeccable service throughout our stay.

(Roosevelt Lobby)

(I’m going to skip around chronologically in my narrative, just for the purpose of easily grouping what I did while in NOLA.)

My friend was a first timer so I did book some touristy activities - things I had always wanted to do while in NOLA but had never gotten around to them. The first thing was a Plantation Tour. We used a smaller company which I was glad about because getting in a van with 10 other people is a whole different experience then getting on a Hotard with 100 other people. We visited Oak Alley and the Laura plantations. The beauty of Oak Alley is stunning - you are not quite prepared for it no matter how many photos you’ve seen. I was a little disappointed at the house itself - it’s not as luxurious as you would think. Also, the tour of the house was a bit short. The other plantation tour at Laura was a totally different experience. The house wasn’t grand but the tour was a lot better and more detailed, which really gave you the sense of how it was to live on a plantation. Also, the tour went beyond the main house (which was a bit small) and took you out on the grounds where you saw the remaining structures such as the kitchen, slave quarters and another house. We both really enjoyed the tour and I would highly recommend taking the time out of your day (6 hours total) to spend some time at the plantations.

(Oak Alley from the house)

(The house from the Oak Alley)

(Laura Plantation)

We also went on a walking tour of the Garden District. I’ve spent some time there just walking around randomly (mostly during my first visit in 1997 when I was on the quest to find Trent Reznor’s house) but have never taken a formal tour. Again, I chose to use a smaller company - it is known for a more historical bent (as it is run by a retired LSU professor). We hit all of the typical spots in the tour, but I was pretty happy with the architectural details and little bits of local history that our guide gave us.

(Ironwork detail from Colonel Short’s house)

(Gothic Revival)

(Greek Revival - formerly owned by Trent Reznor, now owned by John Goodman)

And of course, we ate. Again, since I had a first timer, I did want to go to one of Emeril’s restaurants and one of John Besh’s restaurants. Also, I figured we would go to brunch at Commander’s Palace. My friend told me that it had been featured in Top Chef - I had always known it as the restaurant Emeril got his start at back in the day. I won’t go into the details here, you can read my Yelp reviews if you want the food pron, but each meal was amazing in its own right and I would definitely recommend any of these restaurants to someone visiting NOLA.

(Commander’s Palace)
Unfortunately there were things we didn’t get to and some things are best left in NOLA so I think that will be the end of this essay. If you want more details, you can read the Yelp reviews here. The rest of the photos are here.

Further reading:
Lake Ponchartrain Causeway (wiki)/official site
Oak Alley Plantation
Laura Plantation
Roosevelt Hotel

2009 Travel Stats

 Wanderlust   

Just tallying up this year’s travel stats.

27310 miles on American
5726 miles on Hawaiian
3920 miles on Continental
3912 miles on Northwest
4980 miles on United
11 segments on Southwest

75 nights at various Hiltons across the country
2 nights at the Red Lion in Olympia, WA
3 nights at the Radisson in Valley Forge, PA
7 nights in my timeshare in Hawaii

Places I went that I had never been to before:
Valley Forge, PA
Lansing, MI
Olympia, WA

It did slow down for me compared to last year. But no rest for the wicked in 2010, my schedule is madness! I’ve already got trips planned to Chicago and Biloxi for work and then NOLA for fun. And I am getting a 3 week jaunt to Asia together...so exciting!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2009

 Wanderlust   

I made a stop in Albuquerque on the way back from Dallas to visit Lushy and because it’s Balloon Fiesta weekend. The last time I was here, we didn’t get there before sunrise, but this year, we were certified members of the Dawn Patrol and it was awesome. Here are some of ny favorite photos.

(Proof we were there before dawn)

(my favorite photo of balloons in air)

(a row of balloons getting ready to ascend)

(The bees)

(jack-in-a-box)

(Ding dong the witch is dead)

(Bessie, the Creamland Dairy mascot)

We were in a pretty awesome spot so we had balloons going up all around us. It’s really something cool to experience.

(All photos here.)

Hawaii 2009

 Wanderlust   

So yeah, a couple of weeks ago, I went to Hawaii with my sister, bro-in-law and nephew. We were there for 10 days and split our time between Maui and Honolulu. I wasn’t really feeling like blogging when I was there but now that I’m back, I thought I’d share some photos and thoughts about my trip.

When we were in Maui, we stayed in Kihei, in the same place I’ve stayed 3 times now. It’s right across the street from Kamaole I and sunsets were easy enough to catch there.

(Sunset at Kam I)

My favorite sunset of the trip was at Kihei Wharf, which used to be a commercial port but the wharf is long gone and now it where the Kihei Canoe Club keeps their canoes.

We were at Kihei Wharf a couple of times because the Kihei Farmer’s Market was across the street. The last night we went down there, someone left a sand painting.

I did get to go to some places that I hadn’t been to previously. This was Big Beach at Makena.

While I was in Honolulu, I went down to the Honolulu Academy of Arts. They have a stellar collection, plus the grounds are beautiful. This is the fountain in their Chinese Garden.

This was the sunset view from my lanai in Waikiki.

It was weird not having a view of Diamondhead this time around, I was spoiled by staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village when I was there in December. But you can’t avoid Diamondhead in Waikiki - this was from our last morning there, on the path in front of Fort DeRussey.

If want you to take a look at all the photos, check them here. I also yelped a bunch. Maui List is here. Honolulu list is here.

PDX and Beyond

 Wanderlust   

Okay, I left off at the Tacoma to PDX adventure so we’ll start from there. I took the train from Tacoma from Portland. It wasn’t that expensive to upgrade to business class so I did. Leather seats, no riff raff. All good until we had to get off the train in Vancouver, WA (just on the other side of the bridge to Portland) and take a bus to Portland proper. Groan. But it all worked out. I called Avis and they came to pick me up at Union Station. Got my rental car (a Ford Escape hybrid) and then drove to Yamhill OR, which is outside of Portland in the Willamette Valley - also known as wine country. One of my good friends has been living out there on a huge farm, so I spent a couple of days away from it all....

This is the house I stayed in. It was huge and very comfy to hang in.

This is the neighbor’s barn - one of the oldest and largest barns in Oregon.

This is June, the goat. She got her head stuck when she was waiting for us to let her and her brother Jack out to roam around.

We drove to the town of McMinnville to check things out and ended up at the Hotel Oregon on the patio bar. This property is a McMenamin bar/hotel - if you’ve ever been to Portland you should know that name - this family has been buying properties in the greater PDX area and converting them into interesting restaurant/bar/music venues.

Today I drove back into PDX proper. Staying at a rad hotel near Chinatown. We went to Powell’s where I proceeded to buy 4 new books (gah!) And then we headed to Chinatown where we had really tasty chow fun, roast duck and bbq pork.

We hit a few bars that were practically across the street from the hotel and then hit my favorite late night eats in Portland - Voodoo Doughnut. Behold the Capt. Crunch and Maple Bacon bar:

More aventures to follow. Tomorrow I am hitting the Portland Art Museum and I hope to go to a few more bars and get some street food before all is said and done and I return to SD on Friday.

Butterfly Boucher at the Doug Fir

 Rawk Shows    Wanderlust   

I made it to PDX (more on that adventure later) - was able to head out to the legendary Doug Fir last night to catch Butterfly Boucher. Set list first:

Butterfly Boucher
Doug Fir Lounge
Portland OR
6/29/09

For The Love of Love
Gun For A Tongue
I Can’t Make Me
I Found Out
Scary Fragile
Just One Tear
To Feel Love
Another White Dash

So the Doug Fir. A great venue that really fits the NW vibe. The space is downstairs - the bar/lounge area is very rustic - the walls are like a log cabin. The sound was great so it was a very enjoyable show. Once again, Butterfly played acoustic with just her electronic band. Got a shorter version of the set I saw in San Diego, but no complaints as Butterfly was her gracious and hilarious self. She really conveys the emotion of her songs live - whether they are slower more personal songs ("Scary Fragile") or the more rocking material ("Another White Dash"). Good times - very glad I got a bonus show in on this short tour. After her set, a good crowd of people stood in line to talk to her and buy cds. It’s great to see artists really take the time to talk to their fans - makes you really want to support them.

Okay - that’s all I can muster to write at this point. Off to more adventures in the Pac NW.

Sea-Tac Adventures

 Wanderlust   

I have spent the last two days in the Seattle-Tacoma area being very touristy. The weather here has been very similiar to good SD weather, which has been nice. Arrived yesterday and went straight to downtown Tacoma to check out the Glass Bridge and the Museum of Glass. The Glass Bridge is absolutely amazing. There’s the two blue columns of glass and the Venetian Glass ceiling and then a case of glass sculptures. Really cool. Apparently it is amazing at night - I will have to check that out some other time. Got some great photos in any case:

(Union Station and the Glass Bridge from the Museum of Glass)

(detail of Venetian Glass Ceiling on the Glass Bridge)

(Glass sculpture outside of the Museum of Glass overlooking Tacoma Harbor)

(Heading back towards Union Station on the Glass Bridge)

(Museum of Glass)

Today we went to the Seattle Art Museum. The exhibitions were excellent. They have a really cool Andrew Wyeth exhibition. The permanent collection also had some stunners.

I might expand on this later but a sudden wave of tiredness has descended upon me. I am taking the train to PDX in the morning, so I shall continue this narrative later this week.