More Mobile Art

As in, art in Mobile (moh-BEEL), not art on your phone.

I'm not sure the Dude "roll tides" as this street art would suggest, but it was still cool to see in downtown Mobile.

Part of a larger street art/graffiti work on Dauphin Street. Never forgett-i.

A Mile-High Trip Without the High

ATL en route to DEN

 I went to Denver to visit the bro and sis-in-law in January and had a pretty good time.

View from the Capitol dome

Denver and the surrounding Front Range cities didn't look like what I was expecting, being much more sprawly and spread out than the cozy mountain Alp-style towns I had envisioned, but I suppose that makes sense given their Western history and unconstrained locations (a.k.a., no reason to confine themselves or build up rather than out). There were lots of young people in Denver, which meant there was a lot of great cuisine and drinks, and lots of active, fitness-minded people, which was a nice break from Mobile. Because it's kinda spread out and still pretty car-centric, Denver doesn't feel like a big city... until you realize how many people there are everywhere you try to go, and then it's clear that it -is- a big city.

Rare rose onyx marble in Capitol that used up all the world's supply

Capitol ceiling

Official mile high marker: lowest metal marker, with original site engraved in the middle

I had an action-packed few days, on the first day seeing the Capitol building and the official "one mile" marker (and 2 previously official ones) on the Capitol steps (and learning that Colorado has 2 of the most boring state songs ever); visiting Red Rocks; going on the Friday night Art Walk and sampling tasty vegan curry from a food truck.

Official summer sport of Colorado: pack burro racing

Red Rocks amphitheatre

Rock formation at Red Rocks

CCC memorial marker to commemorate the Civilian Conservation Corps workers who built the amphitheatre

On day two, hitting up the Free Day at the Art Museum (where I was particulary struck by how many people there are in Denver); visiting Washington Park; enjoying a local tea house.

RMNP panorama

Day three, passing through Boulder to go hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park to Bear Lake, Dream Lake, and ultimately Emerald Lake (braving possibly 60mph wind gusts? and 20 degree base temperatures without the wind and lots of clouds and snow that blocked the views of all the surrounding peaks); Lowdown Brewery for games and drinkies.

Black-billed magpie

Last day: brunch at the infamous Snooze with nary a wait; wandering around Cherry Creek State Park and seeing black-billed magpies, a nesting pair of bald eages (!!), and deer.

Frozen Cherry Creek reservoir (?)

I'd definitely give Denver another visit sometime.

Southern Winter

Things got a little chilly in the South this December and January, reminiscent of the Polar Vortex of 2013-2014... which I like.

And when I say chilly, I mean there were days where the high was below freezing, which is a big deal for the South. (Heck, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Mobile all got snow! Cue the massive freaking out.) The nice part about winter in the South is that even when it's cold out (and maybe even -especially- when it's really cold out), the skies are clear and the sun shines bright, unlike the gloomy grey European winters we all know and love.

 Obligatory picture of the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattavegas.

Mushroom Rock on Signal Mountain, that Evan and I took a very chilly ~20 degree hike to.

Beignets and Krampusnacht

New Orleans, round two.

Here are the numbers:
1 - nights stayed in New Orleans
2 - hours drive from Mobile to NOLA
2 - Second annual Beignet fest.. essentially just an excuse to eat beignets and listen to music.
3 - Neighborhoods visited (maybe more like 4 or 5, actually), including Bywater, the Garden District, Central Business District, Audubon, City Park, and everywhere in between that our Uber Lyft or St. Charles trolley path took us.
2 - delicious restaurants eaten at: Ethiopian and Costa Rican, both on Magazine Street
3 - cool bars visited: Parleaux Beer Lab (microbrewery), Bar Redux, Circle Bar
1 - first annual Krampus fest
2 - universities next to each other visited in the Garden District (Tulane and Loyola)
1 - crazy man talking to us on the St. Charles streetcar
1000 - number of fog/clouds

It was a foggy day when Evan and I arrived in New Orleans, which ended up being the perfect setting for the first annual Krampus parade in Bywater. We stayed at the Hotel Modern in Lee Square, infamous for its undercover removal of the Robert E. Lee statue this year.

Lee Square, minus Lee

We ate delicious Ethiopian food for dinner and breakfast at Surrey's cafe on Magazine Street; rode the St. Charles streetcar through the Garden District; walked around Audubon park, Tulane, and Loyola; and had a crazy man insist that we too were "other folks from Annapolis" a.k.a. FBI or something.

Audubon Park was a lovely place to walk, and we saw several bird species there, including mallards, wood ducks, coots, and whistling ducks (all pictured above). Tulane University had a nice campus; it even had a study break party in its quad with snow available to play in (the palm tree with ferns was also on campus, for contrast):

We didn't hit up the Breaux Mart; I just thought it was a funny name, especially since there were so many breauxs heading in for a beer run (or at least that's what I like to think).