NOLA and Mardi Gras

I went to the Chewbacchus Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans (my first visit to the Big Easy), and I only took 3 pictures. Better luck next time.

For reference, I have learned since moving to the Gulf Coast that Mardi Gras isn't just a day; it's a month-long lifestyle, with parades and king cake out the wazoo. Also, parades aren't parades without beads and other throws (and the locals expect them). And so without further ado, the pictures.

 (My first beads, thrown from a balcony on Bourbon Street)

 (The Creole Queen riverboat on the Mississippi)

 (St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square)

(Krewe of Southdowns night parade in BR)

I went to a total of 8 different parades in 4 cities (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Fairhope), and now I have soooo many beads decorating my apartment. I tried not to be a scavenger, as per unofficial NOLA rules, but I did snag the following beads on the ground outside the community park that I walk by on my way to work. Get a load of the mouth on that guy.

Camellia Land

It turns out that the state flower of Alabama is the camellia, and they grow prolifically on the Gulf Coast.

Back in December, Evan and I checked out the camellia garden at the Mobile Botanical Garden; we were a smidge early to get all the blooms, but there were a satisfying number of lovely blossoms to reward us for our effort.

Fast forward 2 months to Baton Rouge's Botanical Garden, and their camellias are going strong, too!

A Gulf Coast Thanksgiving

A trip up to Tennessee for Thanksgiving wasn't in the cards this year, but Evan and I enjoyed a proper Thanksgiving dinner in Mobile. Our nearly-vegan dinner included green beans sauteed with orange zest, cranberry-orange dressing, squash-chestnut-pine nut-sage roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, veggie gravy, giblet gravy, and turkey, plus some fine dark beers.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without a sunset visit to the Fairhope pier and the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Dauphin Island. That's right; Thanksgiving by the sea.

Red Stick

I headed over to Baton Rouge in November, and I've been steadily checking out its offerings since then. While perhaps not the most exciting of cities, BR has some gems, both hidden and very visible. The manmade Lakes just to the northeast of the LSU campus are a nice feature that have running and bike paths along them, plus lots of ducks, geese, and cypress trees.

The weekly downtown Farmer's Market is a surprisingly good one; not sure why I was surprised, as it should be, since Louisiana is a great place to grow plants with its ridiculously long growing season.

There are levees everywhere, which I guess is necessary for a state with the combination of something like 600 feet of relief across the entire state and the Mighty Mississippi. Located by the levee is the Old State Capitol, which is a really gorgeous building both on the outside and the inside. It's probably my favorite sight downtown.

The LSU Botanical Garden has a nice set of walking trails, where you can see such beauties as trilliums, box turtles, water snakes, and even cottonmouths (not pictured).

 

I spend a lot of time in trucks and boats on and en route to the Atchafalaya River basin (Cajun country), where I work with a freshwater ecology research group to collect data on the state of water quality. More on that to come. Thus far, Baton Rouge is okay. We'll see what kind of weather craziness the summer brings and see how I feel after that.

Fun with Chemistry in the Kitchen

I got a review in chemistry upon moving into my apartment in Baton Rouge, where my sink was spouting out hot water that smelled like rotten eggs. Running the hot water for several minutes cleared up the problem, though it returns anytime I've been gone for multiple days. While undesirable, the smell isn't the biggest issue: it's that my sterling silver ring turned black after being exposed to the water!

I was not pleased with this turn of events, so I turned to the internet to find a fix for my ring. The solution was the following: boil some water, place a piece of aluminum foil in a small bowl, pour a few teaspoons of table salt and baking soda onto the foil, add the boiling water, toss in the ring, and voila! Instant clean. Insert something clever here about ion exchanges... it's a little insight into what goes on in your water heater.

Halloween, Cornucopia Edition!

Evan and I re-joined forces with our Athens crew for the Wild Rumpus this year, as a group costume with the theme "Cornucopia." It was pretty great. The myriad fruits and veggies represented include grapes, chard, rhubarb, raspberry, collard greens, asparagus, corn, peanut, broccoli, and watermelon, and we had a farmer and a crow on top of that (plus some I'm sure I left out).

Prior to our trip to Athens, Evan and I carved some pumpkins. They didn't last super-long, but long enough.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I didn't have high expectations for Mobile, Alabama, considering it was once the subject of an article titling it the "most miserable city in America." But having just come from Virginia Beach, I knew it couldn't be any worse than there, so I decided to give it a shot and go visit my sweetie. Color me pleasantly surprised!

 I was expecting Mobile to be an incredibly conservative, red Southern town, but I'm pleased to say that that's only a half-truth. The first thing I noticed is that everyone is incredibly friendly; walking down the street, anyone you pass will wave and say hi, or people sitting on their porches blasting boomboxes will ask you how you're doing, as if you're old friends. Surprisingly, thick stereotypical Alabama accents are not easily found here, and I'm embarrassed to say that I fell prey to that expectation. Cities aren't generally the place you find those most characteristic accents, and Mobile is no exception. I was also happy to see pro-Hillary signs and bumper stickers around both prior to and after the presidential election and to know that there are, in fact, liberals in the Deep South.

Mobile is home to the oldest Mardi Gras celebrations in America, a fact that they cling to and won't ever let you forget. Besides that, Mobile played host to Jimmy Buffett for a number of years, and it's the current home of many gorgeous live oaks. In fact, I think the mossy and fern-covered oaks are one of the best parts of Mobile; in the Oakleigh Historic District, huge live oaks line the streets and tear up sidewalks that were at one point directed around the then-much-smaller trees.

Mobile's architecture downtown is cute, with a definite Gulf Coast feel to it, and rent is totally reasonable in this city. (The Eastern Shore featuring Fairhope and Daphne, not so much.) Evan and I have taken full advantage of Mobile's proximity to the beach, swamps, and even old Civil War battlegrounds to beach-comb, dolphin-watch, and hike the E.O. Wilson nature trail.

A phenomenon that strikes me as quite unusual (having recently moved from the repressive alcohol laws in Georgia) is the open container laws on the coast. Mobile hosts monthly Friday night Art Walks, during which time the LoDa (Lower Dauphin) district is closed off to cars, and pedestrians can wander freely under the stars amongst the shops and galleries with open cans of beer and cups of wine.

  

With the art, friendly inhabitants, a blossoming restaurant and bar scene, and nearby swamps and beaches, Mobile's not a half-bad place to be. More posts to come from the Azalea City.