When I thought of Florida, I used to immediately remember the Jimmy Buffet lyrics, “People who retire to Florida are wrinkled and they lean on a crutch”. Yep, there are a lot of old farts here, and they are out there in droves as volunteers in the State Parks, providing the cleanest campgrounds, most informational Continue Reading »
The Gulf Coast has been hammered twice with devastating hurricanes. There is still much detritus to be seen. Other than a few formally dying downtowns, which were improved with FEMA funds, many of the damaged mansions on the coast have been flattened to make way for more resorts, condos, and casinos. So much for the Continue Reading »
New Orleans is a gem of a big city, one of our country’s most generous and creative, and determined to thrive in the face of tragedy. Surviving Hurricane Katrina and four failed levies in 2005, and then 4 months ago, surviving 9 foot waves driven by Hurricane Isaac, even more damaging because the City had Continue Reading »
Happy New Year…All Ya’ll! We are thinking this may just be the best season to enjoy the Big Easy. Do you love fabulous, layered sauces, and turtle soup enriched with long simmered meaty broth? Light as air biscuits served with duck confit? Grilled shrimp and homemade Boudin and Andouille Sausage? Crispy on the outside, Continue Reading »
Today, the one and the only king of the blues, B.B. King is 87 years old still traveling 360 days a year, performing 200 concerts a year with his ebony queen guitar, Lucille. Yes, the THRILL IS HERE…! In King’s childhood home, there was little music but he got plenty of inspiration at church. He Continue Reading »
BATON ROUGE: Capital of Louisiana, and the tallest state capital building in the U.S. thanks to Senator Huey Long, sending spies out to other capital buildings under construction, adding floors and a silly little dome to ensure its place in history. The free elevator to the observation deck does give a nice misty view over Continue Reading »
Hats off to Major General Ulysses Grant. His creative strategizing led to a crucial Union victory here. Unfortunately he first had to conclude that 17,000 dead Union soldiers was enough, to find his winning strategy: a siege. After trying countless direct amphibious attacks from the Mississippi River (where the Confederate Army up on Vicksburg’s high Continue Reading »
It was bound to happen eventually, the “meh..” point in our travels. Our unflagging curiosity and enthusiasm since August 2012 is challenged by Alabama. Perhaps it is because my son is home from college visiting our friends in Albany, CA and…I wanna be there with him! Perhaps the multigenerational poverty, seeing people and places where Continue Reading »
Okay, I know this is a lyric of the Ray Charles’ standard, “Georgia On My Mind”, and he was born in Albany, GA. But it is the State Song so I take artistic license to use it in the title to evoke, uh…the sweet sound of music emanating from the South! I will just list Continue Reading »
We originlly were not planning to visit Athens, in spite of it being a major music scene in Georgia. The B-52s and REM came from here, and the scene still rocks on as it is a college town. Campy Art fans and University of Georgia fans enjoy seeing “Uga”, the English Bulldog mascot dressed in Continue Reading »