A proper day trip to Savannah

My 2nd and 3rd Favorite Buildings in New Orleans

My second favorite building is on a wonderful street in New Orleans named Carondelet. Carondelet is one of many, many of the fantastic New Orleans street names (Ursulines, Cadiz, Desire, Dauphine, Elysian Fields, etc.). The bummer about Carondelet is that people here pronounce the final syllable '-let,' instead of '-lay.' That's severely troublesome, and I am so anti-extreme-bastardization-of-correct-pronunciations.

But, I digress.

 My first spotting of my second favorite building was around Halloween, and I thought this place would make the perfect spooky, haunted mansion. I'm sure there are a lot of cobwebs in it (especially since I believe it to be inhabitable at the moment). I love its Southern Gothic-ness; in fact, it looks like a house that would exist in the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, at least to me.

 The second floor balcony is my favorite. I love how the plants continue to thrive, even though I think they're doing that without any human tending. I want to sit up there and drink a sweaty glass of sweet tea this summer.

My third favorite building is relatively close my second favorite. It is another vacant building. There are lots of vacant buildings here in NOLA, if you didn't know. This one has multiplication tables painted on it. That's all that needs to be said, really; it's enough to make it my third favorite. 

Mardi Gras

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans is basically five nights of mirthful marathon parading, both kid-friendly and R-rated. I, an introvert who covets her quiet, alone time, is now beholden to this wonderful city for an abundance of Mardi Gras tales and memories and really wouldn't change that for a billion strings of platinum and diamond beads.

In order of appearance. First, Krewe de Babylon:

Krewe of Muses:

 Hermes:

 Krewe d'Tat:

 Krewe of Mid-City:

Zulu:

The beach, the President, and the charming city...

...and all the important stuff in between.

Spontaneous trips are sometimes the only way. On this one, we visited beautiful places and experienced a significant moment in history. We fit it all into an tiny amount of time with lots and lots AND LOTS of driving. But I have to say, the best part of this exhausting, busy, wonderful, impromptu visit was spending time with our important people dotted along the route. Love you all. Thanks for making this so worth it and treating us so well.

Hilton Head, South Carolina:

We were approximately 2400 rows back. The crowd was jovial and welcoming, and I felt patriotic:

In the middle of President Obama's inaugural address, this little one shouted, "Oh yes, but who's going to save the animals?!" We all laughed, because it was so cute, but I really do hear you, friend!

We spent a tiny amount of time in Savannah, Georgia. I fell in love with it there and can't wait to get back. There are a million pictures to be taken.

Interlopers of the Southern Wild

Last weekend, we went on an air boat tour of Bayou Barataria, not far outside of NOLA (though it felt 1000s of miles from civilization, in many not-so-good ways; oh, hello, The South!). Though the tour itself was far less than tasteful, the scenery was delicious indeed. I didn't know that the WPA created the systems of canals in the wetlands of Louisiana. I thought, extremely naively in fact, that they just kind of existed, that they were made by nature. I don't have reason for that naivete, considering I have read the novel Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, about the man-made canals in the Florida Everglades. Anyway, we made our way through the brown sludgy water, lined on both sides with lush cypress trees, palmettos, and swamp grasses, covered with a hearty layer Spanish moss, only to encounter a modicum of wild life, including tortoises, herons, pelicans, and baby gators. It was beautiful and unique. I'm glad we did it, but I don't feel need to go back.

 Two baby gators on each end of the log:

Art Deco, decayed: my favorite building in NOLA

This is a still-functioning high school. These are its real, true colors. Of all the majestic buildings here, this is my favorite.