travel
- It’s the little things that mess with you. Ordered a Whopper at Burger King the other night (I was craving the fries) and was asked if I wanted “the trio”. What in the world is “the trio”? Ends up that’s what I know better as a combo. [lightbulb goes on]
- The roads are bad. They aren’t marked very well, the lanes are narrow, and the traffic is horrible.
- The other weird traffic thing: rapidly-flashing green lights. As far as I can tell, a rapid green is equivalent to a green left arrow in the US; it’s letting you know that it’s safe to turn left, because the folks opposite you still have a red. Rather non-intuitive, but it works once you get the hang of it.
- Sewing machine stores in shopping malls. Apparently people in Canada really like to sew or something.
- A big report came out today in Montreal that is the result of a year-long commission holding hearings and taking suggestions on how to deal with all the ethnic and cultural issues they have in Quebec. It’s interesting listening to talk radio this afternoon to hear what people have to say about it. The commission’s conclusion is that the worst of the division is more stirred up by the media than by the ethnic groups involved. Figures.
- Of course French is the predominant language here in Montreal, but pretty much everyone I’ve run into switches pretty much effortlessly into English. Still, it frustrates me a bit that they have to; it feels like I’m making them do me a favor rather than being able to just interact with them on their terms.
- Tim Horton’s (a donut/breakfast chain - think a Canadian Dunkin' Donuts) has tasty food, but no trash cans. Weird. It feels like a fast food, there are lots of tables to sit and eat… but apparently they expect you to just leave your trash on the table. Very strange.
- Airline travel can be a pain in the backside. After two canceled flights on Monday, flew to Seattle early Tuesday morning. Got to my committee meeting a couple of hours late.
- Kudos to the hotel (the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton) for being nicely setup for wi-fi access; seamless transitions between the meeting room, lobby, and bedroom.
- Got to see my college roommate Matt and his wife Abbie one evening. Had a good time catching up.
- Got to meet my partner-in-crime TK for some breakfast and Starbucks on Thursday morning. Also took a couple of cheesy pictures and some even cheesier video.
- Managed to leave a library book in my hotel room in Seattle. :-( They said they didn’t find anything, but I’m sure I left it there. I’ll call again today and see if it turned up.
- Finished the Harry Potter series while on the trip. The ending to Book 7 was almost perfect. The most I’ve enjoyed a series of books in a long, long time.
- Got home and had to mow the grass since it had been raining all week. It took twice a long as usual to mow. Ugh.
- Preached on Sunday morning. Audio available if you’re curious.
- Talked to my brother Ryan last night for a little while. He’s really having a tough time at the moment, wrestling with some tough decisions. Pray for him.
- Caedmon’s Call did their first show to release their new album, Overdressed, last night. There has been some seriously great liveblogging going on. (Go, Bryan!) What I wouldn’t give to have been there. At least it sounds like we’ll get a bootleg from the concert sometime soon.
Packing for the trip
With the expense of airline travel these days, we thought we might consider a method of cost-reduction for this trip.
Laura demonstrates the proper way to pack the bag:
She feels pretty safe since she’s just a bit to big to fit into that bag.
Seattle here we come!
T-minus 7d
It’s starting to hit home that one week from now we will be on an airplane, with the kiddos, headed for our Washington vacation and Andrew’s wedding. We’ve gotten to the list-making stage. What all do we need to take? What will the weather be like? (It’s a lot different on the coast than it is in Leavenworth where the wedding will be!) What suitcases are we taking along? How many bags will we have to check? Do we have seats assigned on all the flights? And on and on and on.
For me, the most stressful part of the trip is from now until we are at Seatac with a rental car and all our bags. After that, it’s all downhill. I don’t think it’s really gonna be as bad as I’m worried it will be… but I can be a good worrier. I’m really looking forward to this vacation, though - both for Andrew & Heather’s wedding and just for the chance to get away - almost 2 full weeks away from the office once you count the holiday this week and then our trip. It’ll be so nice.
Stay focused, Chris… still three more days of work.
Counting down the days...
Once today is complete I will have only 6 more working days until vacation… and oh my, am I ever looking forward to it. My brother Andrew is getting married on July 12 and we are using that as an excuse to take a week’s vacation to Washington. (The state, not the district.) We have several days of sightseeing and relaxation scheduled around the wedding, and it should be a great time. We’ll hit Seattle, the Pacific coast, the mountains, and back to Seattle before heading home.
Preparations have been in a lull for a while - there was the frenzy months ago when we purchased our airline tickets, made hotel reservations, etc, but then we put it aside and it’s just been lurking… and now we are back to planning in earnest. At this point Becky is starting to figure out what all needs to be brought along, how we can fit it into as few bags as possible, and so on.
I’ll admit it - the one thing I’m nervous/fearful of on this trip is the airline travel. We’re taking the girls on their first airplane trip, which will be fun, and we’ve planned in longish layovers, to try to ensure things go smoothly… but it’s still a cross-country airline trip, and we’re still connecting through Chicago O’Hare. I will be praying much that things just go smoothly. Once we’re in Seattle with our rental car and all our baggage, the next week should be just brilliant fun.
So that’s my little update for today. I’ll try for a more substantive post tomorrow as a major milestone occurs in the Hubbs household.
Bullet Points from Montreal
I’ve been in Montreal since Monday night, and it’s my first trip here, and for that matter, my first trip out of the country. I don’t have any profound essays to write but a bunch of little observations that work most easily as bullet points. So here goes.
Well, enough of that. Still, it’s been an interesting place to visit. Tomorrow I fly home.
Montreal
So today was the day I finally ventured outside the good ‘ol US of A; traveling to Montreal, Quebec for the next round of SC-213 meetings. No big details, pictures, or etc so far, but it was nice to actually have decent travel this time around. The flights were more or less on time, the lines were short, the rental car big enough (the PT Cruiser has an amazing amount of leg and head room!) and the hotel comfortable.
Now it’s just after midnight and I’m sitting up too late working on an andrewosenga.net redesign. I finally got the layout working more or less how I want it… now it’s time to make it pretty. Well… that can wait until tomorrow.
I feel like such a homebody
For a family that didn’t travel a whole lot when I was growing up, we have certainly made up for it in the past half-dozen years: Ryan spent a semester at St. Andrews in Scotland, Aaron, Andrew, and Rebecca all spent significant amounts of time with YWAM in Panama, and Mom and Dad (and Ryan, too, come to think of it) took at least one trip down there to visit them. Oh, and Rebecca went to China with YWAM while she was doing her DTS, too. Which leaves one person in the family who has yet to leave the country: little ol' me. The grief I get is multiplied when you realize I’m married to a missionary kid who spent time in Indonesia.
But today is the first start in just a little change in that regard; I got travel booked to go to Montreal for a week in May for a industry committee meeting. Now, in some senses, Canada shouldn’t even really count; it’s not that far away, they mostly speak the same language, I mean, come on, it’s Canada. But since a) the ridiculous US Gov’t now requires a passport to travel there (well, technically, just to come home, but, yeah) and b) I’m going to Quebec, where they speak French, well, I’ll reluctantly count it as an out-of-country experience.
I got an automated email from the company’s travel agent reminding me that I would need the passport when traveling internationally, and they linked me to the US Dept of State’s page on traveling to Canada, which I dutifully visited. I did find this bit regarding traffic to be amusing:
Highway 401, from Detroit to Montreal, is one of the busiest highways in North America. It has been the scene of recurrent, deadly traffic accidents due to sudden, severe and unpredictable weather changes, high rates of speed, and heavy truck traffic. There have been numerous incidents involving road racing and dangerous truck driving, which have caused injuries to Americans. Drivers tend to be aggressive, often exceeding speed limits and passing on both sides, and police enforcement is spotty.
Somehow, that doesn’t sound too different from interstates I’ve been on in the US. Still, I’ll probably stay off 401. :-)
The trip isn’t for a month yet, so I’ve got plenty of time to obsess over the little details that tend to drive my nerves crazy. I’m sure it won’t be that bad… I just like to have my bases covered.
Another post from Augusta
Yesterday was Day 2 of the RTCA committee meeting here in Augusta. (Why am I posting a day behind, you ask? Because there’s free wi-fi in the convention center, but they want $10/day to get it in my room. I don’t need it that bad… so I’m only online during the day.) The meetings were rather uneventful.
Traveled around Augusta last night, and was surprised a bit when I drove past the famed Augusta National golf club. For some reason when I picture golf courses I think of them as big, open, in beautiful surroundings. Augusta National (where they play the Masters every year) is plopped down right in the middle of an older, poor part of town. I suppose maybe years ago when they built it it was on the outskirts, but now it’s just a walled-off enclave in the middle of the ‘hood. Strange.
Last night I found a shopping mall (boring; all shopping malls are about the same. why do I continue to seek them out?), a bookstore (also the same, but good for buying gifts for the girls), and a steakhouse restaurant (mediocre at best - disappointing). But I spent most of my time at the restaurant and then in the hotel after dinner working through N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope. There will be several blog posts on it here in the near future, but let me say right now that this is one of those books that has been an “aha” book for me. It simply makes sense and puts the pieces together in a way that no book has done for me since reading Lewis’ Mere Christianity and The Abolition of Man back in college. Oh, and Dad, if you read this: I ordered you a copy this morning, so don’t buy one.
Time for the meeting to start again. Gonna make sure those Synthetic Vision Systems are safe.
No, I don't play golf...
This week has brought me to Augusta, GA for the quarterly SC-213 meeting. The inevitable first question/comment I’ve gotten from friends when I say Augusta is “did you take your golf clubs along?” So as a preemptive strike: no, I don’t play golf. I’ve never hit a ball in my life. Yes, I know they have some fancy course here where they play some tournament every spring. I even know that a guy from Cedar Rapids happened to win that tournament last year. But it doesn’t mean I’m gonna be playing it in my spare time. :-) I will probably drive by it at some point just to have done so.
You don’t want to read the litany of my travel travails; suffice it to say that Monday I was scheduled to get into Augusta (including drive from the Columbia, SC airport and everything) by about 6 pm - I ended up getting in about 10:30 pm. Not so much fun.
Yesterday was the first day of meetings, and it was fairly useful. Last night I was looking for something to do and noticed in the paper that the local ECHL hockey team (the Augusta Lynx) was playing at home. The arena was only six blocks away, so I headed over, bought a ticket, and watched my first hockey game in some time. The game was poorly-attended (maybe 300 present) and the local team gave it a good effort against the first place Texas Wildcatters, but took too many penalties and couldn’t seem to pull the trigger and shoot the puck on the few power plays they had. Final score: Texas 3, Augusta 1. (As a side note: I went to look up the Wildcatters to find out where they are located in Texas; their team website actually didn’t say, any place that I could find. Poor website content. The ECHL site tells me they are in Beaumont, TX.)
So now I’m eating breakfast and getting prepared for another day of meetings reviewing this document my committee is creating. Good times.
Putting on the miles
The lengths I will go to hear a concert? Well, this weekend the length was 300 miles, each way. Lincoln, Nebraska ends up being, with short stops, about a five-hour drive. Well worth it to see Caedmon’s Call in concert again. First I should extend thanks to my mom for coming down to watch the girls for a couple of days. They had lots and lots of fun with Grandma, and it was sure a blessing for Becky and I to be able to get away.
Three hundred miles to Lincoln on Friday morning was broken up with P. F. Chang’s for lunch in Des Moines. It ended up being a good thing we ate a big lunch, because we never did get supper eaten, unless you count the McDonalds cheeseburgers we picked up from the drive thru around 11 pm while on our way to see Andy Osenga’s post-show set. After checking into our motel (very decent for the price), we headed down to the church where they were playing to hang out, take pictures, and watch the sound check. Everything was running late enough that once sound check was over it was almost time for the doors to open… so we ended up just staying there the whole night. Between Derek Webb, Caedmon’s, and Andy Osenga, the concert went a full three hours. Lots of fun. I’ve written up a full review with pictures over on caedmonscall.net.
After the Caedmon’s show, we trekked over a couple miles to Grace Chapel (a little PCA church in a neat old church building) where Andy Osenga did another half-dozen solo songs. It was fully midnight by the time that was over, and then we were headed back to the other side of Lincoln to our hotel. What a day.
The drive back home was rather uneventful, unless you count seeing multiple cars sliding off the road (not already in the ditch, but actually actively sliding into the ditch) as eventful. Made it home in one piece. Took most of Sunday to catch up on rest. In the end we drove about 750 miles for the weekend. Now, I’ve driven further to see concerts, and have seen better concerts, but overall it was great to hear Caedmon’s again, to be able to take Becky along (her first Caedmon’s show!) and to have a weekend out.
Putting my talents to some profit
Pretty much ever since my brother Andrew and his fiancee Heather set a date for the wedding this summer Becky has been in full-on planning mode for the trip. It’ll be a bit of an adventure and all, taking the girls on their first airplane ride and going cross-country to Washington for a week. We’re going to make a week-long vacation out of it; we’ll have a few days with the family for the wedding, but we want to get out to see the ocean, too, and will try to take a day to see Seattle and hopefully Matt (my old college roommate) and his wife Abbie.
So when I say full-on planning mode, well, that doesn’t capture the half of it. Becky is a ridiculous crazy good planner. She first scoped out the airfares and after a few days settled on the best option of price, schedule, and dates. With that in place, she sketched out an itinerary for the 8 days of the trip - fly in, go to the ocean, then head up towards the wedding, then hit Seattle for a couple days on the way out. With that planned, she started researching places to stay near the ocean. If she could find true Oceanfront, she’d be thrilled. [There is a point to this story, just be patient.]
She found a place called the Oceanfront Lighthouse Resort that has some pretty nice “oceanfront” condos, at least as far as we could tell from the website. The website is pretty scary - obviously someone’s side project, just enough to make do. Then inspiration struck - why, I asked Becky, don’t I contact the resort and see if they’d like to trade a website overhaul for a couple nights' stay? A few emails later I had agreed to create a prototype so that they could make a decision. Half-a-dozen hours of weekend webdesign later I had a prototype complete and emailed off. (And Geof: thanks for allowing shell access. Makes it a ton easier to edit stuff live.)
Last night I talked on the phone with the manager of the resort for a while. The end result: we now have reservations for a complimentary two-night stay in an oceanfront condo. And I have probably another 5 or 6 hours of work to complete and setup the new website. Sure, if I were a professional designer I’d get a better hourly rate, but for a couple afternoons of design work, well, I’ll do the trade.
If I design too many more websites I need to think about setting up a design homepage to see if I can attract a little more business. After doing so many (worthy) freebies, these paying gigs are kinda fun!
The travails of travel
Dear Delta Airlines,
I can’t decide whether to be mad with you or not. I was definitely not pleased with a 2.5 hour delay in Cedar Rapids and a missed connection + 1.5 hour delay in Atlanta. But I was happy with how easy it was to get booked onto the later flight, and the first-class seat was nice, given that I had to sit in it for an hour on the ground before we ever took off.
Hoping for better luck on the way home, Chris
Dear National Car Rental,
I’m not sure why my reservation was with you instead of Hertz, but it was really lame that your employee was still there at 1:30 a.m. but told me you were closed and I couldn’t get my car.
Hoping to not deal with you again, Chris
Dear Hertz,
Thanks for staying open past your posted 1 a.m. closing time. I wish I could’ve gotten a nav system in the car, but the map worked OK.
Your loyal customer, Chris
Dear Hilton Savannah Desoto,
I was so glad you still had my room reserved when I showed up at 2:30 a.m. The bed was comfortable, too, Five hours in it was definitely not long enough. And kudos on the free wi-fi. Here’s a hint: if you use the same SSID throughout the building and just vary the channel, it makes it less hassle connecting as I move around the building.
Feeling bad for bringing up such a minor point, Chris
On the road again...
So it’s been a nice weekend. Ryan decided at the last minute to come visit for the holiday, so we’ve enjoyed his company over the long weekend. Watched a lot of football, ate a bunch of tasty food, and now the weekend is over. Still, only a month until Christmas. :-)
At the moment I’m waiting for my flight from Cedar Rapids to take me to Atlanta, which in turn will connect to Savannah, GA. This flight was supposed to leave about 3 pm today, but is now looking more like 5:20 pm. I think my connection in Atlanta will be delayed enough that I can make it. I’m happy that Atlanta is getting rain and all, but couldn’t they have gotten it tomorrow after I’m there?!? This is the part of air travel that I so dislike. Ah well.
Tomorrow evening I’m planning on meeting a college friend (Daniel Schaffhauser, if that name rings a bell) and his family for some supper and time to visit. Should be a good time. Otherwise, I don’t know what Savannah will hold for me, though I’ve had a slew of recommendations. So little time to play tourist… but ya gotta roll with it. What else can you do?
Oklahoma City
Business has brought me this week to Oklahoma City, square in the middle of the Sooner state. I’ve been to the Tulsa area many times (my grandparents having lived in Collinsville for twenty years), but while I’ve driven through OKC on I-35 a multitude of times, I don’t recall ever having stopped; certainly I’ve never stayed here overnight. So it’s like visiting a new place, which I really enjoy - a chance for observations, to learn a new city.
My first impression of OKC was at the airport. I like the OKC airport. It appears to be fairly new, is large, open, airy, and bright. It’s a fair bit larger than my home port of Cedar Rapids, but not immense; twenty-some gates and a three-story parking garage. It was only a short walk through the terminal to the Hertz desk to pick up my key, then a short stroll to the parking structure to my car (a Toyota Corolla, very nice). The Hertz #1 Club Gold, letting me skip the paperwork and head straight to the car, is worth every penny.
Shortly after leaving the airport, I ran into the seemingly inevitable road construction. In this case, the construction is on Meridian Ave, the main drag that heads north out of the airport and up to I-44 and my hotel. This trimmed a four-lane highway down to two rather narrow lanes, and made the waits at traffic lights frustratingly long. Still, the trusty Never-Lost GPS system in the car got me within visual distance of the hotel before announcing “You have arrived.”, and I could handle it from there.
My next impression of OKC came from the hotel that the Federal Aviation Administration selected for our training this week: the Clarion Meridian Hotel and Convention Center. The hotel seems to be a microcosm of the city as a whole, trying to move forward from the dusty, tired, and worn trappings of the old oil and ranch business into the technology of the twenty-first century. The hotel dates to probably the 1970’s. It was originally all exterior-entry rooms, but some time later in an attempt to upgrade an additional hallway was built outside the room doors, allowing for climate-controlled access to the hotel lobby from the rooms. The room itself has had fresh paint and sports two 25-inch televisions with local cable, but it’s still obviously a remodel and the layout just isn’t quite right.
Driving through the city the past couple of nights I have seen the same contrasts; on one side, dusty, dated businesses feeling like the older southwest of the 70’s and 80’s; on the other side, a trendy, new city whose Dell Computer campus gives you another reason to compare it to Austin, TX. My restaurant choices thus far have been limited to the “new” side of things; I ate at a “grill and brewhouse” on the north side of town tonight that was very tasty. I might still be tempted to try an older steakhouse tomorrow night… I guess I’ll see what sounds good when my class has wrapped up.
The instructor at our class today told us he’s lived in Oklahoma for most of his life. He described OKC as “a great place to live, and an OK place to visit.” Now, when the Oklahoma tourism folks originally created the “Oklahoma is OK” slogan, I’m guessing they weren’t intending the suggestion of mediocrity that our instructor gave us, but after being here two days I’m thinking he’s closer to the truth. In many ways, the situation that OKC finds itself in reminds me of my home state of Iowa; a good, solid midwestern state, a good place to raise a family, a place struggling to find its way beyond its agricultural roots into technological opportunities. Not a super-exciting place to visit, but that’s OK. It’s a lot less hassle than the more exotic destinations, too. For this traveler, this week, Oklahoma is, indeed, OK.
Happiness is... a new pen.
Back in February I bought my first-ever fountain pen. I knew nothing about them, but had always thought they would be cool, so when I encountered a pen shop in a mall in Washington, DC, I was a goner. I ended up with a cheap Retro 51 pen with a nib that was really too wide and that didn’t lay down ink very well at all. But I was hooked.
In May, back in DC, I had done my research, and bought another pen, similar in price to the Retro 51, but far superior in function: a Lamy Safari Al Star. The lightweight aluminum body was stylish and the Fine nib ended up being just to my liking. Along with the pen I purchased an ink adapter and a bottle of blue ink. I really enjoyed that pen.
I use the past tense in the previous sentence because on my trip to Orlando in June I lost it somewhere on an airplane. I was bummed. Not having a lot of disposable income this summer, I knew it would be a good lesson to me to just deal with ballpoint pens again for a while… maybe I’d hold onto the next pen more carefully. (Am I sounding like a parent here? I think I am. Scary.)
A couple weeks ago I was given a very nice gift for playing the organ for a wedding. So as a little gift to myself I went online and ordered a replacement Safari Al Star. It arrived in the mail late last week and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Writing is so much more fun with a pen like this.
Last time I was in that pen shop in DC they were trying hard to sell me a pen that ran about $150. I don’t know that I could ever really understand why I should spend that much for a pen… but I’m sure happy with my $30 cheap-o.
Bullet Points for a Monday
How can it have been a week since I last posted? Well, it has been busy. So in the spirit of “short updates are better than none”, here we go.
I’m now back in the office for six weeks before my next trip. It will be nice to settle into some sort of schedule.
How can it be so hard to leave town?
Instead of sitting here writing this blog post, I should be on a Boeing 757 just taking off from Minneapolis en route to Seattle. But you’re reading this, which means I’m writing it, which means yeah, I’m not on the plane. I don’t know if it’s weather or just general incompetence, but Northwest Airlines decided to cancel my 12:45 flight from Cedar Rapids to MSP. I found this out around 10 AM, contacted travel, and got a rebooked flight on Alaska Airlines, leaving Cedar Rapids at 1:30.
As soon as I saw the booking info, I checked online to see the departure status. What? Canceled?!? Yes, American Eagle (codesharing with Alaska Air) canceled the 1:30 flight from Cedar Rapids to Chicago. Back on the phone with corporate travel. Everything was booked on all the remaining flights out of Cedar Rapids today. Unbelievable. Finally I am set up on a 5:10 AM flight tomorrow morning from CR. If everything goes on time (a big if IMHO), I will get into Seattle around 9 AM Seattle time, and make it to my conference only an hour or so late.
Not fun.
Seattle
It’s 8 AM in Seattle and this hotel restaurant is a pretty comfortable place to sit and write. The in-room web access doesn’t seem to be working, but the wi-fi in the lobby works just fine, so I can sit here and catch up on news and email whilst eating from the voluminous breakfast buffet. It’s fairly cloudy and cool this morning, but there’s the threat of sunshine this afternoon, which would be nice.
I’m in town to support a meeting with a customer, but it still leaves me with most of the morning (the meeting doesn’t start until 11) and a good portion of the afternoon (the meeting is over by 2 or so) free. Couldn’t manage to get a flight back home tonight on short notice, so I"ll be leaving on the early (5:45) flight in the morning. Such fun.
This is my third trip to Seattle, and I really do enjoy the area. So beautiful with the mountainous terrain, all the water, and I just adore the cool weather. After the meetings today I’m planning on heading downtown to the Pike Place Market; for sure a tourist location, but it’s been recommended by a couple friends so I guess I’ll give it a go. I’ll be sure to post pics tomorrow when I get home.
Well, I’ve pretty much finished up here at the restaurant so I think I’ll move to the lobby, find a plug-in for this laptop, and start working on some work stuff. Should be at least moderately productive today. :-)
Headed Out, West Coast Edition
I’m sitting in the airport terminal at Cedar Rapids as the plane that is supposed to take me to Chicago is unloading its prior passengers. From there it’s off to Seattle. If all goes well I should be there by 8 PM Seattle time. I’m making this whole trip in order to be in person to make a twenty-minute presentation for a customer. Such fun. But it will allow some time tomorrow afternoon for some sightseeing in Seattle before heading back home early Tuesday morning. I’m bringing the good camera; hopefully I’ll have some good pictures to share once I get back.
New Orleans: Music and all that Jazz
One of the things that was high on my list of things to do while in New Orleans a few weeks ago was to find someplace with live music. New Orleans is all about jazz and blues, after all. It was pretty wild to walk through the French Quarter and think that guys who are jazz heroes of mine like Harry Connick, Jr. and the Marsalis family spent time playing in the clubs on those streets. So very cool.
I headed around the Quarter rather early in the evening, which unfortunately cut down my number of opportunities to hear the live music. Most of it started later - 8 or 9 PM. However, I did hear a very good older band at a little bar that I am thinking was called something about the Society for the Preservation of Jazz; I can’t find a link on a quick Google search to back me up. They played pretty good standard New Orleans jazz, but they were old-timers; nary a dark hair in the bunch - all grey.
As I headed back to my hotel, I ran into a group of about a dozen teenagers playing on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Streets. They were mostly brass instruments with a couple saxophones thrown in for good measure and a rockin' percussion section. And they were smokin' hot. My little video clip here really doesn’t do them justice, and I’m bummed that I didn’t think to start recording them until just near the end of their set.
It’s fun to think that one of these kids may be a jazz star of some upcoming year. While New Orleans took a massive hit from Hurricane Katrina, it sounded to me like she still couldn’t kill the music.
New Orleans Impressions
Got back from last week’s trip to New Orleans early on Friday morning. This was my first time in New Orleans, so it was interesting to see an area that I had heretofore only read about and seen on TV. I had a mix of impressions from the city.
The first night I was there I took a walk from my hotel over to the French Quarter. I mean, that’s the place in New Orleans you’re supposed to visit, right? It was only about a mile walk. On the way I passed a rather large Harrah’s casino which I understand to be new development since Katrina two years ago. Didn’t go in, but wow, that thing was big.
The near edge of the French Quarter was Canal Street. It is big, glitzy, lots of neon and expensive shops. It reminded me a little bit of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It’s a big wide street that includes tracks for the streetcars. Once you walk up it for several blocks, you get to Bourbon Street. This is the one you always hear about during Mardi Gras, right? So I figured it’s worth a visit.
In comparison to the broad, upscale Canal Street, Bourbon Street is narrow and scuzzy. There is very little variety to the shops on the street; the basic repeating pattern is souvenir shop, beer joint, strip club, restaurant. There may be a few extra beer joints mixed in for good measure - it’s legal to have an open container on the street there, so there is a proliferation of lemonade-stand-type beer vendors. Eesh.
I did find some good food on Bourbon Street - the jambalaya from Remoulade was excellent (though the pecan pie left much to be desired). I almost bought one of their t-shirts (I was thinking the Craw Dad one) but finally decided that I already have too many t-shirts, I don’t need another one. Then I wandered up and down the street again looking for some good live music places. I found a couple, I’ll write specifically about the music in a separate blog post. So yeah, I visited Bourbon Street. Suffice it to say I wasn’t impressed. Seeing what it was like on an early Tuesday evening in the middle of summer, I can only imagine how much of a drunken orgy it is during Mardi Gras.
The last day of the trip I had a few hours before my flight so I drove east on I-10 towards Slidell and then up around Lake Ponchartrain and across the amazing Causeway (longest bridge in the world!) back to New Orleans. I was astonished at how much damage is still left from Hurricane Katrina. Even though it’s been two full years since Katrina hit, the devastation is still painfully evident. Not so much in New Orleans proper, but once you get out on I-10 towards Slidell… wow. You would think that repair activities would’ve focused on the areas around the interstate, but there is still so much damage… buildings boarded up, nice houses and apartments with tarps still over the roof; then you go past a field that obviously used to be mostly forest, and now it’s just a field of 8-foot-tall trunks with the tops twisted off. So sad. Two full years later, and still this much mess?
Before I finish this post, a word about the Causeway: amazing. Over 20 miles long. The visibility wasn’t great that afternoon (a storm was rolling in), so there was definitely some time in the middle of the bridge when you couldn’t see anything but water no matter which direction you looked. So cool.
So that was New Orleans. Next month: Seattle. Hoping to meet some old and new friends while I’m up there.