State number 13

As I was walking down Bourbon Street this morning, I saw a man throwing up on the sidewalk after stepping out of a bar. I like it when things live up to their name.

New Orleans is a beautiful city, even if the touristy stuff is a bit annoying as always. It combines the Pier 39 or whatever area of San Francisco with a bit of Vegas because gambling is pretty big around these parts. Mississippi also pushed the riverboat gambling thing quite a bit. I did the one touristy thing that Brian last night suggested I do, which was to go to Cafe du Monde and get a beignet. Quite good. I also bought a new hat at this cool little overcrowded hat shop in the Central Business District near Canal Street. The shop's been around since the late 1800's and has been in the same family the whole time. The rest of my time there I just walked around, popping into art galleries and taking pictures. The last one in this little batch is of a mural done by the mother of Gabe, a guy I met at a coffee shop a while ago in Portland.





Last night at Clancy's, I spoke with a local named Todd who suggested that if I happen to go on I-10 into Mississippi, I should stop and have some barbecue at The Shed, off exit 57. He made it sound like a tiny little place in the middle of a trailer park. It's actually near a campground and is rather large, and as one can see from the website, the owner has a good sense of business and branding. All that being said, it was excellent barbecue. I then continued along I-10 through Alabama, figuring I'd add Florida to my state list too, even if it is only the very top part. And naturally, this being Florida, I went to the beach, Pensecola Beach to be precise.





So beignet in New Orleans, barbeque in Mississippi and beach in Florida, but what can one do in Alabama that begins with a B? Or what can one do in "Bama" at all? I'm now in Montgomery. I decided to drive here after talking with Lindsey on the phone. She's not going to be back in Atlanta until Sunday evening, and I figured I'd stay in Montgomery and then go on into Atlanta a bit early as it is only two and a half hours away and do the museum and some other stuff before she gets into town. I think Birmingham should have been my Alabama 'B' but I didn't feel like driving there in the dark, especially after seeing a very fresh rollover wreck on the way here. It had just happened on the southbound side of the freeway (I was headed north on I-65) and I think it might have involved two cars, one of which was upside down. No police had arrived yet but several people were milling around. I stopped as did the car in front of me but seeing that nobody seemed hurt and there were others already on cell phones, I let it be and left.

And now for something that I've been dreading since I began the trip: dinner at a Waffle House. I wonder when Denny's will strike.


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