Oh, New Orleans

I love New Orleans. It's beautiful yet ugly. Has great music and food, beautiful parks and some of the worst public schools in the nation but also prestigious colleges. It's still being rebuilt from Katrina, because everything goes slow in NOLA and if you don't have the money there you don't have the power (even more so than your usual city). It's a lovely little contradiction of a place, with 24 hour everythings. Going past my old apartment I found myself wishing I had never left it. But I did, so that's that.

The plan was to stay in New Orleans a week doing some work on houses that were being rebuilt.


My plans changed for various reasons but Ted stayed. Not sure how his house fixing has gone since I flew up to NC, but the day I did it was fun, though frustrating. I did detail work. Sanded things, painted things, scrubbed things, filled small cracks, laid down no-slip grippers, etc. Tedious work that somehow left me sore from being bent over in awkward positions.

I don't feel much like blogging, so I'm resorting to lists.

***Things I learned while in New Orleans this time around:
- Only 1% of the city's public school students are caucasion.
- Teacher/student ratio in some parishes is as high as 1teacher to 50-60 students.
- The flooding was not due to the levees breaking, but by shoddy development on various levels.
- Crime rate the same though the population is still over 100,000 less than when I lived there.
- The streetcars on St Charles still can't stop for cars well. Signs should be posted about that.
- If someone bets you a dollar that they can guess where you got your shoes, don't do it. They'll say "the shoe store" and you'll be either out a dollar or a liar.


- Cafe Du Monde is still the best cafe in all the world. I love chicory and beignets
- My palmist says I need to not worry so much or over analyze things.
- Jazz bars with no cover charges and good musicians make up the costs by charging ridiculous prices for their drinks, and there is a one drink minimum. Don't be fooled, it's not worth it.
- Cities that are falling apart in the south are even more beautiful than the immaculate ones.

It's cold in Florida if it falls below 60

We got to the Homosassa Springs area Sunday night and camped out in the nearby WalMart parking lot to get a few hours of sleep. Woke up at 5am on Monday to go snorkle with the Manatees. I love Manatees and am going to share that love with you. Here are some Manatee factoids for ya.



*The manatees closest land relatives are the elephants

*Manatees are gentle and slow-moving

*They are vegetarians

*They consume 10-15% of their body weight daily in vegetation

*They have no natural enemies

*There are only about 3,000 manatees left in the United States.

*The reproductive rate for manatees is slow. Female manatees are not sexually mature until about five years of age, and males are mature at approximately nine years of age. On average, one calf is born every two to five years, and twins are rare. The gestation period is about a year. Calfs nurse for two years.



*Sailors used to think that Manatees were mermaids (too much run) and would catch or kill them.

*Today, the most Manatee deaths are caused by injuries inflicted by humans (boats, pollution...)

*You can help Manatees by donating your time or money, and by being cautious while in Manatees habitats. manatee

Snorkling with them was awesome. The slow boat ride up the dark and foggy river was relaxing. We got to see the sun rise out there, then put on our masks and went in the water. It was difficult getting in because there were a few manatees that had swum up to the boat and we had to be careful not to kick them, step on them, etc. Manatees are naturally inqusitive and friendly, which puts them at even greater danger of being injured by people or their speedboats. As I was swimming around on the surface manatees were coming up to me, trying to see who I was and all that. You're not allowed to swim to them, or pursue them once they leave you. But they were rubbing up against me on their own accord and playing with me in the water. It was amazing. I was in manatee heaven. I didn't get a waterproof camera because I didn't want to be worried about taking great pictures to show off. I'm glad I didn't, it was much better just doing it rather than documenting it. Lots of the other snorklers were breaking the law and swimming up to them, chasing after them, etc....

Anywho... That's all for the manatees. Actually, one last thing. They make this really nice sound, a sort of siren call/screech...

After the swim we headed up to the eastern coast of Florida to visit Ted's Aunt & Uncle in Port St. Lucie. Got there that afternoon, his unlce made delicious chinese food for dinner, and we've spent the last few nights visiting and being touristy in this area. We went to the little aquarium nearby, walked around the town, hung out on the beach,
sat in a hot tub, and tried to go to the State Fair (but they closed it early due to the small crowds in this cold ((40ish)) degree weather). We're leaving here tomorrow morning to head to New Orleans for a volunteer project.

From TX to NOLA

Saturday, Jan 17
Left Houston after a nice visit with family, but not before seeing its awesome ArtCar Museum. Drove to New Orleans, where we saw some familiar things. Got out to Slidell to spend the night in a hotel.

Sunday, Jan 18
Today we plan to drive to Homosassa, FL.

Texas

Saturday, Jan 10
Visited the incredible Cathedral of Junk. Texas Chili House = Delicious. Enjoyed the end of Austin's "Free Week" by taking in some local music at Mohawk & Emo's.

Sunday, Jan 11
Wandered around the big garden(Zelker?) in Austin.
Met Lindy & Stephanie at a neat café called Spider House. They are headed NW to Portland, OR. What are the odds of running into friends doing the same thing in the opposite direction? Spent some time wandering about town together. Failed to find hot apple cider, but got a nice view from the downtown Hilton's patio (free).

Monday, Jan 12
Lunch together at the local grocery store co-op before parting ways. Drove to Houston, dinner with family.

Tuesday, Jan 13
Visited Houston Museum of Natural Science. Butterfly exhibit - always incredible. Saw the Grand Canyon on IMAX (despite having passed up an opportunity to see the real thing). Gem room was closed for a reservation in the main exhibit halls, but there was an oil well drilling simulator...

Wednesday, Jan 14
Saw Clint Eastwood's new film, Gran Torino at Alamo Drafthouse. Not bad.

We're planning on leap-frogging to Florida this weekend, then coming back to New Orleans for a reconstruction project from the 25th-30th.

Strong winds, big skies

Sunday 01/04/09
Arrived in San Diego. Were impressed with the city's free parking at Balboa Park. Stumbled upon a protest surrounding current events in Palestine / Israel.
Were drawn to the Spreckels Organ music -- at first mistaking it for a carousel -- and got to go inside the large outdoor organ while it was playing. Apparently, they have free organ music in the park every Sunday afternoon, but being able to enter the organ was a special occasion marking the organ's 95th anniversary. Stayed at a cheap hotel outside of town.

Monday 01/05/09
Explored San Diego with our friend Laura. Laura had just moved to San Diego herself (Navy posting), and so it was a new experience for all of us.


Tuesday 01/06/09
Drove a lot. Saw an odd little ghost town. Slept in Arizona.


Wednesday 01/07/09
Arrived in Albuquerque, NM. Did some things to make Harvey the RV happy (oil change, tire rotation & balance) ((yes, we've already put on 3,000+ miles since Seattle)). Enjoyed a chance to visit our friends Patti & Julio, eating a delicious & nutricious dinner before playing Scrabble.

Thursday 01/08/09
Tried hiking around, but were defeated by cold, rocks & cacti. Retired to Pro's Ranch Market for a cheap & amazing lunch. Drove to Roswell, NM. Camera screen mysteriously stopped functioning immediately upon entering UFO museum... coincidence?


Friday 01/09/09
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is amazing. Learned that Ansel Adams thought it was overly developed in the 1930's, at which point it probably wasn't even wheelchair accessible yet.

Saturday 01/10/09
Crossed the border into the Great Republic of Texas. Saw Fredericksburg, a small German town. Ate some sausage & drank some... wine? Turns out Texas has 400 vineyards.
Arrived in Austin. Planning to check out local music scene, then rendezvous tomorrow with friends who are roadtripping west; happy intersection!

More desert, please.

So to wrap up in Joshua Tree we went out and found the Integratron.
A man in the 50s began building what he described as "a machine, a high-voltage electrostatic generator that would supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure." It's also linked to alien activity and supposedly sits at a particular special magnetic place on our planet Earth. I was under the impression that it was now open to the public, but it was closed when we got there due to a private event (eerie). Even eerier is that in the polaroid picture i took of the thing it isn't there. Just the sand, fence, and sky... So we left Joshua Tree slightly dissapointed and then went to Palm Springs. Palm Springs is a pretty yet unimpressive place. It's kinda like a mini Las Vegas that met a mini Hollywood. Did you know that Palm Springs is what it is because in the heydays of Hollywood the studios didn't allow their big stars to go more than 100 miles outside of the lots unless it was approved by them? Well, that's what I heard. And thus the stars got bungalows, turned little restaurants and night clubs into the place to be, and then tourists began flocking there hoping to hobnob with Hollywood's elite.
Ok, back to the tales of our touristing. We wandered in downtown Palm Springs, poked in to an art gallery or two, then got a bite to eat. Then we drove towards the Salton Sea, but we decided to call it a night at a truck stop a little bit northish of there. The next morning we made it to the Salton Sea. Here's what wikipedia has to say about that place : salton sea

Something more interesting about that Sea is that it looses more water each year than it takes and that due to the high salinity of the water there have been a few die offs of the bird and fish populations.
Also, nothing much grows there and the elements are good at destroying whatever people build around there. It is a lovely place though, and very barren. About 20 miles further from the Salton Sea recreation area that we were at is a place called Slab City. That's where the photo of the dead bird was taken. It's an RV town of sorts that has planted itself on the remains of a US naval base. When the base closed the military sold all the barracks that had been there, leaving empty cement slabs behind. This is where folk of various walks of life have placed themselves, some permanently and some just for the winter or, like us, a weekend. We spent Sat. there, lounging in Harvey and wandering around. Nearby is this thing called "Salvation Mt.", made by a Mr. Leonard Knight. He's spent the last umpteen years constructing this thing of straw, sticks and mud, then he paints it. His project has become well known and he has been given awards for it from local organizations.
But further into the desert above and behind of it is some more random graffiti desert art that isn't as documented and cherished. It's somewhat offensive and instead of praising God it praises hedonism, and then there is another structure that satirizes our country's love of violence via the military. Interesting stuff, interesting place. Later that night we listened to live music at an area of Slab City called "The Range". Some old men played hippie classics relatively well and there was a man named Bob who played a 12 string guitar in an awesome way. Almost as entertaining as the music was the dozen or so college aged oddities that were either highly intoxicated or just very happy and outgoing. They were gender bending in their attire, wearing silly hats and doing improvised group dances with one another. They also kept referencing the group wedding that they intended to have at the end of the open mic (rather than perform on stage). They tuckered out early though and are thus still unwed. We went to bed awhile later. Woke up early and enjoyed the desert in the morning, then went to a place in S.C. referred to as "The Oasis" for the 3 dollar sunday breakfast (which was delicious). There we met an older couple visiting from San Fran and an Anthropology major from Sacramento. She was there for 2 weeks to study the people of Slab City in some way.....

Now we're in San Diego to visit a friend of mine from way back when that just recently moved here. Will post on that stop later.

here comes the sun (thanks Cali, we heart you!)

So after spending the first few days of the trip traveling through snow and rain we finally got a few hundred miles into California and realized that winter isn't despicable everywhere. We drove around Napa Valley for awhile, but we got there too late for me to be a lush and sample their wines. Beautiful area, with the most terrifying road I've seen in a long time.
Rather than pay too much to stay the night there we continued to San Fran and got in late enough to find parking in the ritzy part of the city (on Divisidero St, in front of a mansion like structure). After going down about 5 hills (all steeper than Seattle's) we found a "Bohemian" bar that was still serving food. By bohemian they seemed to mean sponsored by more pricey beer companies... Anywho. After filling Ted's belly and my need for a beer we walked around a while then climber up the hills to our van (his name is Harvey now and will from here on out be referred to as such by me) for sleep. In the morning we got up early and drove over to Haight Ashbury, that intersections where all those hippies did all those drugs, played all that music, and put flowers in their hair while enjoying free love and trying to give peace a chance. It was a neat little part of town, and slightly resembled the counterculture haven it had once been. There were some hippie shops, cafes, bars, music and book stores and an anarchist store..... Nothing was open yet so we walked around more and stumbled upon Buena Vista park, which had awesome trails and trees, cute young men walking their dogs, and supposedly an amazing view of the city (it was foggy still, so we had an amazing view of the fog). After that park came the exploration of another park (Golden Gate Park to be exact) which had an awesome carousel, some ponds, etc. By that time it was almost 10 am so I gave my Aunt who lives in San Fran a call and we found parking (not in a parking deck, Harvey is too tall for parking in city parking decks, proven by the breakage of his small sky light. poor harvey) then made our way to her townhouse. My Aunt gave us an awesome walking tour of the city, taking us up to Telegraph Hill, pointing out along the way San Fran's high pressure hydrant system (one of the country's only such systems. she works for the fire dept so she knows these things). We also went by the house used in Bogart's film Dark Passage(which has metal working on the outside which depicts Atlas and another figure I couldn't place). Then we went to the more touristy waterfront and saw the Sea Lions hanging out at Pier 39. So many tourists.... We spotted Alcatraz from our side of the water and saw some men swimming without wet suits. Our final touristy thing in the city was going to City Lights where we looked at lots of books and where I tried to imagine the Beatniks doing their thing.... Had a nice dinner with the family (lots of tapas and then gelato). Before that we discovered while parking Harvey in front of the townhouse that he does not like going up hills in reverse. He wouldn't do it, so we all had to give him a push to get him out of the way of San Fran's famous trolley. Good times. We left the next morning and drove a very long time until we got to Desert Hot Springs, CA (just outside of Palm Springs). We pit stopped at Pismo Beach
and walked along the pier and beach. Lots of surfers (in wet suits) and your stereotypical california types. Long hair, hot bodies, etc... Also drove through Santa Barbara but decided not to stop. The sunset clouds covering the valley that the city inhabits were enough for us.
Drove through LA but decided to skip it, though seeing Hollywood things would have been cliche and perhaps fun. Instead we rolled in the New Year while sitting in some natural hot springs. Pancake breakfast in the van. Then Joshua Tree where we are now. We've been hiking around the desert, looking at the odd trees, climbing on some rocks, and getting a slight sunburn. We saw a coyote this morning and lots of stars (some falling) last night while camping out in the park. Now we're going to try to find this odd things called the Integratron, then go about an hour south east-ish to the Salton Sea.