god bless the bayou

hey. so i haven't posted here in over two years (i can't believe oxford was that long ago!) but i never wanted to abandon this blog. i needed to find a new use for it, because i knew using it as a "my day to day life" blog would turn out disastrously. but really, this started off as a travel blog, so i should keep it that way, no? whenever i stumble onto new territory ("near and far!" lol) i'll try to post. what happens in between posts--well i don't know. but this should be cool to look back at in the future.

my semi-obsession with new orleans, louisiana started when i was 12. the summer after seventh grade was kind of a blur...i was outside a lot, but balanced all that outdoorsy activity with my education in pop culture--which spewed generously out of my television. there were so many cool music videos and i loved "survivor" and "young americans." but my favorite thing was the ninth season of mtv's "the real world" set in new orleans. my 12 year old self somehow lived vicariously through those seven people...feelings of joy during mardi gras, laughing at melissa's craziness, connecting with julie's naivete, drooling over danny, and singing along with david. i loved the growth of the cast by the end of the season, and the gorgeous city was a character of its own. i just had to visit there one day.

and it seems pretty silly now to think that a tv show about "seven strangers picked to live in a mansion" would partly inspire a trip to the bayou ten years later, but i'm glad it did. i am completely, hopelessly, crazily in love with new orleans. my birthday trip there was nothing short of fantastic. i'll try my best to recount the moments that made this visit as amazing as it was.

1. pocahontas and hurricanes - my first trip to "mangos" on bourbon street involved the best bartender ever. she was crass. the eff word was a-flying. she told us lots of stories, but one in particular i had to jot down. she told us about how one night some "bros" started giving her shit. two quotes come to mind from this story: "i ain't white, but I AM a ghetto bitch!" (her response to the bros) and "we gotchyo back pocahontas!" (from a supportive mob of black men surrounding the bar). classic. every time we passed that mangos i checked to see if she was in. we never saw pocahontas again, but i'll never forget her.

2. mac the black cowboy - after pocahontas's delicious hurricane, we stumbled into "the saloon" and met the emcee, a REAL black cowboy. they exist jose! somehow we ended up singing karaoke...i KILLED "everybody" by backstreet boys and we also sang "smooth" by santana and rob thomas. we met up with mac a few times over the next days, and he was a perfect gentleman :)

3. boobies and beads and booze and alligator sausage po'boys.

4. creole tomato/seafood/zydeco-cajun festival - i heart fried green tomatoes and joaquin phoenix lookalikes and dancing in the heat and exhibits about drogas. i love cafe du monde and powdered sugar and sitting next to the mississippi while watching boats go by.

5. it's okay to frequent fast food restaurants while on vacation, but don't miss out on the hole-in-the-walls.

6. break the rules sometimes...running away from the aquarium guard was seriously the most fun i've had in a while.

7. streetcars are awesome. we rode the st. charles streetcar from canal all the way through the garden district to the end, rode it back halfway, got dranks at rally's (!) and met sean the gravedigger. he gave us a tour of lafayette cemetery even though it was closed, and left us with valuable gems...quote mementos, if you will. he told us about evacuating from katrina, and he was funny as hell. sean, you made our trip. we'll try not to be gnarrrly critters!

8. 2618 st. charles ave. - "the real world" house! i geeked out to say the least. the garden district is beautiful and i want to live in a mansion there.

9. magazine street - we walked. we met tattoo artists and ate mexican food and a birthday cupcake at juan's flying burrito. we walked 3/4 of the way across my map. it was hot. and humid. and we were deliciously tuckered by the time we arrived back to the hotel.

10. preservation hall - never seen anything like it in my life. i relished sitting so close together in that small room, sweat beads forming, listening to that passionate jazz coming from those soulful men. i was a jazz music lover before, but preservation hall made me appreciate the genre and the history a hell of a lot more. i wish we had something like that here. i'm glad i went.

new orleans, lousiana is such a beautiful and resilient city. it has faced so much adversity--katrina, the oil spill--yet it does not bow down. the party continues. the people never failed to impress me with their friendliness and excitement for life. they were so helpful and sweet and funny and all around wonderful. my friends and i are in love with every single thing about the bayou and we're thinking of moving there. true story! at the very least, i'll visit many, many more times.

new orleans, you have my heart.