Throughout my life I have had the fortune of being able to visit with many different branches of my family tree. I have met many generations of relatives on both sides of the family, but have spent more time with one particular branch than with the rest of them combined.
My mother's mother and brother both live in Baton Rouge, LA. Bobby lives with his wife and their kids, my cousins Kelsey and Brandon. Well, to be totally clear, neither Kelsey nor Brandon lives at home any more - Kelsey is a junior at LSU and Brandon now works for a prestigious bank in Florida. Bring in BANK.
Uncle Bobby very generously offered to put Ian and I up for our time in Baton Rouge, which, of course, was regrettably short. Ian was only able to stay one night - he had the time to visit with the family and go out to dinner with our Granny before he had to hop on a plane and make it home in time for an afternoon meeting on Thursday, August 12.
We ate dinner at City Cafe that first night, and it was delicious, as it always is. I had the shrimp and grits and was in heaven. Good southern food can just never be beat. We spent the dinner talking to Granny. Ian described the work he's doing for Volunteer Alexandria. Apparently they are currently organizing a Volunteer Day on Sept. 11 where they are going to travel around Alexandria and offer volunteer help as well as raise funds for the troops over seas. Go little brother! Of course, Granny also asked about my summer research, but I was more than happy to let my little brother do the talking - I've grown weary of explaining my project!
After sending the little Plunk home on an ungodly early flight, I made my way back to spend another day in Baton Rouge. Dinner was had at the sushi restaurant where Kelsey works... and it was delicious! The chef if very good friends with my uncle Bobby, and gave us a sampler set of his favorite Saki. Who knew there were so many different kinds? And the sushi was just delectable! We had salmon and eel and crab and shrimp... mmmmmm just talking about it makes me miss it that much more. Good thing Uncle Bobby was paying, though ;-)
I spent that night at Kelsey's brand new Town House. Good lord what a nice house. She lives there with her roommate Devyn and their kitten... I forget its name, but he was adorable. All white and a little devil. Kel had her friends over that night, and we spent it playing Cranium and watching a meteor shower. I believe that we saw at least 7 meteors while lying on the hoods of the cars off of River Road. It was magical. My legs were tingling with delight. ...orrrr they were tingling from the MILLIONS OF MOSQUITO BITES I received that night. Either or.
The next morning I set out with Kelsey in tow to spend a day and a night in New Orleans, LA. It hasn't been that long since I've been to NOLA; I was there this past January for Kelsey's Debutante Ball. However, this was the first time in a long time that I was able to explore the city during the day. Yes, nighttime New Orleans is an experience that everyone should have, even if just for a few minutes. The streets are teeming with drunken twenty-somethings holding hand grenades in their sweaty fists. Every once in a while you see a tourist family clinging to their children and staying to the middle of the streets so as to avoid the cross dressing hookers and to shield their childrens' eyes from the numerous windows filled with scantily-to-not clad women.
During the day, however, New Orleans is a wonderfully cultured place to be. We made our way through the French Quarter stopping at such shops as Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo, where you can find a charm or a fetish for just about anything. Just don't touch the shrine! We also found a new favorite artist, and browsed his gallery for close to an hour while lamenting at our lack of money. Craig Tracy paints women and then photographs them, using no photoshop or trickery of any kind. The result is a gorgeous, surreal representation of the female (and sometimes male!) body. I'm in love.
We stayed in the lovely Chateau Bourbon courtesy of my Aunt Susan, and spent the night curled up in bed watching The Princess and the Frog and eating cupcakes from Bee Sweet on Magazine Street. The Red Velvet cupcake was absolutely divine!
In the morning we had bignets at Cafe du Monde and spent an hour in awe at the Insectarium. Think aquarium, only for insects! They had swimming beetles, all sorts of stick bugs and leaf bugs, and more butterflies than you knew existed! If you're ever in the area for touristy things as opposed to drunkenly things, I highly recommend you stop by and say hi to the tarantulas for me!
After a sorry goodbye to my cousin, Aunt, Uncle, and Granny, I left Baton Rouge to go spend some quality time in Mississippi. There is never enough time with the people you love, but at least I got to spend some of my summer with them.
Tomorrow: adventures in Mississippi!
Love, love, butterfly filled love,
Plunk!
Progress across this country of ours
A) Boulder, CO
B) Cheyenne Wells, CO
C) Lubbock, TX
D) Austin, TX
E) Baton Rouge, LA
F) New Orleans, LA
Total mileage so far: 1,505
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