Thursday, February 28, 2008

Florida Florida

We survived NOLA and I will quote Hirsh and say that if you are really curous about the city's recovery, the best way to see is to go see for yourself. While parts of the city are still severely damaged and witnessing this makes you- well, me- angry at the incompetence of a variety of government agencies in the rebuilding process, the energy and vibrancy of New Orleans..not to mention the flavors- are back. So here's my plug for the city- the best way to help is to go on down to the big easy and spend some cash and eat a po' boy and boogie to some music.

Our final night there, we saw three guitar players who were not only talented on their instruments but also humorous lyricists. They took some tunes we knew and changed the words....for example, "You say Hez-bol-ah, I say Hez- bolah, let's blow the whole thing up." Another crowd pleaser was the original "She's my Sperm Bank nurse and I'm her Speci-man". It was a fun ending to a few days of music and food.

Friday, we power-drove to Miami- 14.5 hours in the car. What I learned most from that experience is that I am no longer in my 20's and 15 hours in a car is LONG. The good news is that we were able to crash at Sue's friend Mackenzie's house in (on?) South Beach and got to wake up there.

Saturday, after a very French breakfast of crepes, we went to the Everglades. Mac's husband Scott is a fire fighter and was doing some work down there for the park service. We were lucky enough to get a private tour and we even saw some gators. I was glad to check out the park before it's gone, and it was also fun to hang with the park service guys who were a wealth of info.

After a nice dinner in South Beach we took a walk and admired the Art Deco architecture. It was great to see that, just like Santa Fe and New Orleans, it looks the way it's "supposed" to look, architecturally. As we headed back to Mac's, we passed by the beautiful people lining up for the clubs. Maybe I'm getting really old, but seriously, if I can tell when your last bikini wax was, your dress is too short. We decided to skip the thumping night clubs and instead went and crashed.

I spent a lovely Sunday with my Grandpa, who at 93, told me that some days, he doesn't feel a day over 92.I found it interesting that, as we ate a a Jewish deli where I brought the mean age down significantly, the paramedics rushed in with a stretcher. All of the - "experienced"- patrons in there looked up, checked their own pulses and, once establishing that the EMTs weren't there for them, returned to their eating, as though nothing was unusual. And I suppose, in a community with nothing but retirees, perhaps it isn't.

The post is long so I'll save our 95N trip for next time. Remember to let me know if the subscribing works and also, post some comments here so I know someone is reading this darn thing!

I leave a week from today!!!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

New Orleans Keeps on Keeping On, subscribing..and we got a flat!

Hello from the big easy.

First things first, I think if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you'll see a link that says subscribe to this post. If you click on that, you can select what kind of feed you want. I went with google... Then I think you get a link on top of your home page that you can then click on to see if new posts are up. I'll still be sending the notifications for a bit while I work out the kinks, but this is another option. And please, send me comments about if this works or any tricks you discover.

Now to New Orleans...we arrived yesterday and seems all I've been doing is eating since then, so not much has changed here as far as I can tell! Actually, Hirsh took us on a driving tour today of the worst hit areas and it was sobering to see the huge patches of land that were once neighborhoods, now looking like ancient ruins, with overgrown grass climbing up around bits and pieces of the houses that once stood there.

We did see the fab Rebirth Brass band last night after a great meal of fried oysters and shrimp and crawfish etoufee...and of course, today, we fulfilled my po boy jones. Tongiht's more music at the rock and bowl where perhaps we'll even bowl a few rounds while listening to a live keyboard player.

While I've been engaging in gluttony, American style, Adi has been hard at work preparing for my arrival. The great news is he signed a lease on a flat in the area of town we were hoping to be- just about 2 miles from the Pacific, near a cool (ostensibly) neighborhood block of cafes and such and close to public transport. It looks great, although cozy, but thats okay since most of my things are under my house in boulder anyway...check it out by clicking the link:
http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=4038822

Off to eat some more...


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ghosts in Texas

We managed to get through Texas pretty quick. Left Santa Fe after our fabulous meal at Pasquals (I had eggs with plantains, peas, feta, tomatilla sauce and more and it was delish!) and drove a short 11 hours (plus the one hour time change) to just South of Fort Worth to a lovely Motel 6 (aka 666) in Corsicana, apparently home to a large penitentiary. When checking in, the motel 6 proprietor informed me that he was familiar with Boulder thanks to the works of his favorite author, a Mr. Stephen King. He then shared with me, in his slow Texas drawl coupled with a slgihtly creepy look on his rather rotund face, that he and friends were in a ghost-searchers club. Luckily, he assured me, he'd checked our room and there weren't any ghosts here at the Motel 6. My guess is ghosts have slightly higher standards! The feeling of the accommodations was eerily like the final scene from No Country for Old Men, but luckily we escaped without any glimpses of Javier Bardem with a bad haircut or the ghosts his character left behind!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

on the road

Well, Colorado is behind me. Well, I guess above me is more accurate...we're in Santa Fe and we only left Boulder about 18 hours later than planned. I guess I underestimated just how much crap a girl accumulates in 12 years! But I'm out of the house, for at least 18 months, and other than having one (very full) suitcase too many to take on the plane- which I'll deal with in NY- I'm footloose and fancy free!

We're staying with Sue's friends Michele and Dave and they've set the bar high for the rest of our hosts. We spent the day down by the palace of the governors and hit the Georiga O' Keefe museum. I consider it a "work" expense, in terms of thinking about GTA stuff! We went up to Museum hill to watch a typically stunning Santa Fe sunset and then had a great meal with our hosts.

Tomorrow begins with a stop at one of my most favorite breakfast places on earth- Pasquales- before we being our descent- and I mean that in every sense of the word- into Texas. (with apologies to India, Foldes and Sarah P)

I'd post some pics of the sunset and such but my camera cord is somewhere buried deep in my very full car. So until next time, Ciao.


Saturday, February 9, 2008

Welcome...I"m busy packing

Busy packing up the house in Boulder so not much time to write- nor much excitement to write about, but wanted to welcome folks to my new blog. As a novice blogger, I'll do my best to share my adventures as they unfold but I have learned that 'tis better to have new adventures than to just sit around and write about the ones you've already had.

I arrive in Melbourne a month from today, so until then, my posts will be short- just something to let you know where you are so you know you've found it. And maybe a few words on my South East journey across the states...all the better to compare and contrast the US when I get down under.

Till next time,
S