Chibi

I'm back from my NY trip!

Accomplice: The Village was a good time, although not as good as Accomplice: NY, I think. The NY show felt more like a scavenger hunt/puzzle, and that made it more fun. The Village version was still enjoyable, though, and I would recommend both shows to anyone looking for a fun way to see the city.

We ate at some great restaurants, too (alas, not Chibi's):

Gatsby's on Friday night, where we had some yummy pub food and the Guinness was well-poured.

We ate breakfast at the Prince Street Cafe both mornings. We all loved the place.

And for dinner on Saturday night we went to Sakura Sushi & Thai, another restaurant I would recommend (if you like sushi and thai food). My steamed thai dumplings and New York roll (with tempura shrimp) were both delicious and the staff is very nice.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of money! But I also took a lot of pictures. Here are a couple more from the weekend. I'll have more in a few days...

Awwwww, SH*T!

Oh Sh*t again!, originally uploaded by gina64.

We did some whitewater rafting on Friday and I had a really great time, as you can see by the look on my face. (I'm in the front, on the right)

Actually, I really did have a great time, despite being the only person from to fall off the raft. Well, "ejected from" the raft would be a better way to put it. It happened upriver from this shot, while going through a much easier rapid called Pinball. We hit a rock and the raft stopped and I kept going, landing on the rock. I was only in the water for about a minute before a raft that was behind us picked me up. When we caught up with my raft I transferred over. It seemed like it took forever, but all in all it probably took only 5 minutes.

The most humiliating part (besides all of the people laughing at me!), was being pulled from the water and sent flopping to the bottom of the raft. All I could think was, "God, I hope my pants haven't fallen down."

Thankfully, I managed to stay in the raft through Zoar Gap, even though we got stuck:



For more rafting photos, check out my Flickr set.

Two trips down, only one more to go!

05-19-2008 1091, originally uploaded by gina64.

I went to Nashville last weekend for my cousin's wedding and had a great time. I had never been there before and while I'm not a big fan of country music, I really liked the city and had a great time sitting in bars like Legends Corner and the nasty, crowded dive bar Paradise Park listening to local bands and drinking a LOT of beer. Or lazily browsing through Ernest Tubb's Record Shop and the Charlie Daniels Museum and Souvenir shop and listening to live music pouring from open doorways on Broadway at all times of the day.

We ate at Big River Brewing Company, where I had "Low Country Shrimp and Cheesy Grits" and at Rippy's, where I had the 6-rib portion of BBQ'd ribs. And the reason we were in Nashville, Karen's wedding, was lovely and it was wonderful to see the whole family again.

Here are some photos from the trip. I will also be posting more photos from New Orleans, but probably not until next week. I go away AGAIN on Thursday for an annual camping trip to Mohawk Trail State Forest. And we're white-water rafting on the Deerfield River on Friday! Yay! It's going to be freezing, but Yay! I'll be back on Monday, with even more photos to post.

Oh, and I watched LOST last night - wow! I'll try to post something later today.

Anyway, photos...

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

Habitat NOLA 197, originally uploaded by gina64.

In New Orleans, everyone is buried (or not-buried, I suppose) above ground because the water table is only 3 feet down. When the early settlers would bury their dead the air-tight caskets would float and rise up through the ground after a good rain.

Generations of families share the same tomb. How is that possible, you ask? How do they all fit in such a small space?

Well, the dead are placed into the tomb in a special burial bag that aids in decomposition. After approximately one year (according to our guide, Mary - I read somewhere else that it takes up to two years) the deceased will have completely decomposed, leaving a pile of...something. Local ordinance prohibits the burial of another family member until at least a year and a day after the previous burial. When the next person needs to be buried, the previous occupant's remains are brushed down into the base of the tomb, where they join those of their ancestors, and the newly deceased is placed in the tomb.

So endeth the lesson.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is New Orleans' oldest cemetery, so I'm glad we got a chance to see it. Marie Laveau, an alleged Voodoo Priestess, is buried there, along with relatives of the artist Degas. The acid trip scene from "Easy Rider" was filmed there:

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT



Mary told us that when Peter Fonda was sitting in the lap of the statue he was actually off-script and talking about his own mother, who had committed suicide. The director decided to keep it.

One more tidbit: I asked Mary why the ground was covered with crushed seashells. She said that they use the seashells because they have no natural gravel in the area.

Here are a few more photos from that day:

Almost 3 Years Later.

Still unbearable., originally uploaded by gina64.

And the destruction that Katrina wrought upon the New Orleans area is still evident, still overwhelming and it seems almost insurmountable.

My trip was many things: enlightening, sad, rewarding, fun, exhausting, moving, HOT, emotional, stinky and dirty...all in all it was a very complex trip and it wasn't always easy to balance the vacation and touristy part with the real reason I was down there.

Here are a few photos I took while we drove through the areas that were hit the hardest by the flood and the levee breaks. Most of these are from the Lower Ninth Ward. I was amazed at the apocalyptic scenes we drove through and how things are still so bad down there. One estimate states that it will take about 25 years for the area (including St. Bernard Parish, which was hit just as hard as NOLA) to rebound, if it ever does completely.

2500 Desire Street

That's where I'm heading next week: 2500 Desire Street, New Orleans, LA. I'm volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, along with 2 friends, and we'll be working in the Upper Ninth Ward from Tuesday through Friday. Our worksite is just a stone's throw from Musician's Village, and I'm looking forward to seeing what work has been done there so far.

The 4-year anniversary of my father's death is this Saturday, and I am taking this trip in his honor. He was a master carpenter and doing what he did so well (as if I know what I'm doing!) in order to help others is nice way to honor his memory, I think.

We'll be in New Orleans from Saturday, May 3 through Sunday, May 11, so we have a few days off in which we can tour the area and visit the French Quarter and the Garden District and eat po' boys and beignets and muffuletta sandwiches and listen to the music and drink some drinks. I'm really looking forward to it. Instead of a hotel, we've opted to immerse ourselves in the full volunteer experience (and save some money) and stay at Camp Hope, a dormitory-style converted school that houses hundreds of volunteers at a time. It should be quite the experience!

I'll be keeping a journal while I'm there and taking a bajillion photos, so prepare yourself to hear all about it when I get back.