Short post today as it was pretty much just driving.
Yesterday in Atlanta it was in the high 80's and sunny. When I got up this morning, I got dressed based on that: shorts, t-shirt, sandals. So of course I walk out of Vivek's room and see that it is pouring outside. Damn places that aren't California.... The rain died out once I got to South Carolina, then it was pretty much clear sailing til Durham.
My cousin, Tony, is finishing up med school at Duke. Went out to a late lunch with him, his girlfriend, and roommate at Maggiano's. My chicken parmesan sandwich was solid. At one point, the waitress came by and asked if I was done with my plate. Normally, not such a weird question. But, in this case, my sandwich was in my hand. Did she think I was just going to hold on to it until I was done?
Anyway, you may be wondering, what are the hot spots in Durham? Where do all the cool kids go to hang out? Well, according to Tony, they go to the mall, just like they're back in high school. It seems that Chapel Hill is the more happening place. Also, update on World of Coca-Cola. Tony said when he went years ago they did have all the different varieties of Coke in the tasting room. They really should go back to that instead of the current set up.
North Carolina is actually a pretty state to drive through, with all the trees and assorted greenery. I guess I could've taken a picture of this, but I didn't feel like stopping and I figured taking pictures while driving wasn't the best idea.
After Durham, I drove up to Fairfax, VA to stay with my aunt and uncle in anticipation of exploring DC tomorrow. I must say, I was sooo excited to be eating some home-cooked Indian food. So far on this trip, the staples of my diet have been fried food and cheese, so some rice and curry was a welcome change.
Since, I didn't take any pictures today, closing picture comes from Thursday.
And, a double dose of videos, representing NC and VA.
Just to clarify, there were no escapades last night. Vivek and I just went to a nearby sports bar to watch the Sharks game. Anyway, got up early this morning and hit up Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before making our way to the World of Coca-Cola. They start you off with a little video and presentation then you're free to explore on your own. We were wandering through the exhibits when the fire alarm started blaring. Now, after being at County for the last two years, we were all pretty used to ignoring fire alarms. So we went about our business... until a message came over the PA telling everyone to evacuate the building.
About ten minutes passed, then they let us back in saying it was a false alarm. The tasting room was a little disappointing. Both Alfred and I had been expecting to be able to try all the different international Coke varieties. Instead, we got to try a bunch of the random different beverages they make for international markets. For example, a pine nut soda for South Africa, a bitter lemon soda for England, etc. I wasn't really impressed by any of the sodas I tried, and a few were downright terrible. On the plus side, the gift shop has some pretty cool merchandise, none of which I actually bought.
Afterward, lunch at Burgers and More. Stephanie and I both had pretty good cheesesteaks. And in case you were confused where to find the water...
Then it was time to take Stephanie and Alfred to the airport. Sad to see them go. It definitely made it more fun to have them with me over the first part of this trip. I'm curious how the rest of it will go when I'm on my own.
Luckily, not on my own yet! Got back to the hotel (where Vivek has also been living for the past few months), and I found him in the exact same position he was in at 9 AM: in bed, TV on, lights off. We hit up the MLK Historical Site. Seemed a little lacking for a man of his stature, but still an important place to visit.
Then we ended up on a drinking tour of the outskirts of Atlanta. We wanted to go to the Movie Tavern, but decided to hit up a bar first in search of happy hour. We didn't find happy hour, but we did find Tucker's Saloon.
Remember how the interior of Dooky Chase didn't match the exterior? Well, that was not the case here. Tucker's was exactly what you'd think it was. A plain and simple Georgia hick bar. A few older white guys at the bar, NASCAR on the TV. Not exactly the place you'd think two Indians from California would be welcome. But everyone was actually really nice, especially this one guy who I think was named Lenny. He loved making gay jokes at the expense of one of the young bartenders. It reminded me of back home with Lenny playing the role of "everyone" and "Cupcake" playing the role of Amin.
Next stop was Blue Ribbon Grill to watch some NFL Draft, get some food, and of course, more beer. We had buffalo shrimp, which was really good, and some huge potato skins. The beer was IPA, which always makes me happy.
Finally, we reached the Movie Tavern. It looks much like your basic movie theater, with prices to match ($5.50 student ticket), BUT they have beer! And real food. As if that wasn't enough, you can order a mid-movie beer. They gave you one of those number things on a little stand. You walk into the theater, and there's a long table in front of each row of seats, making it look like a classroom. Midway through the movie, someone brings a beer right to your seat! I feel like I would go to this place every week if I lived here.
We watched Kick-Ass. I commented at one point that this might be the oddest movie I have ever seen (at least among mainstream movies). Despite, or maybe because of, that I thought it was totally sweet. Everyone should go see this movie.
Got some Crystal afterward, which seems to be the southern version of White Castle. It's better than White Castle, but that's not really saying much.
Bad news, everyone--this will be my last contribution to the roadtrip blog. That's right, Alfred fans: Atlanta is Steph's and my final stop on this crazy train.... Tomorrow, we fly back to Los Angeles and return to what passes for our normal lives.
Got up only a little after the alarm today, although Steph had gotten up an hour before us boys to go running in the gym at the hotel in New Orleans. Got our stuff together and headed downstairs for the complimentary breakfast, then left. Yesterday, Steph had gotten it into her head to go on a plantation tour, but the nearest one was an hour out of town and Jimmy and I weren't feeling it, so we tried to work in a plantation tour today on our way out.
And boy were we in for a disappointment. "The Beauregard House" is exactly that: a house. It sits on a huge plot of grassy lawn with an obelisk to one side as a memorial to the Battle of New Orleans fought at the end of the War in 1812 (though the battle itself actually took place in 1815). There are a couple of cannons placed in their original positions along the American earthworks, but mostly it's just a big open field. The actual house itself sits near the back of the property; it's an old mansion that has been turned into the "Visitor Center" for the site of the Battle of New Orleans. It consisted of three rooms that took up the entire first floor with the following breakdown: Room 1: Gift shop Room 2: The Battle of New Orleans (writer's note: I believe the information and displays were actually provided by a local 8th grade middle school class) Room 3: The Video and Picture Room where you can make your own hats and things and take pictures against a photo backdrop of the battlefield (writer's note: I believe the materials and designs were provided by a local 5th grade class). Anywho, apparently the old Visitor's Center was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and was relocated into the house while a new one is being constructed.
Seven hours of driving with a handful of stops here and there, including the Waffle House in Alabama. Food was awesome, actually! I can see why this is a chain out here...we need them out in California...show that uppity IHOP who's boss.... Here are some pictures of the food for you to judge yourself....
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I've just been informed that we don't have ANY pictures of the food from the Waffle House! C'mon, you guys! How long have we been doing this? We've been on the road for eight days taking pictures of practically everything we've eaten and we drop the ball NOW? Well, here's a picture of the Waffle House itself.... Anywho, back on the road, more driving...Steph alternated between reading and sleeping...I read almost non-stop with only the occasional break to rest my eyes....
When we finally got to Atlanta (after missing the Mississippi, Alabama, and the George state lines after I've gotten pictures of all the others), we checked into another high-end hotel and met a friend of Jimmy's. He's a medical student out here just finishing his second year, and so are the half-dozen friends of his we also met. We all went to dinner at this local pizza joint called Mellow Mushroom, and I'll be honest it was a little awkward at first--Steph and I were tired, and we aren't the most sociable people (in our clique, we're the "mean" couple)--but once we all realized we were all medical students, we rapidly established a rapport and conversations flowed easily. Good food, good conversations, and an all around good time.
So, Steph and I have retired to the hotel while Jimmy has gone out drinking with his friends. We are incredibly tired and neither of us feels like drinking much, so it's lights out for us. I'll have Jimmy fill in what he remembers from his drinking escapades when he gets back later.
And on that note, Steph's and my portion of this journey has come to an end. Tomorrow we go with Jimmy to the World of Coca-Cola, and then to the airport to get back to Los Angeles, house-hunting, and our dog who we've left for the past eight days. We want to say thank you to all of you who read our posts, and thanks to Jimmy for letting us tag along. We had fun and it was a great trip.
In the final words of a long-time hit sci-fi TV series: see you...out there!
A pretty momentous day, as this was the first day where we wouldn't be traveling. It felt good to wake up and not be thinking about another long drive. Our first stop on the day was the Lafayette Cemetery. Why would one visit a cemetery? 1. Alfred's love for the macabre. 2. It seems to be thing to do in New Orleans (the tour we went on later took us to another cemetery). The above-ground cemeteries are unique, and some of them looked amazing. They have above-ground cemeteries in New Orleans because water under the soil has a tendency to push coffins up out of the ground.
After a full morning of grave robbing, it was time for lunch. Stephanie found this place on Yelp.
Doesn't look like much from the outside right? Wrong. The interior was actually very nice, and we all felt under-dressed. We had the lunch buffet which included red beans and rice, sausages, liver and onions, jambalaya, chicken, and peach cobbler for dessert. The sausage and peach cobbler were really good, but the liver and onions managed to kill Stephanie and Alfred's appetites temporarily. No pictures because we already felt awkward there.
After lunch it was back to the French Quarter. We wandered around for a while, stopping in at Peaches Records, where I found this.
Don't let the tape collection fool you, it's actually a cool store and I ended up buying two books. In the spur of the moment, we decided to take a bus tour of the city. It started in and around the French Quarter, showing us Louis Armstrong park, etc.
Then things got real. The tour took us to the 9th ward as our guide talked about how Katrina affected and continues to affect the city. She told us about trying to evacuate with her sick son and getting 70 miles in 9 hours. People without the money or means to leave, or with nowhere else to go, dying in their homes or in the street. Even now, almost 5 years later, there are so many houses sitting abandoned. Some of the owners died, some had left and still didn't know if they were ever coming back.
Sculpture made from driftwood recovered after Katrina
It was a powerful, sobering experience, one that I won't soon forget. But in the midst of this, there are still people working to rebuild the most ravaged areas.
These houses were built by Brad Pitt's Make it Right project.
Anyway, the rest of the tour took us to another cemetery, the Garden District, and City Park, the 6th largest urban park in the U.S.
Archie Manning's house
Afterward, we went to dinner at Pat O'Brien's to get some more Louisiana goodness. I had a muffaletta, which was ok. Stephanie and Alfred got some gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and some crawfish thing. I tried some crawfish, and I'm a fan. They also had what Stephanie described as "the best chocolate cake ever."
Other things we saw wandering Bourbon Street: a transvestite in the street dancing for passers-by, and a hand grenade!
Hopefully all the Katrina stuff didn't bring the mood down too much, but it had to be done. Tomorrow we head for Atlanta.
