Well, I was supposed to go to the great Pac Northwest this week, the land of trees, rain, and taters. Unfortunately the assclowns in the airline industy still haven't figured out how to skirt the pesky fog and rain that has run rampid here in the Northeast for the past 4 billion years, so I was in my office all week.
No visits to grundge city to eat massive omelettes while wearing a cut up flannel and pondering life's misery... no visits to the land that brags of it's spuds and some huge national park... and no visits to D.B. Cooper's hijacking hotspot.
I did accomplish quite a bit this week, but other than the lonely stretch of roads I've traveled far too many times to count, nothing new of note this week.
Next week it's to Columbus/Toledo and hopefully the NFL Hall of Fame. I really wanted to catch the Sabres/Jackets game in Columbus next Friday but my flight leaves earlier that day so I'll miss it... oh well.
I promise more interesting moments next week. Unless Ohio's a bore... and if it is... don't worry... as some have said -- "Freeman... ya just make things happen... you've got ideas".... yeah, I do. And now I sound like a queer talking about myself. Peace.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Gator tail - a delicacy?
Hey all, what's goin down on your side of town? Not much here. Just got back from my second stint in Louisiana (well, really, I got back yesterday).
This time around was far more enjoyable than the first debacle that ensued. I flew into Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing really stood out, though I did notice quit a bit of oil refineries along the Mississippi River. Needless to say the beautiful scenery reminded me of driving up the 190 towards downtown Barfalo, but it didn't end there.
My hotel was in a suburb of BR called Baker. At first glance, it seemed like a pretty desolate joint. As I was stuck in traffic (yeah, traffic jams in Baton freakin Rouge, wtf?) I noticed another yet another Barfalo reminder... the Bills logo. At first I didn't know what to make of it. Here I was, in the deep south, driving on swampland, and the Bills logo is plastered everywhere. As I cruised down Main Street I kept seeing it everywhere, along with a "Buffalo cafe" and "First Buffalo shopping center". Now my interest peaked.
After I checked into my hotel I decided to do some investigating. I went down to the "Buffalo cafe", got a table, and started my detective work. The dude hands me a menu, and the Bills logo is on the front. What was going on here? After I ordered an app. sampler and Talapia in " Cajun Buffalo" sauce I finally got the attention of the waiter, an obvious high school student miserable with his job. I asked what the deal was with all the Buffalo Bills stuff. He didn't know what a Buffalo Bill was, but explained to me that the town's high school mascot was the Buffalos and I guess they took it upon themselves to plaster everything-Bills all over the town. Fair enough. Case closed. BTW, the app. sampler at Buffalo Cafe (Main St, Baker, LA) was one of the largest I'd ever laid eyes upon. The fish, not so great. I'd give the app. an 8/10 and the fish a 4/10.
Back to the real issues. My hotel this time was a Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy. My first room had no operable tely, so I asked to be moved. They then moved me to a room with a broken shower. Moved me again to a room with the beautiful aroma of tobacco leaves. I got sick of moving so I decided to rough it out in tobacco row. But the people were nice so I'd give the joint a 6/10, but it definitely left a lot to be desired.
Wednesday was my birthday (big 25, hittin the midlife) but I had a full slate. One shoot early in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Both went pretty well, the clients were pretty up on the whole process so they went without incident which is always a good thing. After my last shoot, I hopped in my SUV rental and bolted down I-10 towards New Orleans. Operation - party hard.
I met up with my buddy Epner who was working in New Orleans for the week (Kenner, to be exact). After some chillin we hit up a local casino for some money-losin. Epdog is a pretty good gambler. I = not so great. I was able to lose $40 within the first 10 minutes. Our card dealer - Susie - had a secret crush on Epdog. I could see it in her eyes. Ep was winnin big, but Susie left and some crabby old bastard who probably has never heard of the word "fun" came onto the table. After about 5 minutes of the miserable old codger killin the mood we decided to bounce. We did get free t-shirts as a result of my birthday (thanks to some inside info provided by the shuttle driver). After that we went to few other bars and called it a night.
Thursday saw me driving nearly 300 miles North to Monroe, LA. I got to cross into Mississippi - a state on my infamous "Never been to" list. I headed up I-55 N towards Jackson... I even passed through Britney Spears' hometown (looked like a major dump). I-55 is a lonely road - worse than I-86. Much of it around the New Orleans area is built on water - with no land in site. Once land is visible, the landscape is littered with run down homes/trailers and abandoned towns. The Mississippi stretch up to Jackson isn't much to write home about either, but there seemed to be some civilization in tiny pockets.
Jackson seemed like your typical run-of-the-mill small city. I detoured off my route for a little just to scope the town out, but didn't find much of anything that grabbed my interest. After hoping on I-20 West I was now heading back towards the Mississippi River and my final destination.
I had crossed the Mississippi a few times prior, but this time I figured it might be a bit more scenic actually being in the state it's named for. I was wrong. It was nothing great, but still cool to see how massive the River is.
My hotel in Monroe was nice - Fairfield Inn. After the internet decided to start working it was just like every other hotel - except the water here was really polluted. I actually had to go buy bottled water because everything coming out of the tap was brown. Hotel was a 6/10 I'd say.
But in Monroe I had my best meal of the week. As a rule, when I'm on the road I try to eat nothing but local cuisine. I try to avoid all chains as much as possible and try something new every day. Let's face it - I an eat at an Applebees anywhere I want.
I took a chance and decided to try this place called R.J. Gators Florida Sea Grill. It looked like it might be a part of a chain but hell, I'd never heard of it so I was gonna give it a shot. The menu was badass. Basically seafood and burgers/sandwiches. One appetizer grabbed my interest - Fried Gator Tail. I had never tried Gator, nor had I a desire to, but I figured I might not get the chance elsewhere so I gave it a shot. To my surprise it tasted great - almost like popcorn chicken. After that they brought my meal out (Cajun seafood bucket with fried shrimp, fish, clam strips). This thing was massive and along with fries, salad, and bread, I could barely finish half of it. Added to that was 2 for 1 margaritas, each the size of a pint glass. R.J.'s was great and I'd def recommend trying it if you are near one. Get the Gator, you won't be disappointed. 8.5/10.
After my shoot in Monroe friday morning it was back to Baker's world class Holiday Inn Express for the night before my flight home Sat morning. As I toured the backroads of rural Louisiana I once again crossed into Miss. for a few miles. As I crossed back over the Mighty Mississippi in Natchez, something grabbed my attention. 1 - an All-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken... who knew those even existed? And 2 - a HUGE Chuck Norris "Attorney at law". At first I couldn't believe my eyes - and it's times like that which make me angry to know my digital camera no longer works. The sign ruled though, reading: "CHUCK NORRIS, Attorney at Law 'I represent injured people'". My first thought was "wow, this is the greatest sign ever"... my second thought was "doesn't Chuck Norris usually do the injuring and not the representing?". Anyways, if for whatever reason you find yourself in Natchez, MS, you can locate this sign on U.S. Route 84 Eastbound, right as you cross over the river into Mississippi.
My rental for the week was a brand new Chyrsler Aspen. I was the first person to rent it, so when I say brand new I freakin mean it mister. The whip had 15 miles on it. It took a day or two for me to get used to handling the thing, but after I did it was a nice ride. Terrible on gas, but a nice ride. Chrysler is slowly winning me over (best car I've driven was the 300).
Saturday I hopped on the 6er back to B'Lo. Flights were on time but from ATL to B'Lo I had the misfortune of being in front of the world's most uninformed chatterbox. Some lady from NT who thought she was the authority on the City of Buffalo and all it has to offer. Some dude next to her was flying up from Miami to check out potential real-estate in the area and asked her about the area. I've never heard so much misinformed crap spewed from one mouth in my life. Ah well.
Next week it's off to the land of potato's - Idaho.... and maybe a day trip to Seattle-Tacoma to catch up with some old buddies. As for today - it's dedicated to wings, bottled brewskies, and watching the New England Teddy Bruschi's lose to the hand of LT Jr.
This time around was far more enjoyable than the first debacle that ensued. I flew into Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing really stood out, though I did notice quit a bit of oil refineries along the Mississippi River. Needless to say the beautiful scenery reminded me of driving up the 190 towards downtown Barfalo, but it didn't end there.
My hotel was in a suburb of BR called Baker. At first glance, it seemed like a pretty desolate joint. As I was stuck in traffic (yeah, traffic jams in Baton freakin Rouge, wtf?) I noticed another yet another Barfalo reminder... the Bills logo. At first I didn't know what to make of it. Here I was, in the deep south, driving on swampland, and the Bills logo is plastered everywhere. As I cruised down Main Street I kept seeing it everywhere, along with a "Buffalo cafe" and "First Buffalo shopping center". Now my interest peaked.
After I checked into my hotel I decided to do some investigating. I went down to the "Buffalo cafe", got a table, and started my detective work. The dude hands me a menu, and the Bills logo is on the front. What was going on here? After I ordered an app. sampler and Talapia in " Cajun Buffalo" sauce I finally got the attention of the waiter, an obvious high school student miserable with his job. I asked what the deal was with all the Buffalo Bills stuff. He didn't know what a Buffalo Bill was, but explained to me that the town's high school mascot was the Buffalos and I guess they took it upon themselves to plaster everything-Bills all over the town. Fair enough. Case closed. BTW, the app. sampler at Buffalo Cafe (Main St, Baker, LA) was one of the largest I'd ever laid eyes upon. The fish, not so great. I'd give the app. an 8/10 and the fish a 4/10.
Back to the real issues. My hotel this time was a Holiday Inn Express. Nothing fancy. My first room had no operable tely, so I asked to be moved. They then moved me to a room with a broken shower. Moved me again to a room with the beautiful aroma of tobacco leaves. I got sick of moving so I decided to rough it out in tobacco row. But the people were nice so I'd give the joint a 6/10, but it definitely left a lot to be desired.
Wednesday was my birthday (big 25, hittin the midlife) but I had a full slate. One shoot early in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Both went pretty well, the clients were pretty up on the whole process so they went without incident which is always a good thing. After my last shoot, I hopped in my SUV rental and bolted down I-10 towards New Orleans. Operation - party hard.
I met up with my buddy Epner who was working in New Orleans for the week (Kenner, to be exact). After some chillin we hit up a local casino for some money-losin. Epdog is a pretty good gambler. I = not so great. I was able to lose $40 within the first 10 minutes. Our card dealer - Susie - had a secret crush on Epdog. I could see it in her eyes. Ep was winnin big, but Susie left and some crabby old bastard who probably has never heard of the word "fun" came onto the table. After about 5 minutes of the miserable old codger killin the mood we decided to bounce. We did get free t-shirts as a result of my birthday (thanks to some inside info provided by the shuttle driver). After that we went to few other bars and called it a night.
Thursday saw me driving nearly 300 miles North to Monroe, LA. I got to cross into Mississippi - a state on my infamous "Never been to" list. I headed up I-55 N towards Jackson... I even passed through Britney Spears' hometown (looked like a major dump). I-55 is a lonely road - worse than I-86. Much of it around the New Orleans area is built on water - with no land in site. Once land is visible, the landscape is littered with run down homes/trailers and abandoned towns. The Mississippi stretch up to Jackson isn't much to write home about either, but there seemed to be some civilization in tiny pockets.
Jackson seemed like your typical run-of-the-mill small city. I detoured off my route for a little just to scope the town out, but didn't find much of anything that grabbed my interest. After hoping on I-20 West I was now heading back towards the Mississippi River and my final destination.
I had crossed the Mississippi a few times prior, but this time I figured it might be a bit more scenic actually being in the state it's named for. I was wrong. It was nothing great, but still cool to see how massive the River is.
My hotel in Monroe was nice - Fairfield Inn. After the internet decided to start working it was just like every other hotel - except the water here was really polluted. I actually had to go buy bottled water because everything coming out of the tap was brown. Hotel was a 6/10 I'd say.
But in Monroe I had my best meal of the week. As a rule, when I'm on the road I try to eat nothing but local cuisine. I try to avoid all chains as much as possible and try something new every day. Let's face it - I an eat at an Applebees anywhere I want.
I took a chance and decided to try this place called R.J. Gators Florida Sea Grill. It looked like it might be a part of a chain but hell, I'd never heard of it so I was gonna give it a shot. The menu was badass. Basically seafood and burgers/sandwiches. One appetizer grabbed my interest - Fried Gator Tail. I had never tried Gator, nor had I a desire to, but I figured I might not get the chance elsewhere so I gave it a shot. To my surprise it tasted great - almost like popcorn chicken. After that they brought my meal out (Cajun seafood bucket with fried shrimp, fish, clam strips). This thing was massive and along with fries, salad, and bread, I could barely finish half of it. Added to that was 2 for 1 margaritas, each the size of a pint glass. R.J.'s was great and I'd def recommend trying it if you are near one. Get the Gator, you won't be disappointed. 8.5/10.
After my shoot in Monroe friday morning it was back to Baker's world class Holiday Inn Express for the night before my flight home Sat morning. As I toured the backroads of rural Louisiana I once again crossed into Miss. for a few miles. As I crossed back over the Mighty Mississippi in Natchez, something grabbed my attention. 1 - an All-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken... who knew those even existed? And 2 - a HUGE Chuck Norris "Attorney at law". At first I couldn't believe my eyes - and it's times like that which make me angry to know my digital camera no longer works. The sign ruled though, reading: "CHUCK NORRIS, Attorney at Law 'I represent injured people'". My first thought was "wow, this is the greatest sign ever"... my second thought was "doesn't Chuck Norris usually do the injuring and not the representing?". Anyways, if for whatever reason you find yourself in Natchez, MS, you can locate this sign on U.S. Route 84 Eastbound, right as you cross over the river into Mississippi.
My rental for the week was a brand new Chyrsler Aspen. I was the first person to rent it, so when I say brand new I freakin mean it mister. The whip had 15 miles on it. It took a day or two for me to get used to handling the thing, but after I did it was a nice ride. Terrible on gas, but a nice ride. Chrysler is slowly winning me over (best car I've driven was the 300).
Saturday I hopped on the 6er back to B'Lo. Flights were on time but from ATL to B'Lo I had the misfortune of being in front of the world's most uninformed chatterbox. Some lady from NT who thought she was the authority on the City of Buffalo and all it has to offer. Some dude next to her was flying up from Miami to check out potential real-estate in the area and asked her about the area. I've never heard so much misinformed crap spewed from one mouth in my life. Ah well.
Next week it's off to the land of potato's - Idaho.... and maybe a day trip to Seattle-Tacoma to catch up with some old buddies. As for today - it's dedicated to wings, bottled brewskies, and watching the New England Teddy Bruschi's lose to the hand of LT Jr.
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