I spent the last few days, since I left Nashville, in Lousianna and in Arkansas. I began with a four day sojourn in New Orleans. The city was so interesting. One of the things that was kind of difficult was that I could really only explore the French Quarter. Everyone warned me about leaving that area, so I really feel like I didn't actually see much of the city. The Quarter was really beautiful because of the architecture and such, but I think because it was so cold (it got down to 19' the last night I was there) there weren't too many street musicians and there really weren't a ton of people really even wandering the streets. I didn't realize that the city didn't wake up until around three in the afternoon, so the first day, I pretty much had the streets to myself in the morning when I arrived in the Quarter at 10 am.
This allowed for lots of good picture taking opportunities without people in them. It also provided a slight sense of unease as I walked the streets. But it really seemed like being in a different country with all the unique architecture and for the life of me, I couldn't possibly understand some of the locals. So the first day I really walked around. I picked up some Beignets at Cafe Dumond and I had myself some Gumbo. I caught some live music in a bar on Bourbon Street and also had the requisite Pat O'brien hurricane which, really good, was definitely way too strong to exist on Bourbon Street and in the touristy area known as the French Quarter. It's amazing anyone makes it out of there alive.
As I was wandering the streets, I headed to a cemetary just across the street from the French Quarter. It was really cool, but unfortunatley I did not get to hear any of the bands marching through, but fortunately, that means no one was buried there that day and subsequently no one died. Anyways, it was really interesting to see the above ground burials, also known as crypts. With all the nooks and crannies in these cemetaries, it's no wonder that ghost stories were ever created. That is the last place I would want to be on Halloween night.
The next day I slept in later and got up more slowly in hopes that I would catch the city more active. I got to see more music this night, but most of the street music (which was very little) that I saw was more folky or bluegrassy. There was one really wonderful clarinet player which I enjoyed and sat in the sun for a while to listen to. Finally I mosied to the house of blues for a quick Guinness and some Oysters (not my favorite, I can officially say I'm not an Oyster person). I also missed the blues music, one of my favorite genres as wednesday is hip-hop night at the house of blues. On my way home, I did find some live jazz and some really enjoyable company at Cafe Beignet where I hunk out with a freezing cold staff and ordered myself a crawfish omelet, which was really really good, especially topped off with some more beignets. I headed back to the hotel early and prepared for the drive through the bayou the next day.
The below picture is of a bar on Bourbon Street. Their advertising tactics were really quite interesting to me, and made me laugh. Fortunately for me I really didn't want a huge ass beer, and fortunately for them, I don't think I am their target audience.
The next day I took a what was supposed to be a scenic drive through the Bayou. Unfortunately I didn't really see much of the Bayou or any of the old plantation houses. Rather, it was really industrial. Fortunately I did get to see northern Lousianna a bit and I also got to see the forested areas of Arkansas. Last night I stayed in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which I include only because I find the name so comical.
I arrived today in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which is home to one of the oldest national parks in the nation. The town is the boyhood home of Bill Clinton, but it was really cool once I got into the historic district, the area with all the bathhouses. There were two scenic drives in the park, one going across hot spring mountain and another on west mountain, two of the mountains framing the town. There are 47 different springs coming out of the ground in this town that fuel the remaining bathhouses in the area.
Unlike Oregon or the Pacific Northwest, these hot springs were really capitalized for their healing properties. Bathhouses were built, but with private bath tubs and other individual healing chambers. There were bathing pools or public bathing areas so much. Men and women were separated in the bathhouse and people didn't really just go for the sake of soaking. The main motivator to go was because a physician recommended it as treatment, and the amount of time they were to bathe was even prescribed by the doctors. The picture below is of the fountain and stained glass ceiling panel found in the men's waiting area. The women's area was not so elaborate. In fact, they really didn't even have a waiting area.
The below picture is of the bathhouse which houses the visitor center and is fully restored to show the bathhouse as it would have been during peak treatment years before the mid-1940's. It was really cool and definitely not what I expected. Arkansas was also really beautiful and very forested. I enjoyed my scenic drive through it. I didn't get to bathe in any of the pools as there are only two bathhouses still operational on the row, but they charged about $25 to simply soak in the pools. It was really cool though. I enjoyed the south, but I'm getting antsy for christmas and to be in the West again, in spite of how much I have loved my journey thus far.
I spent the last few days, since I left Nashville, in Lousianna and in Arkansas. I began with a four day sojourn in New Orleans. The city was so interesting. One of the things that was kind of difficult was that I could really only explore the French Quarter. Everyone warned me about leaving that area, so I really feel like I didn't actually see much of the city. The Quarter was really beautiful because of the architecture and such, but I think because it was so cold (it got down to 19' the last night I was there) there weren't too many street musicians and there really weren't a ton of people really even wandering the streets. I didn't realize that the city didn't wake up until around three in the afternoon, so the first day, I pretty much had the streets to myself in the morning when I arrived in the Quarter at 10 am.
This allowed for lots of good picture taking opportunities without people in them. It also provided a slight sense of unease as I walked the streets. But it really seemed like being in a different country with all the unique architecture and for the life of me, I couldn't possibly understand some of the locals. So the first day I really walked around. I picked up some Beignets at Cafe Dumond and I had myself some Gumbo. I caught some live music in a bar on Bourbon Street and also had the requisite Pat O'brien hurricane which, really good, was definitely way too strong to exist on Bourbon Street and in the touristy area known as the French Quarter. It's amazing anyone makes it out of there alive.
As I was wandering the streets, I headed to a cemetary just across the street from the French Quarter. It was really cool, but unfortunatley I did not get to hear any of the bands marching through, but fortunately, that means no one was buried there that day and subsequently no one died. Anyways, it was really interesting to see the above ground burials, also known as crypts. With all the nooks and crannies in these cemetaries, it's no wonder that ghost stories were ever created. That is the last place I would want to be on Halloween night.
The next day I slept in later and got up more slowly in hopes that I would catch the city more active. I got to see more music this night, but most of the street music (which was very little) that I saw was more folky or bluegrassy. There was one really wonderful clarinet player which I enjoyed and sat in the sun for a while to listen to. Finally I mosied to the house of blues for a quick Guinness and some Oysters (not my favorite, I can officially say I'm not an Oyster person). I also missed the blues music, one of my favorite genres as wednesday is hip-hop night at the house of blues. On my way home, I did find some live jazz and some really enjoyable company at Cafe Beignet where I hunk out with a freezing cold staff and ordered myself a crawfish omelet, which was really really good, especially topped off with some more beignets. I headed back to the hotel early and prepared for the drive through the bayou the next day.
The below picture is of a bar on Bourbon Street. Their advertising tactics were really quite interesting to me, and made me laugh. Fortunately for me I really didn't want a huge ass beer, and fortunately for them, I don't think I am their target audience.
The next day I took a what was supposed to be a scenic drive through the Bayou. Unfortunately I didn't really see much of the Bayou or any of the old plantation houses. Rather, it was really industrial. Fortunately I did get to see northern Lousianna a bit and I also got to see the forested areas of Arkansas. Last night I stayed in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, which I include only because I find the name so comical. 
I arrived today in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which is home to one of the oldest national parks in the nation. The town is the boyhood home of Bill Clinton, but it was really cool once I got into the historic district, the area with all the bathhouses. There were two scenic drives in the park, one going across hot spring mountain and another on west mountain, two of the mountains framing the town. There are 47 different springs coming out of the ground in this town that fuel the remaining bathhouses in the area. 
Unlike Oregon or the Pacific Northwest, these hot springs were really capitalized for their healing properties. Bathhouses were built, but with private bath tubs and other individual healing chambers. There were bathing pools or public bathing areas so much. Men and women were separated in the bathhouse and people didn't really just go for the sake of soaking. The main motivator to go was because a physician recommended it as treatment, and the amount of time they were to bathe was even prescribed by the doctors. The picture below is of the fountain and stained glass ceiling panel found in the men's waiting area. The women's area was not so elaborate. In fact, they really didn't even have a waiting area.
The below picture is of the bathhouse which houses the visitor center and is fully restored to show the bathhouse as it would have been during peak treatment years before the mid-1940's. It was really cool and definitely not what I expected. Arkansas was also really beautiful and very forested. I enjoyed my scenic drive through it. I didn't get to bathe in any of the pools as there are only two bathhouses still operational on the row, but they charged about $25 to simply soak in the pools. It was really cool though. I enjoyed the south, but I'm getting antsy for christmas and to be in the West again, in spite of how much I have loved my journey thus far. 
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