Episode 24: April 2007
Highlights of the month include:
• Easter weekend in New Orleans;
• Long weekend in Fort Lauderdale and Miami;
• Adventures in the Midland area.
On the first of the month, we welcomed the sunshine to Michigan with our first outing at a golf driving range in Saginaw where we hit a few golf balls, followed by a relaxed lunch at a nearby restaurant. I have decided to follow my husband’s lead and take up golf as my summer sport. The hit at the driving range was fun, and with a bit of practice, I could end up being more graceful!
The following day, Neal headed off to much colder temperatures in Calgary, Canada. He went to Calgary this time for a very short trip – only a couple of days – to attend a few business meetings. Neal said that the weather there was far from good: overcast and still very cold. Good thing it was a quick trip, I guess.
On the Tuesday of the same week, I headed off on my own business trip. Lucky for me, I headed south, toward warm weather, into Louisiana, a state I had never visited before. One of Dow’s four sites in the state is in a town called Plaquemine, located just outside of the larger town of Baton Rouge. Upon arriving, I was happy to be welcomed with temperatures in the mid-80’s (25 degrees Celsius), which was a lovely change from Michigan’s weather. I arrived at the plant, but did not stay for long. Within a few minutes, I turned back around, this time with two of my teammates in the car, to another of our Louisiana sites called St. Charles Operations, approximately one and a half hours from Plaquemine. The drive was very picturesque – beautiful shades of green, open roads, and sugar plantations as far as the eye could see. It was like nothing I have seen before. Local families were sitting on their front porches, children of all ages were casually crossing highways – it was like a scene out of “The Color Purple.” (They tell me that Mississippi, where “The Color Purple” was filmed, is very similar to southern Louisiana.) My teammates, keen to showcase the great food that Louisiana is famous for, took me to a local favorite called Deanies. The seafood was amazing! I learned that Louisiana is the only state where there are parishes instead of counties, as they are known throughout the rest of the U.S. (a.k.a. suburbs in Australia or cantons in Switzerland). Here’s another piece of useless trivia: it is the birth state of Britney Spears (there might be some readers who are impressed by that).
Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Neal arrived back from his meetings in Canada by mid-week. After a day of work in Midland, he returned to the airport to travel to New Orleans and spend Easter weekend there with me. After meeting Neal at the airport, we headed into town, dumped our luggage, and searched for a place for dinner. The Brennan family, noted for their monopoly on the local restaurant industry, did not disappoint with our first meal in N’Awlins (as locals say it with their fabulous Southern drawl). From there, we took a stroll along the famous Bourbon Street, which can be likened to Amsterdam (only not quite as clean). It is a fascinating cross section of society where good music, lots of booze, and strip clubs all converge. New Orleans is an “open container” city, which means that one can casually walk in the streets while drinking alcohol, so long as it is carried in a plastic cup. We stopped for a few hours to watch (and sing along to) the amazing dueling pianos at Pat O’Brian’s Piano Bar, home of the famous cocktail, the Hurricane, which was every bit as potent as we were warned.
On the first full day of our adventure, we strolled along the riverfront, taking in views of the Mississippi River and stopping for another famous bite of food (it is all about the food in New Orleans). This time we stopped at Café du Monde, the city’s oldest coffee shop and famous for its café au lait and beignets (fried dough topped with powder sugar). With our bellies full, we walked along Jackson Square and visited St. Louis Cathedral, both of which sit on the outer edge of the French Quarter. It was at the cathedral that we realized how spoiled we were by our travels in Europe. The oldest Catholic cathedral in the U.S., the St. Louis Cathedral was nice but it was nowhere as grand and gorgeous as a European cathedral.
Walking through the French Quarter, we took in the sights of some wonderful buildings, mostly residential now, and got to peek inside a few beautiful courtyards. We explored the antique stores, art galleries, and boutiques on the way to our next food adventure: a muffaletta sandwich at Central Grocery, the spot where it was created. It was well worth the wait in the queue!
To get a better explanation of the French Quarter and its history, we took a horse and carriage ride through the area. Of most interest to us were the homes of Francis Ford Cuppola and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The most impressive part of the city was the street entertainment, which was every bit as good as the entertainment we would pay for in the evenings. The city is blessed with some very talented musicians!
For a late afternoon snack, we stopped at another local food staple, the Acme Oyster Bar, for some chargrilled oysters and cold beer. The oysters were the biggest I have ever seen, and our shucker made us have one raw. I did not think I would like oysters, but these were wonderful tasting and incredibly fresh!
On day two, after a great breakfast, we went off on a swamp tour! It may sound hokey, but it was a fantastic way to see southern Louisiana’s cypress-studded wetlands and get up close and personal with the alligators that live there. Our tour guide was Captain Kyle. He took us on an air boat – basically a flat boat with a massive fan on the back, powered by a huge V8 engine. Captain Kyle stopped along the way to point out all the highlights – in his very hard to understand southern accent that sounded just like Bubba’s from “Forest Gump”! He found a nest of baby alligators that must have had about 20 or 30 alligators in it, ranging from 3/4 of a foot to 1.5 feet long (15 - 40cm). Then, he sprang into action, nearly falling out of the boat, and caught one of the babies to tell us all about its anatomy. Neal was brave enough to hold it, me not so much. Farther into the trip, we saw a cute little guy called a nutria – it looks much like a beaver or even a wombat – which is a native of the swamps and comes out when temperatures are mild.
Then, Captain Kyle took us to an area to see some big alligators, one of which was about seven feet long and curious enough to swim over to our boat. Dinner that evening was at another famous New Orleans hangout called the Commander’s Palace. It was fine dining at its best – the food was wonderful and the surroundings lived up to their palatial name.
Our last day in New Orleans was a relaxing one. We explored a bit more of the city, had a long lunch at Nola, a restaurant started by Emeril Lagasse, and headed to the airport for our trip home.
The southern hospitality we found in New Orleans was very welcoming. We were not sure how much of that friendliness we would see since the city is still picking up the pieces after the pounding it took from Hurricane Katrina two years ago. It was amazing just how many things were referenced as pre- or post-Katrina – clearly the hurricane was a defining moment for the city. To the naked eye, we could not tell what the hurricanes had done to the city, but we were told that business hours are still limited due to the lack of tourists and two-thirds of the population still has not moved back to the city.
After a week back in Midland, we headed off for our next weekend adventure, this time to sunny Florida. I had a conference to attend in Fort Lauderdale, and Neal met me at the tail end so that we could spend a few days there together. Fort Lauderdale is located along the east coast of Florida and is about 30 minutes from Miami. The city used to be known as a hotspot for college kids looking for sun and sand during their Spring Break vacations and is still a popular destination for beach-goers.
The first day we were there, Neal and I headed to the beach of course! We laid out under the sun, swam in the ocean a bit, and lounged by the pool. All in all, it was a tough day! On our second day, we walked thru downtown Fort Lauderdale and had a look at the shops. One of the places we found was especially interesting. It was a place called Joe Picasso’s. The shop is dedicated to do-it-yourself arts and crafts, specifically painting and mosaics. Customers can either paint their own ceramic figurine or they can make their own mosaic. To sweeten the deal, the shop also has a coffee bar so that customers can truly spend an entire afternoon there being creative.
We got totally sucked into this concept. In fact, we ended up spending the better part of a day at the store. We chose to make mosaics. We made one for ourselves – a large sunflower and a round stand to put it on – and a trivet and picture frame for our Mother’s Day gifts. The team at Joe Picasso’s got us all set up with mosaic pieces, glue, and instructions to get us started. After cutting and gluing down all our pieces, the staff would help us with making and then applying the grout to finish the piece. Great concept for a shop!
One of the days we were in the area, we managed drove to Miami to see what that city is all about. True to what people say, Miami certainly has a very superficial vibe to it. We headed toward the South Beach area, which is the hub of the surf, sand, and plastic surgery. It is also home to one of Miami’s art deco districts. We walked around the area, had some lunch, and even laid on the beach for a while. To be quite honest, we were not that impressed with Miami – it was much like any other big city and it felt a bit too touristy for us, especially coming from Fort Lauderdale where there seemed to be fewer tourists.
In the final weekend of the month, we chose to slow things down and stay in Midland to enjoy the beautiful weather that was finally beginning to emerge. The changing of the seasons has been a spectacular sight to see. We visited the theater once again, this time to see a local production of “The Wizard of Oz.” We also took advantage of the great weather by going for a long bike ride and enjoying a picnic in a local park. Neal has been taking advantage of the weather more than me, playing Ultimate Frisbee on Mondays and Thursdays, tennis on Tuesdays and golf league on Wednesdays. I guess I should get into the outdoor fitness, too, now that the weather is getting better. Let us see what I can manage next month!
