The sun is just barely peeking through the windows when the
alarm goes off way too early at 7:30. Today is race day!
Yes, after not working out or running for weeks, getting dehydrated, drunk and walking all over New Orleans yesterday I’m running the New Orleans Komen 5K. Obviously, I’m well prepared and to make thing even better Sandy eats 2/3 of my breakfast bar by accident.
Pre-race breakfast turns out to be the remaining 1/3 of my Cliff bar, 1 nature valley bar and 1 cookie leftover from the plane. And to think I always take my training and race prep so seriously haha.
Since this is also the last time we're waking up in "the museum" I'll start off the day with a picture of my favorite painting in the bedroom.
Not to be deterred easily we drive over to New Orleans City Park
where the race will take place. Soon we find ourselves driving through streets with cars parked nose to tail next to no-parking allowed signs, as well as cars randomly parked in
grassy areas alongside the road.
The parking instructions we received from Komen are useless so we end up joining the masses by hopping the curb and parking on the grass somewhere off in one of the side streets.
It’s a bit of a hike to the start from here but I usually like to walk
before running anyway so that’s fine with me.
People in pink costumes are everywhere and it doesn’t take
long to realize that I’ve underestimated the scope of this race. There’s
literally thousands of people here and frankly it’s a bit of a mess. All of the
post-race stations are already giving things out so that by the time we get
there they’ve already run out of stuff that was clearly meant to be post-race snacks.
Game face
After collecting my bib, shirt and timing chip (all from different places of course) and a quick potty break I set out to find the pace groups … except it turns out there are no pace markers! So there’s no way to know where to position yourself for the start and it ends up being a bit of a free for all with competitive runners, weekend warriors and walkers wedged in together. I position myself close to the front but still end up having to run the first part of the race jumping on the grassy sidewalks and running over train tracks and gravel for a while trying to dodge people slowing down after the initial rush. Frustrating and murder on my ankle that was already sore after twisting it the last night I worked, but adrenaline is a wonderful thing and soon I can barely feel it.
Parade of pink especially amongst the walkers
Parade of pink especially amongst the walkers
It’s a nice, flat course winding along the picturesque
Bayou St. John. I’m trying to gauge my pace, but I never see a marker for the 1st
mile and a while after passing the 2nd mile marker the girls at the
water station are yelling “only 1 mile to go.” Huh?
Sandy has positioned herself close to the finish line so
here’s me (neon orange) struggling to make the final yards.
See that girl in the purple sweater? I beat her! :-P Good thing I’m not
competitive haha.
We grab some goodies; a strawberry milk (that I don’t even like
it normally but it tastes surprisingly good today!), a coke, some fritos chips and a rice bowl
then head back to the car … I don’t want to be around when all those other
people get done or we'll get stuck in traffic.
I’m still looking for a typical New Orleans Mardi Gras mask for
the game room, but when we try to drive back
to the French Quarter the GPS keeps steering us onto blocked
roads. After some time spent aimlessly circling around the park we once again find ourselves back where we came from so we admit defeat and and program the GPS for Natchez.
We have a couple of stops planned along the way; first up,
Laura plantation, a beautiful restored Creole plantation in Vacherie. The tour
comes highly recommended for its wealth of information and for not leaving out
the history of slavery.
Our guide Amethyst is excellent, very enthusiastic and
knowledge about the plantation’s history and people. First we stand in the shade
of the oak trees and admire the front of the house while she gives us an
outline of the story.
We admire the gardens then climb the stairs to a porch so
gorgeous you can’t dream it up.
The is house split into male and female quarters and as we tour
the different rooms we learn more about their occupants and their fortunes. Interestingly enough there are no designated business quarters, which means the women of the house conducted their business meetings in their bedrooms!
The formal dining room is one of my favorites.
There are old slave quarters all over the property.
Mold used in sugarcane processing:
I even find an old western saddle perched on a rail!
After the tour is over I pose for a quick picture near the gift shop:
Kitty is too tired to be bothered:
Oak Alley is considered one of the most – if not the
most – visually appealing of the plantations along the Mississippi. As the name suggested the
driveway to the main entrance is lined with stately oaks. I’d read that you can
get a decent picture by pulling over and walking to the front gate, but when we
turn the corner a cop is guarding the shoulder of the road. Crap! At first I
think they must’ve gotten tired of people doing just that, but as we search for
a place to pull over we notice the place is littered with signs for event parking and
the field next to the plantation is filled with tents and cars.
Suddenly we’re at the entrance road with a string of cars behind
us and we have to make a split second decision; in we go! We’re a bit nervous
that we’ll find ourselves escorted back out but no one bats an eye as they wave us into the next available parking slot. After we park the car I
quickly Google the plantation’s website and learn that this weekend is their 7th
Annual Fall Arts & Crafts festival. Tickets are only 5 bucks and allow us entry
to the grounds. What a steal!
We do a quick run through the various stands, but there’s
nothing that holds our interest. Now the house, that’s a different story! An
imposing manor that conjures up visions of Gone with the Winds stands before us
and to make things even better there are several docents dressed in period
clothing standing near the front entrance.
The centuries old oaks are gnarly old things, their canopies
overlapping across the driveway and frequently needing man-made supports for
their heavy limbs.
We walk all the way to the road then take several pictures
on our way back. -- I'll save you having to scroll down through the lot and share my favorite
 |
| Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut, that held its ground ~ David Icke |
Picture of Sandy with one of the ancient beasts – can you tell
how wide the trunk is?!
We’re almost back at the house when someone notices a little
raccoon in one of the trees. Is it rabid? Possibly. Is it adorable?
Definitely! And so, while maintaining a safe distance I stalk the little
bugger for a while with the telephoto lens.
 |
| How can you not love this face?! |
The house from a different angle
Time is creeping up on us again and it’s already 2 o’clock.
Except for our crappy breakfast and post-Komen snacks we haven’t had anything to eat. Luckily there are
several stands selling a variety of local specialties as well as the standard junk. Sandy devours her
chicken with beans and gravy, while my cheeseburger and fries are surprisingly tasty as well.
 |
| Boring, right? It's like super tall grass. |
We continue our way along scenic Route 18, passing
more plantations along the way but none of them are as impressive as the two we've seen earlier.
Sandy drives while I type out our adventures from yesterday
and by the time I’ve started writing about today we’ve arrived in Natchez. The
sun is setting fast … will we make it to the river in time?
Our hotel appears down the road and we make a quick stop to
ask for directions, rather than try to find a good place to watch the sunset on
our own. Armed with a map and directions from the front desk we get back on the
road. A short time later we arrive at the Visitors Center, but it’s right near
the bridge and I think that the view will be better if we drive into town.
Oops, didn’t stop to think that there would be so much
traffic because of their annual balloon festival and we’re crawling through the
streets as the sun races across the sky. To make it even worse the parking lots
are overflowing with festival goers and the town is a confusing puzzle of
one-way streets, but a spot opens up just as we’re driving past a restaurant.
Hmm patrons only – oh well, desperate times …
 |
| Gazebo at the bluff |
Our timing is spot on and we reach the bluff just when it’s
starting to get good – or really, as good as a cloudless sunset gets. So cute
with the bridge and the river casino! (ignore the solar flare)
View in the other direction isn’t bad either.
A
s soon as the sun sets we hurry back to the car – that
luckily hasn’t been towed, yay! – and consult Tripadvisor for a place to eat. Lots of
good options to choose from, quite surprising for a town of this size. In the
end we pick a place called Biscuits & Blues; a supposed fine dining
experience inside a bar. Better yet, it’s only a short distance from where
we’re at but because of the many one way streets and the lack of parking it takes us
several loops and figure-eights before we are able to park.
It seems that we're not the only ones who wanted to go for dinner after watching the sun set and there’s quite a few people
waiting outside. The owner doesn't believe in taking names and instead keeps it all organized "in his head" (uh oh, indeed). Fortunately for us some of the other people tire of waiting and jump at the chance to be seated at the bar, which leaves us next in line to be seated ... of course, after we remind the owner that it's just the two of us and we're not a party of three with some random that stands next to us.
A local singer called
Maggie is performing tonight and she is pretty dang good!
We start with complimentary biscuits with mango(?) butter that are oh so amazing!!! Our rotisserie chicken entrees are tasty too, although not something I would describe as fine dining.
Maggie has a great song selection, singing many of my
country favorites and not once do I feel like the original is so much better as
is often the case with live music. Different yes, but very enjoyable.
I was going to share a live recording with you, but my phone really butchered the sound so instead I will share the link to her website where you can listen to some of her original songs:
The shower at the Days Inn is possessed and my towel is
strangely spotted, but it otherwise it’s decent and with the balloon festival
in town we literally had no other options; every single hotel, B&B and
campground I found while I was researching this trip was fully booked and this
one only had a single room left! So if you plan to visit Natchez during the
festival plan ahead -- way ahead.
Tomorrow we’re going to try to catch the start of the
morning balloon race!
Lunch: Oak Alley Annual Fall Arts & Crafts show
Dinner: Biscuits & Blues
Hotel: Days Inn Natchez
Total for today: ~ 180 mi
Dinner: Biscuits & Blues
Hotel: Days Inn Natchez
Total for today: ~ 180 mi
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