Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

I'm still working on my beer tasting project. Yes, this is the one I originally called my 2022 beer tasting project. I didn't think I'd be at it this long when I started. The 43 beers I've tasted spread across 40 blogs— 41 as of this entry— in addition to stretching 24 months across 3 years on the calendar. And this is the first time in 6 months I've posted on the topic.

Why so slow? Well, aside from being sick for several weeks and not really wanting to drink, I've gotten older. I'm not in my early 20s anymore. I remember my senior year in college I made an effort to try lots of beers. In just 9 months I think I'd tried about 43 beers at home. I remember that visually because I kept one bottle (empty and washed) from every variety I drank that year. I lined those bottles up on a shelf in my bedroom, sorted from left to right in order of preference. I looked at that shelf several times a day and generally added at least one bottle to it every week.

I can't do anything about not being 20 anymore, but at least now I'm over those darn colds— well, not over-over them, but feeling well enough to try a drink or two with dinner again. So, what's on the table this time? I decided to go "red" with red lager and a red ale, both newcomers to this competition.



Abita Amber Lager comes from Abita Brewing in Louisiana. I've had several of their varieties before, dating back years to shortly after they first distributed out of state. I've actually had their amber lager before. It was on tap at various restaurants in New Orleans when I visited last spring. I figured I'd give it a try again here in the bottle.

Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale is from a small, independent brewery in San Diego, California. I've been meaning to pick up a six pack of this one for years but never got around to it. There was always something else I was interested in more or was on sale. Similarly, I've wanted to visit their brewpub on my many trips to San Diego (10-20 years ago I was there at least once a month on business) but there was always something else to do instead. Finally the Red Trolley's time came.

Pouring them into glasses you can see there's a slight color difference. The amber lager looks... well, amber, while the red also is... red. 😂 The lager pours with more of a head. Neither of these make a difference to me, though I know some beer afficionados seem to put a lot of significance on them.

Tasting them alone, without food, the Abita drinks more easily than the Red Trolley. Abita Amber Lager has a rich flavor with an easy drinking character. That said, it's a touch too sweet. The Red Trolley has a rich, deep flavor, but it's almost buried under an overpowering strength. If Red Trolley were a wine I'd quip, "I can taste more wood than fruit." On the drinking-without-food test the Abita wins hands-down.

Tasting them with dinner I expected the Red Trolley Ale to fare better. Its strength could help it complement the food. Alas, Red Trolley was like a bull in a china shop. It strength is so overpowering I still couldn't find much flavor to it even with a light-to-medium meal of hot dogs. The Abita Amber worked well with this meal, losing none of its own flavor. It's still too sweet, so it's not the beer I'd pick given an adequately wide selection, but the Red Trolley seems like one of the last beers I'd want. It's just too overpowering. Maybe, like a red wine with very high tannins, it would go well with a big steak dinner, but for anything short of that: no, thanks.

New Orleans travelog #8
French Quarter - Monday, 23 Apr 2023, 4pm

Today we decided to visit a graveyard in New Orleans since the museums we wanted to visit were closed. [Ed.: This blog is delayed from almost 2 weeks ago.] After some discussion of alternatives we chose the St. Louis Cemetery #1 because it was the oldest— and also nearest. We could walk there from our hotel a block off Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.

What's there to do in a cemetery? Learn, actually. Here are Five Things:

1. Graves in New Orleans are all above ground

Throughout most times and places in Western cultures, most of dead are buried underground. Above ground crypts are only for the very wealthy few. In New Orleans the calculus is different, as if you dig a hole even 18 inches deep it fills with water.



Originally inhabitants of New Orleans, founded by the French in 1718, buried their dead in the levees on the banks of the Mississippi River. That failed as soon as there was a natural flood... all of a sudden the coffins of the dead were floating among the living! Then they tried drilling holes in coffins (to allow water in) and sinking them in the river... that didn't work so well, either. St. Louis Cemetery #1, the oldest in the New Orleans (but named St. Louis because that's the name of the cathedral), was founded in 1789 when the region was under Spanish rule.

2. It's HOT inside. A year and a day.

It gets hot inside these brick and stone tombs. It's often 130° (55° C), the tour guide told us. This slowly cremates the remains inside. How slowly? Well, not too slowly. City ordinance dating back centuries is that tomb can be reopened a year and a day after a body is interred— and then it can be reused.

3. High mortality rates

On many of the tombs in New Orleans you'll see several names in the space for one body— sometimes a dozen names. This reflects not just the law allowing reuse of tombs (see above) and the economics of allocating real estate for the dead, but also the high mortality rate of the times.

"Half of all children died before their 5th birthday," our guide asserted. I've been unable to find hard data supporting that— but it's not too far off from widely understood figures. From 1800 to 1870, the child mortality rate was 40%+ globally. That means almost half of all children born alive didn't survive 5 years. Could something(s) particular to New Orleans have led to a higher death rate locally? Sure. The city was rife with poverty, and squalor, and... Yellow Fever.

4. HALF the city died?!

Yellow Fever was a scourge of New Orleans throughout the entire 1800s. It was only tracked officially starting in 1800, and its cause (mosquitos and poor sanitation) wasn't identified until 1900. Epidemics occurred almost annually after 1825. The worst outbreak was in 1853. "In that year alone the city lost half its population!" our guide asserted.

Half the residents died? That's a shocking statement. Again I did some research to check the numbers. Long story short: Various sources indicate the death rate from Yellow Fever topped out at around 5-7% per year. But that's still a lot of people when you think about it. Perhaps what the guide meant was in a 10 year period half of all city residents died. The numbers definitely support that! 💀

5. Racial history. Homer's defiance.

New Orleans had a history of racial integration. Founded as a French colony in 1718, its culture was more welcoming of Black and mixed-raced people than it would become after US statehood (as part of Louisiana) in 1812. During the French period it had a significant population of free people of color. And these non-white people were not just relegated to servant status a la the Jim Crow era that followed the Civil War; they were artisans, business owners, and educated. Even when the Spanish Crown tried tightening racial laws during the brief period of Spanish control in the late 1700s, locals developed ways around it to continue blending multi-racial families.

US statehood in 1812 brought a host of legal changes. All of a sudden the laws controlling Black and mixed-race people were very strict, and they were strictly enforced. Culture, though, tends not to change as quickly. Many of the French- and Spanish-speaking residents of the area— who were actually the majority for a long time— continued with their more "live and let live" ways. Or at least they tried.

There's an interesting bit of American history rooted here. Among the dead buried in this cemetery is a local fellow named Homer. Homer Plessy. A name that all US students learn in history class— or used to learn, before "anti-woke" hysteria became a thing.

In 1892 a group of prominent citizens, including Black, White, and mixed race people, wanted to challenge racial segregation laws. One of its members, Homer Plessy, bought  a train ticket and sat in the whites-only train car. Plessy was born a free man and was only one-eighth Black— but by US law that meant he was Black, and under Louisiana law that meant segregation. He was arrested.

Plessy's punishment may have been as short as a single night in jail (our guide's claim; I've been unable to verify with brief research) but the point wasn't to go to jail or not. The point was to challenge the law. Plessy appealed all the way up to the US Supreme Court. In 1896 the Supremes decided, in the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision, to uphold segregation with the doctrine of Separate But Equal. That doctrine became the legal underpinning for the Jim Crow south. It was the law of the land for at least 58 years, until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and other cases in the years following, picked it apart.

Phoenix late April travelog #8
Back home - Sunday, 30 Apr 2023, 9pm

This evening we got home from Phoenix, completing our 10 day trip to New Orleans, parts of Mississippi, and Phoenix. We walked through our own front door just before 8pm.

The trip home from Phoenix was mostly uneventful. "Mostly" because we did leave 20 minutes late. Good ol' Southwest Airlines!



Once we got home we hopped in our own car barely 10 minutes later to go out and get some dinner. We didn't feel like cooking, and I didn't feel like having another protein bar. I've been eating those bars for breakfast for pretty much a week and \a half now. First we tried our favorite pizza/sub shop. It was closed. Apparently they close on Sundays now. So we gave up and ate fast food instead.

Now we're in for the night. We've mostly unpacked our bags, and I've taken a shower. It feels good to be home.

We won't be here for long, though. Monday afternoon we're headed up to Seattle on a 24-hour bender. We'll be home for as little as 19 hours between these trips!

Mississippi Travelog #1 / New Orleans travelog #10
Pinckneyville, MS - Tuesday, 25 Apr 2023, 12pm

This morning we left New Orleans. We slept in a bit after both of us had rough nights, packed our bags after breakfast and showers, walked over to the car rental depot on Canal Street at 9:30, and hit the road a bit past 10am. Our destination: Mississippi.



"Why Mississippi?" a lot of my friends have asked. The state doesn't have a great reputation for things to do... or civil rights... or even democratic process anymore. Well, Mississippi is on my bucket list. One of my bucket lists, that is. I want to visit all the states in the US. I've been to 48 + Washington, DC so far. Having crossed this line today I'm down to only Alaska as the one state I haven't visited.

We're doing more than just tapping a foot and leaving. In other words, we did find stuff to do in Mississippi. We're going hiking at some waterfalls this afternoon, then at a canyon tomorrow. In between we'll stay overnight in Columbia. Part of my goal with this bucket list is to visit each state on more than a technicality. I aim to genuinely spend time and see & do stuff in each state.

And as far as those other concerns.... As a mixed-race family we have discussed risk mitigation for this trip. 😓

New Orleans travelog #7
French Quarter - Monday, 23 Apr 2023, 3pm

We've been doing a bit of sightseeing each day in New Orleans. Yesterday we met with a local friend for another self-guided tour around the French Quarter and Faubourg-Marigny. Today we discussed options for sightseeing before we walked out to lunch at Café Beignet. We intended to visit a couple of Louisiana museums in the 'Quarter... but when we arrived there after lunch we found them closed for the day. Unfortunately that wasn't made clear on their websites. Thus we fell back to our #2 pick for the day, cemetery cruising.

Visiting New Orleans' cemeteries is a big thing for some visitors. I'm kind of like, "Enh." One, there's dead people everywhere; how's this different? And two, stuff about spirits and voodoo and other hokum is... well, all hokum. So it doesn't seem terribly interesting to me. But the museums are closed, so cemetery cruising it is!

Next was the question of which cemetery. Nearby was St. Louis Cemetery #1, the oldest in New Orleans... but it's accessible only by tour guide with a cost of $25 per person. Thanks, Catholic Church[1]. 🙄 There's another that's free, but it's a few miles away. We checked the cost of Ubering over there and found it'd cost as much as one entry ticket just to go back and forth. So we decided to pay the Catholic Diocese its dues and walk there, 4-5 blocks from our hotel.

Details and pictures coming soon.

_____

[1] I roll my eyes at the Catholic Church charging admission for even simple things like seeing the inside of a historic church because as I have visited many cities in numerous countries I've found it the only religion that routinely charges for entry. Yes, other religions ask that you be respectful— of course— but they don't charge for entry. They're happy for visitors to learn about their faith.

New Orleans travelog #4
French Quarter - Saturday, 22 Apr 2023, 1pm

As I noted in my previous blog, I'm trying to stay up to date with blogging about this trip but also being cautious not to let picture processing hold things up. Thus I'm combining some photos from dinner last night with lunch/brunch today.



Last night we dined at Oceana. It's a restaurant all the staff at our hotel recommended. Right away that made me suspicious.... I've traveled in places where touts and shills are a problem. When everyone on staff is recommending the same place it sure sounds like they're being paid to endorse it. Buuut after we walked around the 'Quarter for a while we decided this restaurant looked at least as good as anything else in the price range. It was also one of few restaurants with a line for tables. That suggests t's good... or has paid for lots of shills.



The food at Oceana turned out pretty good. I had a blackened redfish with delicious crawfish etouffe on top and sides of jambalaya and New Orleans style corn. I washed it down with two New Orleans beers: Abita Amber Lager and Faubourg blonde ale. And a dish of bread pudding for dessert.

As I ate I was especially amused by the mural on one of the wall near us (above).

"In America there is New York, San Francisco & New Orleans.
Everywhere else is Cleveland."

Having visited most of the US I'd say that's close to true.

For lunch today we went back out into the 'Quarter with no specific plan in mind. Well, actually, we had a number of plans for things we'd like to visit, but a specific lunch/brunch spot was not one of them. After visiting a few antique and jewelry stores on Royal Street we found Court of the Two Sisters.



The Court is something I vaguely recall hearing good things about when I was in Nola years ago. I feel like I was here drinking one evening with friends in the courtyard and was told to come back for their awesome brunch. Well, more than 20 years later, here I am. It's good New Orleans doesn't change that fast.



The Court serves a buffet brunch. Buffets aren't generally our thing anymore but this one had items listed on the menu that appealed to each of us: omelets for Hawk, and prime rib for me. Plus plenty of other stuff to make it interesting. And the pricing was not outrageous.

Again the food was delicious. I filled myself on a few slice of prime rib with plentiful sides of steamed shrimp, jambalaya, grits and veal grillades, garlic mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach. Oh, and small slices of red velvet cake and pecan pie for desert. Yeah, that's probably going to be my main meal for today.

New Orleans travelog #2
French Quarter - Friday, 21 Apr 2023, 11:50pm

We landed in New Orleans around 4:30 today. Our flights from San Jose connecting in Dallas were thankfully uneventful... though not exactly on time. Remember I quipped that one benefit of leaving early in the morning is Southwest hasn't had time to fall behind yet? Well, the obvious corollary of that is when taking an afternoon flight....



Yeah, it was delayed. By about 30 minutes. But it could have been worse. The flight that was headed to New Orleans 90 minutes before us left about the same time we did. 😝

Getting to the hotel turned out to be a mess. Everyone at the airport wanted a ride from Uber and Lyft. I spent at least 20 minutes trying to hail a ride and having my request canceled after timing out. When we did finally get matched to a driver it was almost twice as expensive as the first offer.

Well, again, the benefit of leaving early is that we got in in time for dinner. Even with 45-60 minutes of delays we still got in in time for dinner.

The folks at the hotel gave us a few recommendations for dinner. We decided to walk up and down Bourbon Street and neighboring streets and check things out ourselves. We ended up eating at their recommendation. 🤣

After dinner we went to a jazz bar and sat and listened to a few sets from a local band. They weren't really jazz, but their lead was really talented. The man could play sax, sing, tell a story, and dance... pretty much all at the same time.

After that we basically headed back to the hotel. The trek back along Bourbon Street just wasn't that interesting. Maybe it's just the getting-older codger in me, but I found it too loud. And full of fat, drunk people. And reeking of pot smoke. ...Okay, 24 year old me wasn't a fan of those things, either. Bourbon Street is not what it used to be.

Earlier today I wrote about canceling one beach trip in favor of another. It seems an easy call, right? Two trips now on the books, they seem redundant, so let's keep the better one and take back the time and money from the other. Unfortunately it's not as simple as that.

The difficulty is that I'm struggling to justify the whole rest of the trip beginning Friday now that Florida has been canceled. New Orleans, Mississippi, and Florida were like three legs of a tripod. Take one away, and the others don't stand well.

What do I care about in New Orleans? I'm not sure anymore. Carousing on Bourbon Street was amazing when I was in my 20s. Now, it's like, why do I need to pay exorbitant prices to drink overly sugared cheap booze on the street while party-goers throwing up in the gutters? I've got far better booze at home, far cheaper, and the only person I have to worry about throwing up on my own shoes is me. 🤣

What do I care about Mississippi? On an absolute scale, not much. It's a culturally backwards, politically authoritarian shit-hole. But it's also on my bucket list to visit all the states in the US. Mississippi is one of the last two.

We seriously considered pulling the plug on the whole trip. N.O. I wouldn't miss. Mississippi I'd be miffed about missing because of the bucket list thing. And frankly I'd be miffed about not traveling because then I wouldn't be taking time off. Remember, I'm on an "unlimited" time off policy at work now. There's no saving vacation days for later. They're effectively use-it-or-lose-it every few months.

We've considered going somewhere else instead on this trip. It's a great idea, but the problem is it's hard to book at reasonable prices only a week out. We explored a few ideas last night and decided it's not worth it. We've got one more idea we'll look at today. But most likely we'll just do 60% of our trip starting next week and I'll feel frustrated about the parts that are broken.