Hello Everyone!
It’s been another week of wet weather here in California. Thankfully it hasn’t been steady rain, but more on and off and I’ve been able to get out and see some things and even take a few photos. I enjoyed a fun St. Patrick’s Day in Santa Barbara and caught up with an old friend yesterday here in Oxnard. I have definitely moved strongly into Southern California this week and I’ve been having a great time. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the laid-back vibes and relaxed atmosphere of SoCal. I’m also looking forward to heading out to the island of Santa Cruz in Channel Islands National Park tomorrow if the weather allows me, so I’m going to get this post out a day early this week.
I wrote this post last week from the small but mighty town of Pismo Beach. Once I was finished putting it together, I headed out to check out the town and really fell in love with it. Pismo Beach is a quintessential California beach town full of neon and surfboards. If you grew up listening to the Beach Boys and are looking for that kind of vibe, Pismo definitely has it. I really enjoyed just wandering around and taking photos and soaking up some much needed rays. I stayed in town long enough to watch the sun set and then headed just down the road to Santa Maria.
I was very excited to have a taste of Santa Maria-style barbecue, but was also somewhat reserved in my expectations. I’ve experienced so many culinary treats around the country that I’ve learned to enjoy them in their place and then hold them in my memory until I return. Barbecue is most definitely a southern thing, and I don’t usually go for it west of Texas or north of the Mason-Dixon Line. However, since Santa Maria claims their own unique style I had to try it. I chose Shaw’s, because they’ve been around for a long time and because they had tri-tip on their menu and tri-tip (sometimes called a “California cut”) is also unique to Southern California. Tri-tip is also called “poor man’s brisket”, so I thought it would be great to try it smoked low and slow. What I didn’t look at closely enough is that Santa Maria Style is a way of barbecuing, the verb, not barbecue, the noun. It’s simply their way of seasoning and grilling meat and has nothing to do with the slow-smoked deliciousness of our southeastern region. Because of that, tri-tip was not a good choice because, while flavorful, it’s also super tough. I should’ve gone with a ribeye or a strip. My steak had good flavor and I could taste where it was going, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. It did come with a delicious soup, amazing homemade salsa, a relish tray, garlic bread and baked beans making for quite a feast, but my tri-tip was a disappointment. I will return to Santa Maria again with a different idea of what to look for though as I think it definitely has potential. The people of Santa Maria were kind and welcoming though and that would be reason enough to return.
On Thursday I continued south to La Purisma Mission, another of the 21 historic Spanish missions in California. This one had fallen into serious disrepair when it was taken over by California State Parks and was reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The CCC rebuilt it to capture the historic context of the mission during its heyday so it is a fascinating place to visit and get a feel for what the missions were really like…
I love a good carnival, but all of the fairs and festivals in my life have been compared to the Wisconsin State Fair, the fair of my childhood. My dad is from Milwaukee and every year when I was a kid he would take my brother and I home to see our grandparents and every year he would make sure we went when the State Fair was in full swing. I was very happy to find that over 30 years later it was pretty much still how I remembered it. I used to say “one of these days I’ll make it back to the Wisconsin State Fair”, and finally “one of those days” was realized. I had a great time and hope you enjoy these just-for-fun photos of the Wisconsin State Fair.
Give me an out-of-the-way place with history, visual appeal and live music and I’m a happy man. Throw in good company and great food and I could be there for awhile. Such was the case on my recent visit to historic Taylor Grocery in tiny Taylor, Mississippi, which is only about 20 minutes from The Square in downtown Oxford, but feels a world away.
During my stay in Oxford, I spent time with several different friends from several very different tperiods in my life, and every single one of them told me I had to visit Taylor Grocery before I left. My friend Luke Fisher happened to be playing a show there the Saturday night I was in town, so that pretty much sealed the deal on my visit. And so it was that I set out down the Old Taylor Road to see what all the fuss was about.
Hello everyone, and thank you for stopping by. The flowers are coming in nicely here in East Louisana, but the weather has cooled off significantly as well. I’ve been enjoying the little cold snap though, and sleeping really well cozy-ed up in the back of my van. I had an interesting stop in Alexandria this week, a town which has definitely seen better days, but which isn’t dead yet. From there I headed back into Cajun Country for the weekend, enjoying great food, drink, music and company. I stopped off in Lafayette to get some work done and have cruised across the north of the eastern panhandle to the North Shore where I am writing to you from today. It’s been a fun week as I start to make my preparations for my departure from Louisiana. It’s always sad to go, but it’s almost time I moved on. HERE is the link to this week’s map if you like to follow along as I go.
When I left you last week, I made my way south along the Mississippi River levee, and found the river is really high. It was definitely higher than the road in a lot of places, and while the levee was doing what it was built to do, it’s still a little bit nerve racking to be driving below the water line. I stopped in a few places to just look out at the river as it flowed past. I made the turn northwest when I hit Louisiana Route 1 and headed on to Mansura for a stop at Juneau’s Cajun Meat Market. This is a spot recommended by a friend as having the best boudin (Cajun pork and rice sausage) in Louisiana, so I had to stop in and give it a go. This was a real butcher shop with all kinds of beautiful fresh meat on display - if I had a proper refrigerator I would have probably spent a fortune there. Unfortunately, I don’t, so I settled for some boudin, a fried boudin ball, and a boudin and pepperjack cheese wrap. All three were amazing and while they didn’t help my cholesterol, they were well worth the stop.
Eunice, Louisiana. The day was cold and grey which wasn’t great weather for a festival, but turned out to be perfect etouffee weather. For those who have never had it (or heard of it), etouffee is a type of stew or maybe a serious gravy served over rice in Louisiana. It is one of those dishes which can vary greatly from one pot to the next, depending on the whims and style of the cook. It was great to be able to try so many different varieties of etouffee at the cook-off. Over 40 teams competed in this year’s world championship, coming from near and far to test their recipe against the very best. In addition to etouffee, there were, of course, boiled crawfish, and a variety of delicious sweets to choose from too. Live Cajun music came from the stage and people danced and drank and ate their fill. The locals from Eunice were all very welcoming to those of us from out of town which added to the community feel of the event. In my opinion, it was the local fire brigade which served up the best bowl of etouffee, but to be fair I could only eat about six different samples before throwing in the towel. Although it was a chilly, windy day in Cajun Country, I left feeling warm and satisfied - both in my belly and in my soul. I hope you enjoy these photos from the World Championship Crawfish Etouffee Cook-Off in Eunice, Louisiana.
This past weekend I really enjoyed attending the Battle of the Gumbo Gladiators cook-off while I was in Shreveport. The festival, which was held downtown at Festival Plaza, featured over 40 teams vying for the title of Ultimate Gumbo Gladiator. Each team had to prepare at least 8 gallons of gumbo on-site and they were required to make their roux from scratch. There were four categories to compete in: Seafood, Chicken and Sausage, Lagniappe (any gumbo not falling into the other two categories), and the People’s Choice gumbo which received the most votes from the attendees. This event was really fun and well organized and I certainly got my fill of great gumbo while I was there. I was sorry I only got to try about 20% of the different gumbos, but there is only so much you can eat. This event went to benefit the Volunteers for Youth Justice which helps young people in crisis. It’s always a real pleasure to attend these local events as I travel, and this was a particularly good one. Thank you, Shreveport, for your hospitality and for some amazing gumbo. I hope you enjoy these photos of the Gumbo Gladiators…
Happy Spring from Natchitoches, Louisiana. I’m writing this on the 20th, so it is officially spring, and it feels like it here in the South. Flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and with the longer days, it is a great time to be outside. I’ve been trying to make some headway this week, traveling to the far southwest of Louisiana and then up the west side of the state. It’s been a great week of beaches, plantations and really cool small towns. I’ve had some great Creole food and met some wonderful people. It has been another amazing week on the road in America.
After I wrote last week’s post, I had a quiet night in New Iberia, but ventured downtown in the morning to see what I could see. I was really glad I did. The downtown area is in the midst of a comeback with many of the storefronts occupied and it had a great vibe to it. It’s a cute little area, and I hope they keep working on bringing it back. I started my day with a visit to the wonderful Bayou Teche Museum right in the heart of downtown. The museum focused on the bayou which runs through the middle of New Iberia and connects points further north to the Atchfalaya River. It was a major thoroughfare in early Louisiana and was the impetus for the settlement of the area. At this point, I’ve been in a lot of small town museums, and this one was particularly well done. There were enough artifacts to be thorough but not cluttered, and enough interactivity to keep from being boring. I really enjoyed learning more about the rural jazz of the region and the ride down the “elevator” into the salt mine made me smile. There was an excellent film on the history of the region as well. The ladies working there were wonderful and happy to talk about their town…
It’s been a pretty local but wonderful week here in Louisiana. My folks were here most of the week, so we’ve been out exploring together. It was wonderful to spend some time with them, but they sure did wear me out! While most of our time was spent in New Orleans, we did get out into Acadiana (Cajun Country) for two great nights as well.
It is always great to be back in New Orleans. I lived here for two full years from 2007-2009, trying to help the city recover from Hurricane Katrina. I taught 8th Grade math at Francis Gregory Elementary School in one of the most challenging but rewarding chapters of my life. I made some really good friends and forged a lifelong bond with the Crescent City. The culture, music, people and food get inside of you, and I always feel drawn back here.
While my folks were in town, I stayed at my friend Walker’s house. Walker is a New Orleans native, and started teaching when I did back in 2007. He’s changed schools a couple of times, but is still teaching here. Back when I lived in New Orleans, we both lived in the French Quarter, and got to hang out a lot together. He often invited me along to events I would have never known about on my own, so I am very grateful to him for helping me navigate the city during my time here. It’s always great to see him and catch up on all the New Orleans gossip and get a first-hand account of what he school system is up to. I was really busy with my folks, so we didn’t get to hang out a lot, but it was definitely good to see him.
I had an amazing week in the Florida Keys, exploring the parks, pubs and restaurants that make the Keys so great. I’ve been coming to the Keys since I was in high school and they’ve always held a special place in my heart. They’re America, but not. The Keys are like a little slice of the Caribbean, right over the bridge. While last week I wrote up my ultimate Keys Pub Crawl (which you can read HERE), some people have been asking for more ideas and suggestions on the Keys. So I thought I would jot down some of my favorites to help you navigate through the islands and find some really top spots along the way.
Beaches
Many people are surprised to find out there aren’t many great beaches in the Keys. The islands are generally surrounded by mangroves so the sand beaches are mostly man-made. That isn’t to say there aren’t some great beaches along the strand, but you do need to know where to find them…
Robert Moehling began his fruit empire when he was just six years old. His father had some cucumbers he wanted to sell, so he sent Robert out to sit on the corner in front of a coffee table loaded with cucumbers and sell them to passers-by. On that first day, he didn’t sell a single one. The next day his father sent him back to try again, but this time he placed a big sign on either side of the table proclaiming in big red letters that “Robert Is Here”. He sold out by noon. A neighboring farmer had seen Robert selling cucumbers and wondered if he would sell some of his tomatoes as well. The business took off and hasn’t slowed down since. Robert’s mother arranged for the school bus to pick him up and drop him off at his fruit stand, and soon he had someone else working for him while he was at school. When Robert was 14, he used his earnings to buy a ten-acre property and planted an avocado grove on it. Robert is Here Fruit Stand has continued to grow ever since and is has become an iconic road-side Florida stop.
This isn’t any old fruit stand though. Robert Is Here specializes in local and exotic fruit, so while you can buy apples and oranges, you can also buy Guanabana and Passion Fruit. Not only that, but Robert and his crew will be happy to answer any and all questions you may have about the fruit they sell, and they’ll even wash it and cut it up for you so that it’s ready to eat. The true highlight of a visit to Robert Is Here, though, is a fresh fruit milkshake prepared with your favorite exotic fruit while you shop. You can even take it out back and enjoy it while you look at the goats, chickens and tortoises wandering around back there…
Harland David Sanders, one of Kentucky’s most beloved and well known celebrities was actually not from Kentucky at all. He was born September 9th, 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. His father died when he was just 5 years old, and when his mother took a job at a tomato factory, Harland was left to watch his two younger siblings.
watch his two younger siblings.
He dropped out of school in the 7th Grade, and went to work as a farmhand. Leaving home at 13, Harland had many jobs over the years from a carriage painter to a streetcar conductor. He joined the army when he was just 16, and worked as a teamster in Cuba. He was honorably discharged before his 18th birthday, and went to live with his uncle in Alabama. He worked for the railroad for many years, and studied law at night through a correspondence course. He graduated and would practice law in Little Rock for several year…
While for years people have discussed how the proliferation of Walmart across the country has contributed to the downfall of many towns’ historic downtown shopping districts, most people may not know that the same thing is happening in deeply rural parts of the country as well. As the number of Family Dollars and Dollar Generals has grown, the number of small country stores has rapidly declined. While these big chain stores can carry more items at lower prices and can be incredibly important in rural “food deserts”, they don’t have the same personality as independent stores. You certainly won’t get the same level of service from an hourly employee as you will from an owner/operator. I was very happy when the Marketing Director of Henderson County’s tourism department contacted me with a list of the six independent shops which were hanging on in Henderson County. I took a day to visit these six stores and meet the people who were running them and try and get a feel for how they are making a go of it. It was a great day in the American heartland. These places were sometimes hard to find, and some didn’t even have a sign out front at all. They were definitely catering to the locals more than the casual passers by, but all welcomed me in warmly with true Kentucky country hospitality. Henderson County’s country stores may not have had a lot on their shelves, but they were wonderful places with a lot of heart. While trying to capture the soul of these places on film was somewhat of a challenge, it was one I embraced. This is what I hoped to find as I traveled the country. These places are the very definition of the word “local”…
