I've been working with a Canadian company that specializes in marketing for the boat industry. They needed someone to shoot 5 Edgewater boats down in Alabama. Since I'm fully vaccinated, I took them up on the gig.
There are no direct flights into the gulf coast except New Orleans.
After landing in New Orleans, I drove the two hours over to Mobile, Alabama in the pickup truck that the rental company gave me. My airbnb was on the right.
Across the street was a little concrete block home and a couple of empty lots.
This tree won the battle against a fence that was long gone.
The Old Dauphin Way neighborhood was full of old cottages and shotgun houses.
And a few grander estates.
I started walking and eventually ended up back on Dauphine Street, which turns out to be Mobile's main drag.
Alabama (and the entire gulf coast) hasn't had the best vaccination drive so far. Nonetheless, they were fully open without a mask in site. With low case numbers and my immunity in tow, I had to move on from COVID fear. After all, the vaccine is better than any mask. By a lot.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis it was 90F so after dinner I took the kids to the wading pool at Bryant Square Park. The kids hate when water gets on their faces so they ran back to wipe their faces every 30 seconds.
Dauphin was full of small restaurants and shops. The street, and the city as a whole, felt a bit like New Orleans. As the birthplace of French Louisiana and Mardi Gras, I guess that isn't surprising.
I walked past Downtown proper and all the way down to the Mobile River.
I was going to find someplace to get a beer, but I just kept on walking around.
After dropping Meadow off at school, Theo and I went to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. They still were taking COVID very seriously.
With dewpoints in the 70s, I spent a very hot day shooting some boats and then asked my contact at the dealership where I should eat nearby. He suggested Felix's Fish Camp on the Causeway that connects the east Mobile Bay, where I was shooting, back to the city.
So far the second time in recent memory I had a southern fish fry. Gotta love the addition of hush puppies and fried scallops. This was good and made up for skipping lunch.
Back in Old Dauphin Way, I went for walk to neighboring historic district.
Oakleigh Garden District was just across Goverment Street from my airbnb.
If I hadn't just ate a huge plate of fried fish, I would've stopped for a burger at Callaghans Irish Social Club.
This may have been the perfect house and garden.
The humidity was getting to me, but it somehow hadn't rained all day. But it was coming. I returned to my shotgun airbnb and sat on the porch just as a downpour arrived. It was the kind of rain that a southern porch was made for.
Hey, I did take a few photos of the airbnb.
I'd totally recommend this place if you're ever in Mobile.
I hadn't been to a Waffle House since being disappointed on our road/work trip to Florida seven or so years ago.
This time around I ordred a waffle along with a breakfast sausage and grits. I'll admit it. This was good
I'll be back.
I was hoping to meet Brooke and the kiddos back in NOLA, but it would have to be just me. Flights were too expensive for a weekend in New Orleans with the whole family.
I did manage to get my work done in a day, which means I got to enjoy my favorite city in America for a full day. My airbnb was non-de-script, but was in the quaint Bywater neighborhood, which was a win.
I walked down the block to Elizabeth's and had the best gumbo ever. Well, at least that I didn't make.
I guess locals avoid outdoor eating during the hottest part of the day. I can't blame them.
I was planning on walking from Bywater to the French Quarter, but the clouds told me it was going to brewrain.
Parleaux Beer Lab was just down the block and seemed like it would have someplace to sit while waiting out any rain.
If you're looking for a brewery that doesn't have 20 IPAs, it's worth a stop. I had two perfect beers and then regretted the second one with the oppressive heat.
It only ever drizzled, which meant I could continue my journey.
I walked up to Crescent Park, but soon realized there wasn't much shade. I talked to a rail punk for a while and he let me know that the park was closed further up the trail. Back to the neighborhood it was.
Bywater fades into Marigny. A little fancier and more tourists as you approach the neighboring French Quarter.
Once you get to Frenchmen Street you'll find tourists and on this occasion a downpour.
I ended up waiting out the downpour at Dat Dog. I always feel weird eating anything but creole or cajun food in NOLA. But dogs were worth the stop and I kept dry.
And then I was on Bourbon Street in the the French Quarter.
I'd probably never stop at any bars on Bourbon Street, but the crowd watching is something.
Where else do you see a guy wearing a mask and an NRA hat?
After getting to Canal Street I was going to walk downtown, but nature called and the only bathroom was back in the French Quarter.
I've been to New Orleans three times and every time I've only been there for a day or two on a bigger trip. Maybe this is what mantains the magic, but one of these years I want to spend a week in NOLA.
I'd end up taking a different route back to Frenchman Street and then into Marigny and Bywater.
I had to get photos of the purple houses for Meadow.
I was debating if I was just suffering from heat exhaustion or hungry. For some reason I decided I was hungry and sat down for a few slice at Pizza Delicious back in Bywater. I'll always love you New Orleans.
It was finaly raining for more than a few minuetsba the morning of my flight back home.
I picked up a breakfast sandwhich at Bywater Bakery and then had to decide what I'd do until I had to fly out.
Whenever I look at a map of New Orleans I'm always drawn to the areas southeast of New Orleans. If you zoom in far enough you'll see that there are in fact a few roads. Two that take you along the Mississippi and one that heads southeast from St. Bernard Parish.
Since I was just across from St. Bernard Parish, I thought I'd get one of these drives off my bucket list and drive to the end of the earth.
The road followed a winding river surrounded by marsh and bayous and then came to a halt in Delacroix. The road clearly used to go further, but had been abandoned after a storm.
You can see that there are a few fishing boats that are accessible by an unpaved road, but I wasn't quite that adventurous.
Fish camps and boats line the tributary.
The Mississippi once changed paths along its course before being chanelized by the Army Corps. These southern lands were fleeting and everchanging.
I hope that with sea level rise and man-made disasters that these edges of the earth survive.
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