What if I don't like gumbo?: July 2011

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Houmas House Plantation

Today I drove to Darrow to visit the "Sugar Palace" Houmas House Plantation.

The original part of the house was built in the mid 1700's and the mansion part started around 100 years later. The gardens were really pretty!

The trees on the property are 400 year old oak trees! So cool looking!

These plants had water and what looks to be grass growing right in them.

View of the house from the front. It was fully restored recently for tours. The owner actually stays here!

Neat door knocker

The tour was super informative and really cool. We were allowed to take pictures and sit on the furniture

Hard to see, but each of the fire places had different ornamental pokers or wood holders. This one was a dragon.

This sterling silver Abe Lincoln was carved by the same man that made Mount Rushmore.

Roof moulding in one of the dining rooms.

Again, I know its hard to see but this is a vampire kit. The house bought this from Anne Rice!

More Vampire killing stuff and a terrifying voodoo mask

View from the front balcony. There used to be many more rows of these old oak trees but they had to remove them to build the levees. The property here is really nice.

After the tour, I ate a giant pork chop and had a mint julep! Pretty good day :)

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Louisiana State Capitol Building and Downtown Adventures ( the day I sweated to death)

Today I decided to see the what downtown Baton Rouge had to offer.

I arrived at about 1pm and parked a block from the new State Capitol Building. Parking was free. there was no traffic. There were no people around.

Probably the strangest downtown experience I have ever had. Downtown Salmon Arm is more lively than this place.

The grounds around the building were kept very manacured, it was very pretty. There were dragonflies and butterflies all over the place, and I could hear an owl (I think) in one of the trees.

I passed one group of people the whole time I wandered around. Kind of neat actually, that I got to be almost completely alone here.

Afterwards, I decided to head towards the Old State Capitol. I went down 3rd street. No one was there.

A knobbly looking tree

Pretty much every building I passed was either closed for the day or forever.

Remnants of Mardi Gras past were hanging from many of the trees on the street

Here is the Old Capitol Building. God it felt amazing to get into its glorious air conditioned sanctuary. Seriously. I figured out why there werent many people around. Its too damned hot. I dont think I've ever sweated so much! So gross! Im convinced it is how there is a good number of average and thin people here. The food is crazy fattening then they go outside and loose crazy amounts of water weight. Its the only way.

I know I don't look sweaty here, but rest assured I am.

Looks like a castle outside, but its pretty neat indoors.

I have no idea who this is, but I love it. I want an exact copy but I feel like he should be holding cotton candy or some balloons.

I liked this portrait too. This old dude is such a badass, you can totally tell.

Ballroom of some sort

Detail on the door hinges was pretty cool

This is outside the Art building across the street

I have no clue what this dome is or what its purpose is. I was so hot I had to get to my car ASAP.

Fleur du lis on everything - even fences

Next Up: Amazing gift store items

Obama-rama....

Yes, this is real life. A magnetic paper doll of Sarah Palin called "Going Vouge" Kill me.

I am probably going to comment on this again sometime, but the school spirit -football town craziness is so weird. This is a porta potty in the school colours called a "Tiger Toilet". Could you imagine if all our porta potties at home were called "Canucks Cans"?!?! Its bizarre. School Spirit has officially gone TOO FAR.

My Trip to the Mall

Just want to tell a little story about the mall. Not the good mall - but the mall I should not have gone to.

First of all, I was feeling kind of down so I decided maybe I should go farther through town to the one mall I had yet to visit. I looked online to see what stores this mall had. It had a Macy's, Victoria's Secret and something else maybe a Sears or a JC Penny. Anyways, it looked legit from the website, smiling families, eating in a food court etc.

I had the GPS set to take me there and off I went. About 5 mins down the road, I realized I had made a mistake. Suddenly I was passing empty buildings, cemeteries and graffiti.

I began to ask myself, "Jenni, how do you know you are in a bad part of town?" and then I had my answer- burning dumpsters. I wasn't in the part of town for me.

But I continued on, the mall cant be in a bad part of town! That's crazy!

Finally I arrived. I parked at Macy's and headed inside. It became very evident that I was in fact in the wrong part of town and I did not belong. This mall was practically a ghost town, but somehow there were quite a few people loitering around it. These people were looking at me like "What the hell are you doing here, white girl?"

There were probably about 15 stores total open in the mall. It was maybe 25% of its capacity. I decidedly left, depressed and a little scared. I got to my car and started to leave. Immediately several security cars rounded the corner and stopped a car at the light, blocking all traffic. They arrested 5 people out of the car. All I could think was, what the hell could they have even found to steal from that place?!!

I should have stayed home.

Saturday, 23 July 2011

My day at Klieberts: Self proclaimed swamp people and the worst smell on earth

Today I drove all the way to Hammond, which is about 50 mins from Baton Rouge. I had one goal in mind: Hold a gator.

First on the tour is a pond full of turtles

They let us know they eat the turtles..lovely.

Next: A pit full of young alligators, ranging in age up to about 7 years old.

They let us know they drain the pond, shoot them, and harvest the meat and bones, double lovely.

After that, the tour guide got in, grabbed a gator and taped its mouth shut for us.

I am convinced he must be insane.

Then we all took turns sitting on the alligator!

This is a proud moment in my life right here. Just letting you know.

I feel like I have really accomplished somthing. The gator is suprisingly smooth and soft to hold.

Next we moved to the real swamp where the big gators are. These ones are crazy old and giant, and scary as hell.

This is where alligators live

This is where birds live :)

Oh hey there!

Im just chillin

Why dont you bring your kids a little closer to my fence?

I am serious about those kids...man I WISH I could feed them to the gators....If I hear one more kid yell out "Hit that gator! Mess witht hat one over there!"......

This guy, just poking them with sticks..no fear. Brave or stupid you be the judge. I wouldnt be poking that animal with a stick thats for sure.

Just patting a giant killing machine on the head...no big deal

I think at this point I should mention, that if hell had a scent, if hell manufactured a special perfume, it would smell like this swamp. I wish my camera had smell O vision becuase MY GOD. The most horrible stench imaginable, stagnant water, heat, rotting meat. :( For hours after my visit I kept thinking I could smell it again. After the tour I covered myself in hand sanitizer and washed repeatedly but I still felt gross. I dunno, that smell will haunt my nightmares.

BACK TO THE TOUR!

This looks safe...