Well, I guess this is pretty much the end. Today is the last full day of my trip and I'll be heading home to Austin tomorrow. I'm filled with a sense of melancholy, and also anticipation, looking forward to diving back into my life at home. I look forward to the details of getting settled into my new apartment, getting my cats and my wine back. I've missed my couch, my dvr, my bed, the consistency of using the brands of products that I want at home. This trip has been great, and I'll have more to say about my overall impressions later, but for now, I'm pretty exhausted and I'm looking forward to a few days of decompressing and then the fun of moving into my apartment.
Anyway, today. Again today, I didn't want to get out of bed for a while, so I didn't leave the apartment until about 11 AM. I went straight to an early lunch at a bar called Tracey's. They had a special on fried soft shell crab, one of my favorites, so I had to go for that. The bartender, Sarah, was really nice and it's obviously a place where there are regulars and she knows each of their drinks as soon as they walk in the door.
I then went down to Mardi Gras World, where you can take a tour and see lots of Mardi Gras floats and see them being made. Most of the props on the floats are carved out of styrofoam, covered with paper mache and then painted. I took lots of pictures there. I'm not really into the whole Mardi Gras thing, but I do love a well constructed set piece. I have this theory about New Orleans. It's a city you can like, but you can't really love it unless it's a part of your soul. It seems pretty obvious to me that there are people here (and some that have moved away) who have New Orleans in their soul - the music, the culture, the climate. And it will never be a part of my soul. So I like the city, but I'll never love it like they do.
I then went to Longue Vue House and Gardens, another historic house. Not too old though - it was constructed in the early 1940's. But it is absolutely gorgeous. A lot of the rooms were designed around the older furniture, so the interior of the house feels much older than it is. It's very well integrated into the surrounding gardens. I'm kind of weird about gardens. I don't really understand how gardens can be historic. I mean, I understand that the design can be original, but don't the plants die? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. Maintain the plants, replant them as necessary, but then it's like the garden is a reproduction of the original. Just my opinion anyway. But the gardens at Longue Vue were really pretty - lots of ponds and fountains integrated really well.
Last stop of the day was at an oyster bar. I had a half dozen raw oysters and crawfish ettoufee. It was there that it really hit me that this was likely my last stop of the trip. There are a number of plantations that I could stop at tomorrow on the way back to Austin, but I likely won't stop because once I'm done, I'm done. And I'm done. I'm ready to be home.
So tomorrow, I have a drive in front of me. Should take about 7 1/2 hours. I'm staying a few nights with a friend of mine and our big plan is to veg out and relax. I know I'll be doing a lot of reflecting on and processing of this trip.
For the rest of tonight, just relaxing, finishing up the bottle of wine I bought the other night and, if I'm feeling ambitious, a bubble bath.
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