In search of the continuous road trip
The trip into Texas was rough. We’d just left paradise, Florida’s Forgotten Coast, and had a great time in New Orleans (minus a little snafu in Alabama). The road through Louisiana’s bayou was fun. We even got to ride a ferry. We passed through the “Cajun Riviera” …
Bourbon Street, the flagship street of New Orleans, is pretty disgusting. Firstly, it smells like a mix of vomit, spilled drinks, sweat, and rat diarrhea (caused by eating too many cockroaches, I imagine). Then there are the strip clubs. Bourbon Street has the highest concentration of strip …
We had some beers in New Orleans. They were yummy. Try these if you see them in your local beer store: Perfect Tin Amber Ale Lisa’s favorite brew, Fat Tire Amber, is also an amber ale, and Tin Roof’s went down just as deliciously. Comes in cans, …
While buying beer at a Texaco outside Mobile, Alabama before we dashed into a motel for the night and waited out a storm, I learned something. First I bought the beer. Then I asked, “Do you sell lottery tickets here?” “It is illegal,” the Indian man behind …
“Y’all been here before?” the woman behind the register asked. Nope. She was being nice. We were looking around in confusion and hunger trying to figure the place out while eyeing the plates of oysters and shrimp in front of the other patrons. Clearly, this …
I like Florida. I’ve been visiting Florida since I was a child. We always went to Ft. Lauderdale because that’s where my dad went when he was a child. One winter we tried Orlando but it wasn’t warm enough, Florida enough. So we headed south …
Roasted, that’s the “normal” preparation. And salted. Get them at any baseball game. Great bars in the north serve them and tell patrons to discard the shells on the floor. I like those bars because I like peanuts. But boiled? Gross. So I tried them. I …
Savannah is a drinking town. I’m not sure why. It’s one of seven places in the US where you can walk around with a drink (Las Vegas and New Orleans are also on that distinguished list along with Butte, MT). It’s not cruise ship traffic …
In this corner, Southend Brewery and Smokehouse, Charleston’s best downtown brewery! In the other corner, Crystal Beer Parlor, Savannah’s second-oldest bar and restaurant! It’s going to be a close one, folks! Service At Southend, things happen slowly, but the waitress makes up for it by …
First, is it lowcountry, low-country, or low country? I’m not sure. And this place isn’t technically in Charleston, it’s to the east, in Awendaw, SC. Close enough. And we were camping out there and this place was down the street. We had hoped to go to The …
Local shrimp, that’s what we wanted. They have them for sale in Charleston at the grocery stores. (Note: This area has the weirdest grocery store names in the country, Piggly Wiggly is one, Harris Teeter is another.) We prepared a “classic” Charleston shrimp boil — …
Charleston feels a bit like New York City. (In geography, at least, Charleston resembles NYC, but in architecture, it feels like a small, Southern version of Boston.) The main city is on a narrow peninsula (it’s like a low-country Manhattan) and is surrounded by borough-like islands. Across the …