Moving on to McComb, MS

As soon as the workday was over in New Orleans, we jumped in the car and drove to McComb, MS. It was a pretty straight shot, and took no time at all. Despite my dreams of Mississippi barbecue, when we arrived to McComb it became very clear quite quickly that the place wasn't swimming with places to go and have a good meal, and certainly none very close to the hotel. Since I had no desire to attempt to drive at night I had resigned myself to walking to the nearby McDonalds when I remembered that Mississippi Hotels had the most wonderful habit in the world: Happy Hour. For some reason, every evening, most hotels will provide their guests with some tasty morsel of food, and beer or wine (or a non-alcoholic beverage.)

Beyond awesome. Then it was time to make a decision: the hotel was providing its guests with pulled pork sandwiches. Normally, I only eat processed pork, since I never grew up eating actual pork meat. But it smelled like heaven, and I couldn't bring myself to walk outside in the dark, so I went for this:

It was good. It was soooooo good! Even though I took my dinner to my room, I had to sneak downstairs and go for seconds. The whole point of Hotel Happy Hour is for people to sit downstairs and make friends with the rest of the guests, but since during these trips I already spend so many hours being friendly, I needed to decompress in the silence of my room.

The next day at work, our contact people made good on their "Southern Hospitality" and ordered lunch for us. It consisted of greens, fried chicken, fried eggplant, and I don't remember the fourth one, actually. Unfortunately, this meal was quite disappointing, since it didn't have the deliciousness I found in fried chicken from the last time I had been in MS. But it was good enough to kill the hunger!

That night after work, we drove right back to New Orleans, where we spent the night in an airport hotel before flying back to our respective towns. It was quite the interesting week, and not one I'll soon forget.

Hello South!

So work sends me South - and I'm in New Orleans, LA by 9 a.m. Sunday Morning. In this trip I'm working with Lauren, whom I've only met in a passing way once, so a little apprehensive to begin with. After a misshap with the renting car (their fault, not ours,) we left in our SUV to Mobile, AL via Gulfport, MS. The trip was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours, but turned into a 5 hour road trip. My view of Gulfport.

After some sandy beach view Lauren expressed her desire to play at one of the local casinos. It began a discussion about gambling, Native Americans, and Casinos. But I also agreed to play, but decided I wasn't going to spend more than $10 dollars.

I tell you, the way they pull you in is amazing. We spent an hour in the place. Lauren spent $20 bucks or so. We played the slots; I only used 6 bucks to play the slots, with $3.50 spent on a bottle of water. I know. The Casino gave me $15 of "free play" which essentially means that if you play the slots and you lose, you get that play reimbursed. So I played using my free play, stopping exactly when the free play was over and tallied my wins, which amounted to... $4. And thus, I left the Casino 50 cents richer. I have never been one to gamble, but I certainly wasn't persuaded to try it again. I did glance at someone's slot machine on the way out, and they had $100 bucks going - I don't know if that was money he had won or that he put in, but the amount just made me sad.

After the Casino in Biloxi we tried to eat at a place that the bartender recommended, but the place was closed, thankfully. We searched for a new place, but coming off of the Casino I gave Lauren the wrong direction to drive to, and when we were rounding on the block in order to try to get back in the right direction we drove by the Schooner Seafood Restaurant, which happened to be one that Lauren remembered from her childhood. We found a parking place nearby and got ourselves settled.

We started with some sweet tea

I chose the fish Po'Boy dressed with lettuce, tomato and mayo, and a side of fries (without gravy)

Ate every bit of it, it was delicious. I mean the fries were hella salty, but that did not deter me from eating every bit of food in front of me. After we had rested enough to actually move, we got back to the car and off to Mobile.

We stayed in downtown Mobile, and there isn't really much going around here, except for some museums that were within walking distance. Since it was already 4pm by the time that I was settled in my room, I ran out in an effort to find them still open. On my way I saw the Fort Conde. (it's way smaller than it looks. And not nearly enough near water to be effective, so I don't know if it's a replica of something.

some funky downtown buildings

The Condé Charlotte House Museum, which was the first Jail in Mobile, AL before it was converted into a House.

And the Museum of Mobile, which I was very disappointed by, because I got there at exactly 4:40, but was not allowed to stay in for more than 5 minutes because they closed at 5. The gift shop closed at 4:30pm! Ridiculous. But I guess they take their closing time and their Sundays very seriously in Mobile. In the 5 minutes I was inside I glimpsed at a 9/11 exhibition - apparently, the museum opened days after the attacks and so it was trying to (somberly) celebrate its 10 year anniversary.

After MoM, I tried to dash it to the Carnival Museum. On my way I passed by this, which was hella cool. Although no one was occupying the Government Plaza where it was written, I appreciate that the movement is reaching everywhere.

The Carnival Museum was also closed, but there were bits and pieces you could read outside of it. They take their Sundays seriously, y'all! However, I learned that "Mardi Gras" actually happened in Mobile, AL first, and that it's supposed to be a very big deal here as well - just that it's a lot more family friendly than the New Orleans version. Which reminds me, on my way to MoM I saw me a tree that still had some beads in it.

The Carnival Museum looks like fun, though.

On the way back I stopped by the Spanish Plaza, which celebrates Mobile's Spanish Heritage. It was okay.

Not a bad way to start the "tour of the South."

April 5th

Under Pressure


There's a point in the back
of my head, I can't touch it, it's inside
in the back
and I can feel it, squeezing, squeezing
squeezing
til I have no air left. My brain
has no room to breathe. 
When I think of a life 
with you
and without you. 


© yazcaminante, 2011.


Today John chose dinner. He wanted barbecue. Unfortunately, E&L does not serve anything other than pork, links, tips, catfish (with the bone in).
I went for the combo plate, which came with pork ribs, hot links, baked beans and potato salad (and two slices of bread.)

I managed to eat a link and a bite. Had them with the bread and some spoonfuls of the baked beans, which had sugar in them so blegh to them. I managed about a tiny try of the potato salad, but that was essentially mayo with potato and pieces of egg, so no thank you. I couldn't even bite into the ribs. I just couldn't do it. So John gets that for lunch tomorrow. And I choose the place.

Yoga at 7:00am for 33 minutes
Walked 2.1 miles in 35 minutes at 5:00pm
Lifted weights for 5 minutes at 5:35pm

April 4th

It's time to make a decision


Just one more minute, just one more minute
and it'll be worth it. 
Yet, step after step
I have no idea why
people run
for fun. 


© yazcaminante, 2011.


I know y'all - not the strongest poem in the world, but I want to make sure I write everyday even if it's crappy stuff. Today we had a Tornado Warning in Jackson, MS and the sky was looking ominous after a day of work. So we drove rather quickly to Kerfies, a Mediterranean place a lot of people and websites recommended. We picked the food to go and made it to our hotel just in time to have sheets and sheets of water and wind dropped on us. It was a bit scary actually - there was a lot of rain and the wind was so strong the car was shaking a little. After a bit we finally made a run for it though and it was at a good time because we didn't get drenched.

Before eating however, I made myself do my afternoon exercise, which I'm glad about. I don't feel energized though. I feel tired and headachy. It's tough to stay motivated when it's this way. I've downloaded the new Noom, which is a combination of Cardiotrainer and Calorific and that helps a bit. In any case, I did not take pictures of my food this time around, but Kerfie's was really good: I had a bit of hummus with pita bread, and a mushroom pita wrap, with sauteed onions and mushrooms, lettuce and a bit of feta cheese dressing, which the restaurant is apparently famous for. I wasn't that excited over it.

Yoga at 6:00am for 50 minutes
Walked 2.0 miles in 35 minutes at 5:30pm

April 3rd

Hello again my peeps! I write from awesomely warm Jackson, MS. Don't get excited though, we're supposed to have a thunderstorm tomorrow. I choose to enjoy the now. So, you get two awesome things in this post: first, tonight's meal, brought to you by Open Table and the recommendation of the front desk clerk.

Traveling with John this time and the one thing we agreed on with the trip was that there would be no holding back when it came to food. Enter Julep! We began the meal with some deliciously warm rolls.

They were hot and perfect and I could feel them sticking to my ribs as I ate. They were so warm, that after cutting the roll with the knife, touching the butter with the knife was enough to have it melt.

As part of the "no holding back" we went with an appetizer. We chose Eggplant Fries, because, hey, it's a vegetable!

I wasn't too excited about them though - barely tasted like eggplant (I hope it was eggplant in there) and the whole thing had obviously been fried with fish or in fishy batter.

Main entree: some fried chicken dipped in a honey batter, with red skin mashed potatoes and green beans

I absolutely ate everything on that plate and there's not an ounce of guilt in me. It was super delicioso. I mean, sure, I feel a bit sluggish now, and hella sleepy, but I've been traveling all day - don't blame it on the chicken!

In any case, it's time to turn in. But first today's poem. I decided to follow the prompt Mi Cariño followed for today. I grabbed the nearest book, in this case it ended being Jodi Picoult's "House Rules". Don't judge. Found the first 10 complete words, wrote a poem with them. The words: I glance at It isn't. Well says it's not know

Hampton Inn


Isn't true then that the secret's in the color?
warm reds, not just cream, adorn this hotel
room, with a hide-a-way couch by a king's size bed. 
At it's left there's the desk where I 
seat, trying to avoid sleep, trying to forget
I didn't choose the painting on the wall. 
But at a glance, the room is mine, with 
its warm red walls and bedside clock 
a tiny studio apartment maybe, that
lady with the 90 foot square place in the upper
west would well do wonders with this place. But
she would keep the warm red walls, because the interior
decorating magazine I read says that 
warmth is what makes home, even when 
I set the thermostat to 65. This
I know. 

© yazcaminante, 2011.