Devin on Walkabout

Walkabout, my friends, was awesome. So so awesome. I had more amazing experiences than I can even recount. Way too many. 

I want to do it again right now. You know, just go rent a sweet Prius with rims and head out on the road. So I’m gonna, minus the Prius. Details at the end for those interested in coming along on my adventures…or just reading along.

A heartfelt thank you to all of you for joining me on the blog, commenting, suggesting places to see, helping me find lunch places etc. I felt like I had a team of explorers with me.

And to all the absolutely amazing friends I hung out with, learned from, whose cities I toured and whose couches I crashed on: NONE of this would have been possible without you.

Pretty much every day on Walkabout and every day since, I’ve marveled at your generosity, hospitality and willingness to drop everything to show me your home city. I am very lucky.

In chronological order, I must thank THE BEST group of friends I could possibly imagine.

Lily and Bryan, thank you for showing me Cleveland in style and for introducing me to your little sweetheart Alice. Lots of fun listening to ROCK, eating Frankenstein sandwiches and talking sports. You’re awesome.

Bails, you are the greatest. I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished at Jackalope, and I’m beyond excited to have a home away from home in Nashville. Oh and your friends are the coolest too. Speaking of, nice to meet/hang out with you Steve, Robyn, Lizzie, Brooks, Kristen, Zolli, Sally et al. Can’t wait to come back for Dwight Yoakam. BOOM!

Thank you Jayhawks!

Susan, you rock. It was fun to see your brand new high elevation, high sun content life and watch you take that mountain down a peg. I’m psyched to come back to Denver, and hopefully next time Chris and I can go attack some Vail back bowls like bosses. Thanks also to all your Dallas friends!

Thank you Amarillo Red Roof Inn even though you didn’t smell so good and your continental bfast was, well, lacking. You let me sleep there and I appreciate it.

Jim and Colby, above all thank you for introducing me to Duck Dynasty. My life is forever improved. And I never thought I’d have so much fun in Central Texas, but you guys make it that way. More gut-paks, nervous doggies and questionable museums in the very near future. Next time I’m visiting when we can float.

Caroline, I love you a lot. I’m proud of you for braving a new city and making a Houston life for yourself. I can’t wait for my next visit so I can take a Caroline Cole hot yoga class somewhere other than the back yard. And of course, Fanny Price is a sweetheart. Maybe next time she’ll let me pet her!

Lauren, the only problem with my BR stretch was that the Tigers weren’t playing football. Next time! Thanks for giving me waterfront accommodations, teaching me all about Louisiana and introducing me to some of your great friends. Whatup Teal, Corey, Nicole, Jenny, Alan and the rest of the crew?

Michelle and Emily, not only do you have unimpeachable taste in coffee but you throw A+ parties. Can’t stop won’t stop. Mardi Gras will always be a Michelle and Emily production in my mind for as long as I live. Looking forward to seeing you in Boston in a month. Holla holla Jeanpants…this wig’s for you!

Carrie and Brian, Birmingham is in good hands. You two are about as cool as it gets and Birmingham is lucky to have you turning downtown into the place to be. Next time I Walk About, I’m definitely staying a night there, so get ready. Oh and come visit Boston ASAP.

Makia, thanks for breaking the ATL mold and walking all over town with me. Next time I’m there, I’ll be spending more time. Too much to see in one day, although we did pretty damn well because you (and your dad) are the most thorough tour guides in the world. Please thank him for his notes on Savannah too.

Greg and Charlsi, Charleston was my favorite new city on the whole trip. You are generous hosts and top notch guides. Thank you for making sure I ate well, saw all the sites and got the full flavor of your great city. Greg, next time I’m there we’ll have to time it for when you can do some city walking with me.

McHugh and Iano, thanks lads. Iano, your hospitality is unmatched. McHugh, you have the cutest kid ever. Christine, awesome to see you, however briefly. Jessica, nice to meet you! Andrew and Jen, glad we got to meet up. It’d been too long. Casandra, we’ll have to work on your oyster form. It’s…well…subpar.

Jocelyn and Joe, thank you for taking in this weary traveler. Dahlia, Jordan and JJ are adorable and wise beyond their years. Talk about smart and well adjusted. They are great kids. Also, I kinda want to live in your basement. Games? A bar? A movie theater? You have paradise built out down there.

Cailin and Ezra, I loved meeting Olivia. She’s a beauty. Looking forward to the next time!

And Dez, thank you for making the last few stops on the trip even better.

It goes without saying, but you all have a place to stay in Cambridge complete with entertainment, Boston tours and special events whenever the spirit hits you. I love you all.

THANK YOU!

For the few hearty souls who made it all the way to the end:

Every now and again, I’ll be doing day trips or explorations around Boston and posting them here. Anyone who wants to come along in real life is invited. Let me know if you want to join and we’ll get planning.

For the first few, I’ll be showing my good friend Kit, a native and recently returned Bostonian, all the nooks and crannies of Cambridge and Somerville!

Who’s with me??

January 27, 2013

The Layos family was very good to me. We had a homemade surf and turf dinner and I woke up to a full breakfast. Dez’s aunt and uncle, Tita Jocelyn and Uncle Joey (not Dave Coullier), told me they would have made Filipino breakfast, but they weren’t sure what I liked. So instead, we just had a full eggs, bacon and chocolate chip pancake breakfast. Not bad at all. I could get used to that kind of hospitality!

Even better, we had great company. The Layos kids are smart, outgoing and tons of fun. Dahlia is 12, tall for her age and interested in everything from serious math to One Direction. Jordan is 9, loves basketball and literally spends his free time planning cities in a game called Minecraft. And JJ is 4 and the irrepressible star of whatever show he’s in.

All of them are beyond their years and easy to be around.

Here they are teaching me how to play Minecraft:

Please note that they have the coolest PJs ever.

Also, please note that they have a sweet game room including arcade hoops:

For the record, Dahlia wrecked me. Badly.

And here’s Mr. Show himself doing the JJ Dance, which he insists he didn’t make up:

Once again it was a reluctant goodbye, but we had a stop to make in Brooklyn.

Off we went.

After a quick bite at a Filipino restaurant called The Purple Yam, where we had a special soup, adobo, lumpia, and halo halo for dessert…

…we dropped in to see my friends Cailin and Ezra to meet their beautiful 6 week old daughter, Olivia:

Little Olivia is such a sweetheart. After a little fussing, she fell right asleep in my arms:

That was during the fussing part.

Anyway, meeting Olivia was a wonderful way to punctuate the last stop on the Walkabout. The future is bright, my peeps!

From Brooklyn, all that was left was to drive home to Cambridge for a Tasty Burger and a good, long, satisfied sleep:

What a trip!

Thanks for reading, my friends. I loved sharing all my adventures with you.

Until the next walkabout!

States covered:

• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts

States covered total: 25 + DC

January 26, 2013

It was a late night on Day 22, which meant I woke up tired and with a fairly nasty headache. But I had people to see. I could not lay around and pout.

Chris and Christine McHugh were my first close friends to have a child, so their 14 month old daughter, Anna, holds a special place in my heart. Also, she’s been a smiler since birth. She is absurdly smiley.

Since neither Christine nor Anna was able to come out to party with us the night before, my only chance to see them was over breakfast on the way out of town. So, Dez and I got out early and went to Cleveland Park.

Here are mother and daughter:

Now, you’d think that going to see a 14 month old in this condition would be torture. But you’d be thinking of a 14 month old who is not Anna Katherine McHugh.

Never underestimate the power of a happy, smiling baby to turn a hangover around.

I mean, come on people…just look at her:

Anna is barely talking but she’s already a genius. She’s learning Spanish. When she wants water she asks for agua:

We stuck around so long that it was time for Anna to eat lunch before her friend’s first birthday party. Alas, we had to say goodbye…

…and hit the road on I-95 North towards Philadelphia.

First stop cheesesteaks!

Obviously we stopped at Pat’s. We’re not the kind of morons who go to Geno’s. I don’t know anything about Jim’s, but I bet Jim’s is awful compared to Pat’s.

We followed the directions…

…and got two steaks, one wit onions, one witout, both wit whiz.

The only problem with the whole experience was that there’s no inside at Pat’s and it was FREEZING.

Here’s Dez just powering through like a champ:

Of course, being in Philly, we did some sightseeing.

South Philly is full of these little brownstones with funny awnings. I figure accountants must live in this one:

Also, the first floor windows in many of them have all kinds of Catholic figures like so:

Here’s the obligatory Liberty Bell:

Fish at Reading Terminal Market:

Chinatown:

And Carpenters’ Hall:

This isn’t very Philly and I’m not proud to say it…but after sightseeing Dez made me get my palm read (yeah, she’s one of those). They told me I would live a long life, find happiness, have three kids and travel. Looks like I’ve got it made!

With a good fortune in the books, we went to Continental for some bourbon and then made our way to Collegeville to see the Layos family.

To come: Dahlia, Jordan and JJ, arcade hoops and yet another baby!

States covered:

• DC (does that count?)
• Maryland
• Delaware
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania

States covered total: 24 + DC

January 25, 2013

Day 22 was a day to see friends and to try new things.

Many of you know Desiree Arevalo (call her Dez or she’ll get really mad) as that smiley face at all the BWP Open Mixers. Well she’s much more than that. She is also Casandra’s older sister and Casandra is a student at George Mason in Fairfax, VA.

Since I was heading north through Philly, Dez and I made a plan for her to come visit Casandra while I was in DC and then drive back to Boston with me. That way, we could stay at her aunt and uncle’s house outside Philly and explore the city for at least part of a day.

So, first thing in the morning, McHugh and I sucked it up and drove to Dulles to pick Dez up. This sounds pretty straightforward, but rental cars that don’t have EZ Passes can’t drive on roads that are EZ Pass only. We made it, barely, and then dropped by Bethesda to see the new Chez McHugh. Nice place.

After so much exertion, we obviously needed to rest up with a beer in hand. We met Cristiano at Kramerbooks and browsed the aisles for a while and then went into the attached Afterwords Cafe for a drink to wait for Casandra:

If you haven’t been to Kramerbooks and Afterwords, make sure to check it out. It’s a really cool space that reminds me of Trident in Boston.

With the whole crew together, we moved on to new things, starting with Hank’s for some lunch, which prominently included oysters.

One problem, Casandra is…well…grossed out by oysters. She ran into trouble with an oyster while training to work at Legal Sea Foods and has never recovered.

But to her credit, she gave it a shot.

Before (happy):

After (sad):

Casandra tried. She even did her best impression of a pelican trying to coax it down her gullet. No dice.

Kudos to her for trying and more oysters for the rest of us!

As loyal readers know, my beard had gotten kinda out of control. I brought a trimmer along on the trip, but it ran out of batteries literally the first time I tried to use it and I didn’t bring the charger. Major error.

Just look at this horrorshow:

AHHHHHHH RUN!!!

McHugh and Iano had been talking about a character named Diego who is a DC institution. I thought…hmm, I wonder if Diego trims beards. So I popped in…

…and came out looking like a new man:

Getting the beard trimmed is a fairly great experience. Strongest recommendations.

And to celebrate the fact that I no longer resembled a Neanderthal, we decided to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Side note: best thing about DC is the fact that there are a ton of world class and FREE museums. Amazing.

Here we are with elephant:

And my buddy the woolly mammoth:

We capped off the day’s exploits with dinner (where we met Cristiano’s lovely girlfriend Jessica) and drinks, as well as a visit from my old friend and college roommate Andrew Ujifusa and his wife Jen.

Good times!

To come: Anna Katherine is too cute, Pat’s cheesesteaks and Filipino family.

States covered:

• DC (Does that count?)

States covered total: 21 +DC

January 24, 2013

Day 21 was bittersweet. Not only did I have to bid farewell to beautiful Charleston, but also to the exploration phase of my trip. All stops hereafter were places I had visited before.

On the plus side, I was on my way to Washington, DC to see two of my closest friends, Chris McHugh (aka McHugh) and Cristiano Santostefano (aka Iano, DO NOT CALL HIM CRIS OR CRISTOS), and I had one last new city, Richmond, to check out on the way.

Off I went with 8 hours of driving ahead of me.

My plan was to power through the remainder of South Carolina and all of North Carolina so that I’d be able to have some lunch and do some walking around Richmond.

No chance.

I hadn’t even made it out of South Carolina when I spotted South of the Border:

What is this monstrosity?

It appears to be some kind of theme park for people coming and going from Myrtle Beach. It’s just south of the North Carolina border, but the whole thing so accurately portrayed the experience of being in Mexico that I thought I must have accidentally driven into a teleportation device to Guadalajara.

Wait…no it didn’t. It was more like being transported into a Roadrunner cartoon of Mexico, complete with Acme explosives and giant sombreros. It was pretty racist.

Irregahdless, I stopped and got some beef jerky for snacking because I was due for a late lunch.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: my friends made this Walkabout possible.

Leaving South of the Border, I emailed my friend Claire Lewis, a University of Richmond graduate, to get some inside info on what to see in Richmond on a short stop.

She pointed me to all the right places, including Carytown for lunch. Carytown is a neighborhood full of little restaurants and shops that has a good feel to it.

Unfortunately, it was freezing, which was tough on me. I’d been in the tropical climes of Houston, Louisiana, Atlanta and Charleston. True winter temps were a shock to the system. This also meant that there weren’t many people walking around.

Here’s a taste of Carytown:

I found a parking spot and ran to the closest restaurant I could find, which was a hipster diner called Galaxy. I sort of felt like I was in the Jetson’s…

…but my burger and mac and cheese fortified me for the cold:

From Carytown, I headed to Claire’s alma mater to see what the Spiders are all about.

To my surprise, URichmond reminded me of my own alma mater, The Roxbury Latin School. All that brick. All those courtyards. All the subdued but apparent religious tradition. RL was founded to prepare boys for service to church and state. Richmond was founded as a Baptist seminary.

And here is Roxbury Latin for reference:

Richmond also has a pretty lake in the middle of campus. Here’s the student center that overlooks it:

That night, Richmond played in-town rivals Virginia Commonwealth in basketball. After my Jayhawks experience, I was sorely tempted to stick around for the game, but hanging with the boys won out.

I left Richmond at about 5 and had a miraculously traffic-less 2 hour drive to Cristiano’s apartment in Adams Morgan in DC.

Iano on the left, McHugh on the right at Pizzeria Paradiso:

We bro’d out hard. After devouring our body weight in pizza, we went to Front Page, where Iano got his face palmed out of nowhere by an overaggressive young lady. That was our cue to leave.

Too many beers, too much pizza and too much bad closing from the Celtics. Still good times.

To come: Oysters, wooly mammoths, beard trims and tons of DC.

States covered:

• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• DC (does that count?)

States covered total: 21 + DC

January 23, 2013

Little known fact: I was born in Charleston. I haven’t been there since my parents adopted me at the ripe old age of 3 days, so I can’t say that I know the city at all.

I have always wanted to go there. After all, it was the site of arguably the most important moment in my life, even if I don’t remember it.

So, Day 20 was to be a day of exploration.

Greg and Charlsi live on King Street, about two miles away from the water. Having been pent up in a car most of my trip, I decided I really needed the walk. And you know from my Atlanta wanderings that I like a good meander.

Unfortunately, Greg had to work a double and Charlsi was working all day, so I set off solo down King Street on a cloudless morning, warm in the shining sun.

Side note, one of the great benefits of a January Walkabout is that you get to go to places where a freezing cold winter day equals 57 degrees and sunny.

Weirdly, I felt immediately at home. I mean, couldn’t this be Dorchester?

Couldn’t this be the flat of Beacon Hill?

Couldn’t this be Salem (minus the palm tree)?

Not to mention, Charleston is full of revolutionary history that directly parallels Boston’s history. Sometimes, when confronted with the ubiquitous historical markers, I felt like I was reading the same stories I’ve heard since I was a kid…except with different names.

The siege of Charleston even made me think of my favorite Boston holiday (RIP Evacuation Day):

And my tour guide at the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, Phil, reminded me of all the people in downtown Boston in colonial garb drinking Starbucks and talking on their cell phones in between tours.

Phil is from North Carolina, but has always had a deep love of history. When he and his wife retired, they decided to move to Charleston. He has been volunteering at the Provost Dungeon for the last few years as a fun retirement activity.

That said, Charleston is a lot more than just Boston south.

First off, it is gorgeous, often with a tropical feel. I loved walking around town just taking it all in.

Some favorites were Rainbow Row…

…the mansions with side porches…

…the old Armory and former site of The Citadel…

…the churches, which are still the tallest structures in the city…

…Whitepoint Garden by the Battery…

…the waterfront…

…especially stunning at sunset:

Second, the food is outstanding.

You already know about Slightly North of Broad…

…but I also had the pleasure of trying out Fast and French:

That is a terrible picture of a lunch place where you can get a croque monsieur and an Orangina. Hard to top.

And third, there are great museums and universities there.

I went to the Gibbes Museum and hung out with some students sketching photographs from their James Karales civil rights photography exhibit:

The exhibition was moving, especially having just been to the MLK Day celebrations in Atlanta. And it was fun to spy on the students’ drawings and hear their teacher giving them notes.

Lastly, in the spirit of remembering all the gory details, here’s my crazy beardface at College of Charleston…

What a day!

Around 6, Charlsi got out of work and we met up with a couple of her friends for bourbon drinks and fried pickles at Husk and then a quick bite at a pub called Moe’s.

I’m not going to get into what happened at Jamaican Me Hungry, but let’s just say that that place is super weird and I kinda want to go back.

A couple beers at The Griffon and we were done for the night. Poor Greg had to work til all hours. Despite our hopes that he could come meet up, it was not to be. We headed home, hung out with the doggies Ramon and Huck…

…for a while and I retired to my couch to rest up for the drive to DC.

Charleston was definitely my favorite among the new-to-me cities that I visited. I will definitely be back.

To come: Weird highway sites, Richmond and URichmond, and a high school reunion with the lads.

States covered:

• South Carolina

States covered total: 19

January 22, 2013

The best mornings on Walkabout are the ones where I have a short drive ahead of me. Day 19 was one of those days.

I only had to go about 5 hours to Charleston, even with the additional stop of Savannah built in. This gave me the opportunity to do a little small town exploration.

First stop: Kathleen, GA!

Why would I go to Kathleen, you ask? Well, my good friend Jessica Lord is from there and I just had to drop in to understand EDIMGIAFAD (Every Day in Middle Georgia Is Air Force Appreciation Day).

And drop in I did, but then I got confused. Jessica lives in Oakland. So when I got to Kathleen at 9:30am, she was still asleep and, thus, could not give me any specific spots to check out.

I ended up at this crossroads…

…where I saw this sweet sweet mullet car (business in front, party in the back)…

…and then the post office, just down the street:

I thought I must be missing something, and it turned out I was right. When I finally connected with Jessica a little ways down the road, she told me that I had seen the whole town.

BUT, she said that if I had stopped at her parents’ house, a minute away from the crossroads, we’d have had a 9:30am beer on the back porch and hung out. BLAST!!!

Anyway, no regrets. On to Savannah.

My Atlanta host Makia’s dad grew up in Savannah, so I went into town with a list of things to do and places to see. So helpful.

Savannah is small and beautiful. It’s a riverside town, and one of its main drags is River Street. River Street is classic river city, but the age and style of the buildings also remind me of New England sea towns somehow. In both Savannah and even more so in Charleston, I was reminded of New England.

Here is River Street:

With cobbles and ship in the background:

River Street is very low. It’s at River level. The rest of the city is built behind a massive floodwall. Here are the stairs dropping down from East and West Bay Street to River Street:

Savannah’s historic districts are built as a grid around small, beautiful parks. 

I just imagine that on a hot summer day in Savannah, sitting under the enveloping trees in one of these parks would be incredible and much needed:

Savannah has done a great job of preserving the old architecture in the historic district:

But I was so enthralled with the trees that I have about 100 pictures of them and hardly any of the buildings.

One of my favorites tree effects was the street tree tunnel:

Arright, enough trees. For lunch I went to Crystal Beer Parlor and had an excellent fish sandwich and beer and headed back to the car.

I wish I had more time in Savannah. I would like to go back with a little bit more time to explore outside of the historic district, but what I saw I really loved.

Savannah, consider yourself added to Walkabout 2.0!

Savannah to Charleston is about a two hour drive and my hosts Greg and Charlsi (both chefs) had a good plan in place: go to Slightly North of Broad, the insanely awesome South Carolina low country restaurant where Greg works, for appetizers and drinks and then to a concert.

That’s pretty much my perfect night, so I hustled north.

Here are Charlsi and Greg with their dog Ramon:

I came into dinner having read about Slightly North of Broad and, let me tell you, it exceeded my high expectations.

Greg was our guide, and we ordered basically one of everything. Charcuterie, tuna, oysters, pork belly, pickled veggies, banana cream pie. You name it, we ate it. It was amazing.

Next time Greg and Charlsi are in Boston, I’m returning the favor at Oleana or Hungry Mother (any other recommendations?).

We ended the night with a fun show at Pour House. The band, Yarn, plays a good mix of bluegrassy, bluesy, jammy rock. Good times.

Here’s some bluegrassy jamming:

Both Greg and Charlsi had to work early in the morning, and I had a long day of exploring to get to, so we were home by midnight. Perfect.

To come: The ocean, dungeons, museums, palmettos…beautiful, amazing Charleston.

States covered:

• Georgia
• South Carolina

States covered total: 19

January 21, 2013

In the grand tradition of perfectly timed (utterly by accident) Walkabout stops (see Jackalope Pub Crawl, Rock Chalk Jayhawk and Mardi Gras), my one day in Atlanta landed on Martin Luther King Day.

Atlanta was in full swing celebrating its favorite son.

My host, Makia, lived in Boston for 7 years, but is an Atlanta native. On top of that that, she is a Spelman alumna, practices medicine at Grady Hospital and teaches at Morehouse School of Medicine. She knows Atlanta like the back of her hand. And she had a full day planned.

I was in great hands.

To kick off the day, we drove in from Decatur and parked at Grady Hospital, which is a short walk from the Sweet Auburn district and the MLK Historic Site at the center of the day’s festivities.

Sweet Auburn is a historic business district filled primarily with black-owned businesses. And there is a lot of history there.

Among other things, we passed the Odd Fellows hall, and Southern Christian Leadership Council’s W.O.M.E.N. Building…

…while walking toward Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. followed in Martin Luther King Sr.’s footsteps to become pastor:

Ebenezer is an unassuming place, which makes it feel even more significant and plays directly into a key message of the MLK Historic Site next door. Martin Luther King was a man with an ordinary seeming church who accomplished extraordinary things through force of will, intelligence and belief in himself, his community and his country.

And guess what: you can too!

We went to the museums at the Historic Site next and I overheard 3 or 4 different schoolteachers telling their kids exactly this.

“You can do this. You are your own Martin Luther King.”

That’s a powerful message anywhere. In the context of Martin Luther King’s own church on Martin Luther King Day, it was hopeful beyond measure. It got me.

And lest you worry that the spirit of service has been lost in a sea of reverence for MLK, we came across a beautiful community garden called Truly Living Well. Volunteers of all ages everywhere:

Whew…that was just the first two hours. Did I mention that Makia had a full day planned?

Next stop…Five Points and Underground Atlanta:

Underground Atlanta is a subterranean mall right in the middle of downtown. They celebrate Coca-Cola everywhere and Underground Atlanta was no exception. Makia also smoked me at arcade basketball down there. People were laughing at me.

Having spent quite a while in Boston, Makia appreciates walking like I do. Hardly anyone else there does. So we were the weirdos walking everywhere. It was great.

We walked to Centennial Park, World of Coca-Cola ($27 to get in!!!!) where we posed with Coke creator John Stith Pemberton:

We walked to CNN (it was a portrait taking kinda day):

We walked (with some help from MARTA) to Georgia Tech, where they have a marked running trail that is exactly Pi long (buncha nerds (I love it)). We walked to The Varsity and peeked in. We walked to Atlanta University Center, home of Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlanta University.

Spelman is a historically black women’s college. They are very strict about letting men on campus, so we had to explain to a guard that Makia was showing me the circle (basically the quad) and that she was an alumna. Kinda funny.

Here’s the alumna of the hour:

And here is the archway on the circle:

It is considered bad luck to walk under the archway before graduation, so no one does. Which of course makes it super exciting to get to walk through as a new graduate!

It had been a long day, so on the way home we drove through Little Five Points and the Emory campus and then grabbed a bite to eat in Atlantic Station.

Early to bed my peeps. I had a long one set for Day 19!

To come: Tiny Kathleen, GA, Savannah and an all out ridiculous dinner in Charleston!

States covered:

• Georgia

States covered total: 18

January 20, 2013

Once again, I awoke on a Sunday with a mission: see everything I can possibly see and still get to where I can watch the Patriots’ playoff game.

Such a mission necessitates an early morning. As regular readers will remember, I had a big night on Day 16. Michelle and I were out til all hours taking in the full Krewe de Vieux experience.

Thus, when I walked out the door to a foggy foggy morning, I knew that the cosmos were somehow fully in tune with my brain.

A few little NOLA things before I get on with it.

I love these tile street markers in New Orleans:

Emily and Michelle’s neighborhood is full of cats. Since they have 3 themselves, a whole crew of cats likes to hang out on their front porch:

Kind of fun to have a whole committee wishing me good luck on the journey!

And lastly, I ran into this happy couple on my way to get some extremely necessary coffee:

My ultimate destination on Day 17 was Decatur, GA, just outside Atlanta. That’s about an 8 hour drive from New Orleans. Pretty standard drive for the Walkabout.

Right in the middle of that drive lies Birmingham.

Two years ago, I left ONEin3 Boston to work at Boston World Partnerships. I met a ton of people through ONEin3, including Carrie Huisingh and Brian Johnson. They were instrumental in making the ONEin3 North End neighborhood group extremely strong. They are also just good people and I wanted to stay in touch with them post ONEin3.

Sadly for me, they left Boston soon thereafter so that Brian could take a teaching job at Auburn University-Montgomery. Carrie works as an epidemiologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Happily for me, their new city of Birmingham was right on my route.

Carrie and Brian are city people, so naturally they wanted to live in downtown Birmingham. This is not the norm. They went through 4 realtors before they found one that would show them anything in the city and the 5th explained the concept of the “loft” to them as if it were just invented.

“Ok, I’m gonna show you something that’s cutting edge, a little out there. It’s called ‘a loft.’ Now, bear with me here. People converted warehouses in the city…and now they live in them. I know, it’s kinda crazy. Are you interested?”

In the year and a half since they moved, Brian and Carrie have gotten very involved in local doings. Brian’s even on the planning commission for Downtown Birmingham. Not surprising at all, given how committed they were to ONEin3 and the North End.

They took me to a great brunch spot, Trattoria Centrale, and then on a bomb tour of Birmingham.

Our main stop was a neighborhood near the Birmingham Barons new ballpark. Across the street, they’ve built a great new greenspace called Railroad Park, which was full of people on a Sunday even though no one really lives nearby. Apparently it’s teeming with people in the warmer months.

Here’s Railroad Park:

Here we are looking super cool:

My takeaways: Birmingham has a ton going for it. Lots of preserved and beautiful old buildings, a university that has continued to invest in the city (people jokingly call UAB “the University that Ate Birmingham), and conspicuous urbanization.

All in all, I was impressed with Birmingham as seen through Carrie and Brian’s eyes. They’ve sunk their teeth in and are invested fully in making sure Birmingham only gets cooler and more fun. Keep it up guys!

I ended up staying in Birmingham longer than planned because I was enjoying it so much, so I had to hustle to get to Decatur for kickoff.

As I pulled into my friend Makia’s driveway…

…the Falcons had already lost the NFC Championship game and the mood was somber.

We made our way to Downtown Decatur and watched the game at Taco Mac.

After a decent first half, things fell apart and the Pats’ season ended. No fun at all.

But really, I’m not complaining. There were lots of good times ahead for me.

Once again, the stars had aligned and my one day in Atlanta coincided with Martin Luther King Day, celebrating Atlanta’s favorite son.

To come: MLK Day in Atlanta, CNN, Atlanta’s colleges and bottomless Coca-Cola

States covered:

• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Georgia

States covered total: 18

January 19, 2013

Baton Rouge treated me well from start to the absolute finish. Before I headed off to New Orleans, I had a couple things to check off my list.

To start the day, Lauren took me to her favorite beignet spot, Coffee Call, and instructed me in all the ways of the beignet.

There are two kinds, pillows and fingers. We got an order of each and some coffee.

My first beignet experience:

On top of breakdowns of all the regional cultures of Louisiana, they also have these crazy models and parts of farming equipment:

Once I found the music section, which was huge and great, I knew I had to get outta there. I would have spent a whole day, which I did not have.

Armed with deep knowledge of Louisiana, I said goodbye to Lauren and Wally…

…and cut a trail straight to good old New Orleans.

When I originally laid out my trip, I planned to spend a couple hours in New Orleans on my way to Atlanta. I was there in May last year, so I didn’t think it was worth paying for a hotel when I was just down the road in Baton Rouge.

But then I told my friend Emily Knight about my trip. She took it upon herself to email her friends Emily Wyffels and Michelle Rutherford and ask if I could stay with them on Dauphine street.

Being super generous, Emily and Michelle rolled out the red carpet for me. In fact, they threw me a big party!

Here they are on their front porch on Dauphine:

Well, the party wasn’t really for me, but I still had the best time.

See, Day 16 happened to be the day of the first parade of Mardi Gras season. And let me tell you, Krewe de Vieux put on quite a show. My Walkabout has really had the best luck.

Krewe de Vieux is known for being filthy dirty. Their motto is “Krewe de Vieux Comes Early,” which is all about the fact that Krewe de Vieux is the first krewe that has a parade. It also means something else, which I’ll leave to your imagination.

The party kicked off in the late afternoon at Michelle and Emily’s house with chili and drinks. Once the parade started, we walked a block over to watch.

The parade’s floats, music and costumes were hilarious, crude and awesome. The pictures are fun, but the experience requires hearing to understand. Photos first, videos below.

Anyone under 18, please avert your eyes:

And the videos.

A taste of the floats:

And the music:

This one’s a little longer, but captures a lot:

After the parade, we went out to a bunch of bars and house parties. It was so much fun. Everyone in New Orleans was in the mood to make friends.

Michelle and I ended up wandering around striking up conversations with people and party hopping.

We had a blast:

Like…maybe too much of a blast. The next morning was, well, foggy. You’ll see.

To come: Shaking the cobwebs, touring Birmingham and hopes dashed in Atlanta.

States covered:

• Louisiana

States covered total: 15