Today has been a viewing a lot of wooded areas from the train window. I was alone in my seating area through the night and into the morning. When we hit Birmingham that changed and the train filled up. I was up in the lounge car speaking with a park ranger guide aboard the train. He told me the plant that seems to just about cover EVERYTHING in Georgia and parts of Alabama is the Kudzu. It is not natural to the area but has taken over and is hard to get rid of. There are areas that seem to just be dripping with kudzu and also some other type of vine covering. I think what I was seeing in Virginia was the Virginia creeper. That's what I saw online that seemed to match. I asked the trail guide, but he didn't know.
I have seen a lot more shallow watery areas from the train since being this far south - the "Deep South". I have also seen much more pine trees or something like pine. I have discovered that I'm not a huge fan of pine trees. They are so prickly and spiky looking, I prefer the softness look of the fir trees or redwoods. I'm not a great expert on trees, so I don't quite know what the names are of those I like or don't like but if it's sparser and spikier, I don't like it as much.
I spoke for awhile with the trail guide and he is from an area just outside of Atlanta. He said that for the amount I pay for my 950 sq ft. condo, I could have a very nice new home two to three times the size. Of course, I wouldn't make as much either, but the starting teacher in Atlanta he thought was about $35,000. I think I could still afford more in Atlanta than I could in Orange County. But, I'm not planning to move out here! I'm quite sure I will melt in the humidity.
I also met a mother and her daughter who are from the Seattle area and they also purchased a 30 day train pass. On the train they have a junior ranger program several of the kids are participating in. I have loved seeing all the kids traveling with their parents at the different parks or on the trains. I think exposing kids to the world, history, and culture is so important. If I ever have kids, I want to make that a top priority.
I am now in Alabama, or maybe I've crossed into Mississippi. The sky is the perfect mix of blue with puffy white cotton clouds that come preceding or succeeding a storm. The time changed at some point in Georgia. I'm now only two hours ahead of friends and family at home. I'm excited to see Katrina when I get into NOLA tonight. I'm excited to eat beignets too! I'm sure I have not lost a pound on this trip and have probably gained instead. With all my walking though, hopefully it will not be too much! More later...
The rest of my train ride was an interesting one. There was a group of four young men sitting in front of me that did not give me the best impression because of their language and some of their topics of conversation. I just turned on my music and drowned it out. Before too long though I could tell in that tone of voice there was a woman scolding the boys, though I could not tell exactly why. To my surprise, the boys became super polite and friendly with her, saying "yes, ma'am". Granted, her scold was not a super biting sound but more like, "you know better, make your mama proud" kind of scold. The lady next to me, who was traveling with her three children to see her fiancee in NOLA, was chuckling at the whole exchange and a little later joined in the banter when it came to school. A large guy to my right with a heavy southern accent also joined in every now and then. It was quite funny.
I was told by two people that the train could at times be very obnoxious with a lot of drunk people, so I am grateful that it wasn't today. This crowd was fairly calm, and the crowd in the lounge car was much more interested in learning and sitting with the rangers. It was my kind of crowd.
We slowed as we pulled into New Orleans, and but first had to cross a 5 mile short bridge over the water. And I thought the San Mateo bridge in the Bay area was long. I'm just grateful we didn't go over the 25 mile causeway - which is the longest continuous bridge in the world. I don't know that my nerves could handle that. The train was so slowed, but we did go by one of the famous, monstrously huge, cemeteries with their above ground graves. It's amazing to see how far this one cemetery stretched.
After a half hour of this slow haul, I was off the train and Katrina had just arrived a few minutes earlier in front of the train station with our rental car. I hopped in and we found our place of rest in the Black Pearl area (more uptown). We were certainly amazed at all the mansions we passed on our way in. They are shockingly big and beautiful. Where does all this money come from? We were not sure.
Our home is a cute double shotgun style home (which I just learned what that meant) that they have turned into a partial B&B. The owners are incredibly friendly and willing to tell use more information than we could possibly remember. They told us where to go at night, but also gave lots of warnings about what to do to stay safe. Between that and the previous warnings from a few trainmates, I was a bit spooked tonight. Much of the area is a bit rundown looking. Our house is great and the neighborhood is nicer (and apparently one of the safest), but it was interesting that our evening on Decatur and Frenchman was not quite the touristy look I had imagined. The building are interesting, but most look like they could use a fresh coat of paint and there are all kinds of people down there on a Thursday night.
We were told to eat dinner at Coops first, which was good friend chicken and jumbalaya (which had rabbit in it...I can't think about those cute fuzzy creatures being my food). The place was small and noisy, but friendly and full of interesting people (some guys wearing a fancy style mask at times). We left there and went straight to Cafe Du Mond, and share a plate of beignets and I had an iced latte with the chickory in it. It was pretty delicious.
We walked back down Decatur St and up Frenchmen street until we heard some great jazz screaming at us from inside a little bar, d.b.a.. We picked this one to listen to and enjoyed it for probably 45-60 min. The people watching was great as well and who was willing to get out there and dance by themselves.
We left, since we are getting old, and just after a guy had come up to try to get us to dance. We both thought this was a good cue to go, so we did. We made it home perfectly safe. Tomorrow will hold much much more, so I need my beauty rest!
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