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Road Trip - Coming To A Town Near You?


L5Larry

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The wife and I are off on an interesting road trip. Her son is getting married in Destin, Florida on Saturday 8/6. As I am the master of mixing a lot of pleasure with a little business, I have decided to make a Gulf Coast, Mississippi Delta tour out of it. So if any of you are along the way, let's have some BBQ and a beer, or a rum & coke and a steak.

 

Chime in if you're along the way, or have any suggestions!

 

We will be in Destin, FL Thurs-Sun 8/4 - 8/7 For the wedding. Downtime will be Thursday night and Sunday.

 

Monday morning we're off toward New Orleans, with a lunch stop in the Boloxi/Gulfport, MS area. My family used to vacation there, and I am anxious to see what's left since the casinos took over, and Katrina went through.

 

Planning on arrival for an overnight in New Orleans late afternoon Monday, 8/8. Planning a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1 (the one in the LSD scene in "Easy Rider"), dinner at Emeril's and then a French Quarter stroll.

 

Tuesday is the family heritage and blues history tour of Mississippi, between New Orleans and Memphis. My mother was born in Durant, MS, and raised in Greenwood. A quick stop at the family cemetery in Durant, show my wife where the house my mother was born in once stood, and then on the Greenwood. Besides a rich history in the cotton industry, Greenwood is just about the southern most point in Mississippi where the "official" blues heritage begins.

 

From Greenwood it's over to Hwy 61 and north to Clarksdale. Clarksdale is the self-appointed birthplace of the blues, and the site of ONE of the purported, and most widely accepted location of THE "crossroads". After a drive-by of Muddy Waters shack and the museum, it's off the the REAL location of the "crossroads". After that it's Hwy 61 north to Memphis for some BBQ (not the dry-rub place in the alley, looking for a suggestion), and a little stroll on Beale St.

 

Wednesday morning, 8/10, it's back on the highway home to St. Louis, for I have to be at band rehearsal Wednesday evening by 6:45.

 

So.... any suggestions? I know we have members here from Boloxi, Memphis, and probably New Orleans. Let me hear from you.

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Larry...

 

I've been gone from Memphis so long I don't know what to recommend for BBQ. I left before Beale Street was rebuilt into a tourist and music venue, so my knowledge of music venues is way out of date too.

 

If the Peabody Hotel still has the bar and ducks in the lobby, you may want to watch them march around if you get the timing correct, and they used to have a wonderful bakery/coffee shop. The pyramid is after I left too.

 

If you're into impressionist art, the Dixon Gallery is quite nice - or at least it was.

 

Gibson didn't have major facilities when I was there either, at least not that I knew about. That might be worth planning for a tour.

 

m

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Larry, in Memphis, Interstate BBQ is a dive but has the BEST grub in town (and not at Emeril's prices) get the sampler platter.

 

In NOLA I'd suggest Commander's Palace (the restaurant that taught Emeril how to cook) or Jacque-Imo's but I get it if you are determined to eat at Emeril's. That Ewok has been on TV after all. A 'stroll thru the FQ' should include sticking your head in Preservation Hall and Fritzel's, I'd recommend looking into who's playing at Snug Harbor that night (sometimes there are some jazz names on the bill), Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar is the oldest bar in the USA (an ancient structure and a fun place to have a cocktail), I would advise that Pat O'Brien's is worth at least a shared Hurricane as the bar is beautiful and heavily decorated with amazing wrought iron but the courtyard has the fountain that shoots fire ... do NOT leave without having had cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. They are open 24 hours, so no excuses...

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Guest farnsbarns

At the cemetery, look out for my fathers clarinet/sax teachers grave. He was called Paul Barnes and known as Polo Barnes and Daddy Paul (I think that it may have been just us that called him Daddy Paul).

 

On his grave it says "Doctor of Jazzology".

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