Missed days; was having fun... Jan 13

Friday was an awesome day in Gulf Shores, Alabama. If you ever are passing through, I highly recommend going there. I never went to the bar (MudBugs) that I was supposed to go to, but I walked the beach for hours and then sat and read infront of the waves for hours. And then realized I was pretty sunburned.  Totally worth it.  It’s January! And I’m sunburned and barefoot, dusting sand off my towel!  Totally worth it.

Gulf Shores, Alabama. 

I have to put a small shoutout to Public Libraries all across America.  They are wonderful places, full of wifi, fun books, and friendly smiles, and don’t cost anything.  I appreciate these things.

I also have to put a shout out to the people who make statues/doors like this. You are crazy. And awesome.

Ok, so after spending hours on the beach, some of which included staring out into the ocean and remembering my huge irrational fear of fish that stems from associating fish with death & witnessing the death of fish as a young child, which led to year of fish-avoidence, it came time for me to leave Gulf Shores and head to Louisiana. I was a bit early leaving, but was ready to not talk to the old man who kept telling me that I had pretty hair on the beach, so I left.  However, on the way up Rt 59, I spotted the craziest sign: “Spear Hunting Museum”.  WHAT?!? Who makes a Spear Hunting Museum?!? I immediately turned in and decided this was going to be the icing on the cake to my day, or at least add a little spice.  $3 got me a self-guided tour, which I happily paid when I saw the full-body taxidermied lion that greeted me at the door.  I used to study a lot of taxidermy when I was sculpting animals full time a few years ago and love/hate it when I see these creatures in person.  The lady at the desk explained that I will walk along a number of hallways, which will lead me back out to the entrance. Great. I turned down the first hallway and my eyes were met with 12 sets of glass eyes in taxidermied boars that were all strategically turned to greet me.  Woah. I started taking pictures.  I walked down the middle of skinny hallway, as far from both walls of grimacing animals as possible.  Next to each animal bust was a picture of the animal just after it was killed WITH A SPEAR by the man who had killed every single thing that is in this museum.  Gnarly pictures.  And then there were probably 15 skulls of that animal hanging around each bust.  And skins of snakes, bears, boars, spotted dears.  By the third hall, I started freaking out, seeing all the beautiful animals this man has killed.  He better have eaten all the meat. And I mean all of it.  By the 5^th hallway, I had to start focusing on my breathing to steady myself after facing an African bobcat, a bison, a water buffalo, and a puma, all speared by this man, stuffed, and now baring their teeth at me. This was no longer entertaining. Surrounding every animal is the animal’s aura and spirit. I could feel each one.  The curse of excellent taxidermy is that when you walk past it, you think that the animal could reach out and swat you a good one. By the 6^th hallway, I had my t-shirt covering my mouth to force myself to focus on my breathing more and was walking QUICKLY. I turned down the last hall and was faced with “The Largest Crocodile Ever Killed with a Spear” with its mouth opened nice and wide. It was 10 ft long at least! I walked so quickly! Holy crap! I was seriously freaking out at this point, but also knew that I couldn’t show my fear to the lady at the desk. She had a bumper sticker on her car out front that said “Vegetarian is an Indian word that means ‘Bad Hunter’”, so I knew I had to act cool. Me good hunter. I swears… I fixed my shirt and lowered my tensed shoulders just as I got to her desk, sweetly sang a “Goodbye! Thanks so much!” and gently pushed the door open and got in my car, where I appropriated let myself freak out a little bit.

WHY DID I THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA??? I’ve been a vegetarian for the past year because I fight for animal rights. I currated a gallery show last year about the treatment of animals, and have gotten into fights with people about the ethics of hunting for game vs. hunting to live. I have an irrational fear of fish because I’m scared of witnessing death.  So, yeah, Meg, that sounds like a GREAT idea.  Spear Hunting Museum, I do not appreciate you.  Sheesh. However, I will post pictures later. If you can't wait, the website is http://www.huntingwithspears.com/

I spent the next 4 hours of driving to the New Orleans airport both trying to forget what had just happened and also trying to remember every aspect of it because it was such a ridiculous thing for me to do.  Needless to say, I survived the day, picked up Squirrel Ninja from the airport, had my first delicious dinner on Frenchmen St, and watched my first New Orleans band (The Cotton Mouth Kings) toot their horns as swing dancers swept each other across the tiny dance floor of a dark, crowded bar. Well, heck. I am in New Orleans.  A fantastic Friday all in all.  A thrill is good for the soul.

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Saturday also proved to be fantastic and for very different reasons. Squirrel and I got up early for a Swamp Boat tour, which took us around the Bayou and we got to gawk at everything. There were some hibernating alligators we got to sit by for a while in the boat, and a beautiful 18-inch alligator inside the boat with us, which we all got to hold and pet and talk about.  I have to say that holding an alligator is really awesome.  A live one, that is. …Heh… Its skin is so soft and fleshy and its eyes are so beautiful with layers of eyelids for all different purposes!  And the tails are pretty special too- so fragile at that size.  Apparently, in the winter months, the alligators don’t hunt but feed off the fat they’ve stored in their tail.  Cool!  My heart melted for the little gator, named Louis.  And I was so glad he was alive.

Pictures of the baby alligator are to come later.

We napped pretty hard after the tour. I started feeling ill again with this cold, so had to rest up. But felt like a hero when I got up again. We headed into the French Quarter and wandered around, listening to street music music, watching street shows, eating cheese, rating how beautiful each of the balconies were, meeting up with Squirrel’s bother, and taking pictures with different Mardi Gras masks.  Mardi Gras season has just begun here and… its everywhere. Masks, beads left hanging on fences, parades, feathers, sequins, glitter… We’ve seen it all.  And loved it all.

many strang street performers.  More & better pictures are to come.

For dinner, we went to Coops. Oh! And we have Wonderful hosts here! Squirrel grew up with this guy Dane, who is letting us stay in his apartment. So generous of him! He’s also being a great tourguide, along with his sweet ladyfriend, Irish. We had dinner with them Friday night, and then met up with Dane for dinner on Saturday too.  At Coops. The boys had Jambalaya and I had a salad. It was lovely. Then we had beignets at Café Du Mond and headed to Dane’s improv comedy show at The New Movement Theater. That was awesome and hilarious. A lady told 3 stories and between each story, were about 20 min of improv (loosely) surrounding the topic of the story just told. I was thoroughly impressed.