Good Times are Rolling for NOLA

Super Bowl win…City coming back to life…To celebrate Mardi Gras, here’s a version of my New Orleans article that appeared in the latest issue of VERTICAL, Tampa Bay’s beautiful new online style magazine!

Go to http://www.verticaltampabay.com/ to see more of this gorgeous publication!

I like to get lost in the past.

Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to New Orleans time and again. Shacked up for a long weekend in the French Quarter, I can leave the 21st century behind. Its architecture—ramshackle plaster, ancient bricks, mysterious courtyards—works as well as any time machine.

Many of the hotels, although modern inside, are built around old bones that have existed for over a century. A favorite haunt is the Dauphine Orleans Hotel, a former 18th century townhouse and its adjoining bar, May Baily’s Place (once a well-known Storyville bordello).

Dining in the past is easy too—no shortage of joints doing what they’ve done best for decades.

• Café du Monde: frying perfect beignets and perking chicory coffee since 1862 (don’t wear the chic black turtleneck—it’s not so chic with a snowdrift of powdered sugar across your chest.)
(http://www.cafedumonde.com/)

• Central Grocery: est. 1906; this Italian market’s prized invention: the muffaletta—a whopping sandwich smothered in olive salad, ham, salami and cheeses.

• Fiorella’s: It’s been around since 1937 and I’d love to sample some of their Italian specialties but I can’t get past the spicy fried chicken.

Drink up—the Quarter abounds with bars and cocktails that go way back.

• Napoleon House, ca. 1914: Sipping a Pimm’s Cup in a dark corner booth is a great antidote to the hot Southern sun.

• The Roosevelt Hotel bar’s Ramos Gin Fizz (trademarked in 1935)

• The Swizzle Stick Bar inside Loew’s Hotel, where, if you ask nicely, their top notch bartender will mix an Aviation—a lavender-hued marvel that first landed around 1916. (http://www.cafeadelaide.com/)

Some fab new attractions steeped in history that couldn’t have a more appropriate home base than New Orleans:

• The Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) fosters a newfound appreciation for that oyster po’boy.

• The Museum of the American Cocktail (part of SoFAB) highlights the evolution of mixology with well-preserved artifacts. (http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org/)

• Bustout Burlesque at the House of Blues: Glittery, bawdy fun in the best tradition of Bourbon Street’s famous 1950s nightclubs before they went to seed (see photo above). (www.bustoutburlesque.com/)

New Orleans’ trademark joie de vivre took a big hit in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We can help with its continuing recovery by visiting and supporting the culture that gives us so much—music, art, cuisine, history—and teaches us how to let the good times roll, even when the times get tough.

Buffalo Bound

After a while, I stopped telling people we were going to Buffalo and switched to Niagara Falls (another destination on our itinerary). That seemed to make it go down a little easier.

Why? Well, as you may know, Buffalo’s got a bit of a reputation for being a not-very-nice place—a city in decline, terrible winters…

But really—what place doesn’t have its list of negatives, which we all know are more entertaining to bitch about than the positives?

Conversely, there’s a self-satisfying pleasure in seeking out the good stuff—kind of like a cosmic treasure hunt that makes you feel a bit more connected to the beauty of the world and less affected by the ugliness.

We began and ended our recent trip to Western New York in the Buffalo area and I’ve got to say—our experience was pretty flawless. (Of course, my observations have also shown me that a lot has to do with the traveler’s attitude to begin with but that’s another story…)

Checking in, passing through security, and boarding our Southwest flight was a breeze—Tampa International is a great airport.

Likewise, the Buffalo airport was as easy to navigate as my friend and former Buffalo-gal-by-way-of-Williamsville, Carla, promised it would be. In one smooth twirl, we deplaned, swooped up our suitcases, and parked ourselves at the rental car counter just across from the baggage claim. Ten minutes later, we were hurtling down the interstate headed for our first destination…Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin Complex.

Up next…Buffalo Roundabout

Step right up, folks!

Life is one big amusement park: thrill rides that make your stomach do flip-flops (Will I get that new job? Will he notice that I exist?), freak shows (pick any morning TV program—the one with Hoda & Kathie Lee, for example), cotton candy and fried things on sticks (those rare days when EVERYTHING lands in your favor, YUM!), games to test your skill (balancing the checkbook), exhibitions of humanity that defy the imagination (try people watching at any mall/airport/beach…). And you don’t even have to buy an admission ticket for all that.

As for me—I live to explore the world, from hidden treasures and wondrous experiences in my own back yard to what’s going on across the country and around the world. Almost every outing presents an opportunity to see or do something new. I never know what adventure awaits around the next corner.

I never expected to do barrel rolls over the Gulf of Mexico in an open-cockpit, circa 1941 biplane, but there I was, strapped in behind the pilot, laughing and hooting like the barnstorming aviatrix of my daydreams. I never expected to zip line through a Costa Rican forest, but I did—and dang, those valleys are deep and wide between aerial platforms!

I also never expected, after 20 successful years of working my way up to my “dream job,” that I’d quit the 9-5 grind cold turkey to do my own thing, which largely consists of investigating the infinite possibilities a creative life has to offer.

I’m going to be your Spirit Guide—your “Free Spirit” Guide—at this Roadside Attraction: introducing you to people and places, art and culture, food and drink, stuff that delights the senses: anything that I find interesting, entertaining, fascinating or just plain weird, posted here for your enjoyment.

Hopefully Roadside Attraction will encourage you to see the world in its Technicolor splendor and to appreciate the little things. Every person has a story and every place has its charms. Maybe Roadside Attraction will inspire you to explore new places of your own.

So now, I draw back the velvet curtain and present to you this Roadside Attraction serial, in which the curiosities of mankind shall be revealed in kaleidoscopic glory…

UP NEXT…Your Field Guide to One Helluva Sugar Rush…