Travel and Growe - Gary & Cindy Go To ...

St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans)

Cindy and I went to see the Pope in October.  No, not THAT Pope.  Not the one that lives in Rome. The one that lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  What, you say, "There's no Pope in Louisiana."  Clearly, you haven't been in the South.  Because in Loozianna Faith, Family and Football are the Holy Trinity and the Head Football Coach is as near as you can get to a secular Pope.

But, before we get to that part of the story, let's take a trip to the City of Dreams, The City That Care Forgot, The Big Easy, The Crescent City - 'Nawlins, a/k/a New Orleans, USA.

Jackson Square All-Stars (New Orleans - 2018)

Of course, it comes as no surprise that the city that gave the world jazz is still giving everyone in the city music day and night - in the clubs (lots of them and relatively cheap) and on the streets. Hang around for a few days and you begin to get a sense that there's a very fine line, in terms of talent, between "stars" and people who are playing for pennies. Just a personal note - after stopping to listen to a street performer, throw in a couple of bucks not loose change.  Afterall, you spent thousands of dollars to get here, let yourself go a little.

If you like big, sprawling mansions take the St. Charles streetcar (they are NOT "trolleys"; although everyone will know what you mean, they also will know you're a tourist with a capital T) to the end of the line through the Garden District (one of the most beautiful residential areas in the US) for blocks and blocks of mansions.

If you're spending time in the French Quarter don't fail to note the Creole Cottages and all the little gingerbread Victorians that fill the Quarter.  They might look modest (or positively decayed in some cases) but housing in the Quarter is wildly expensive and lots of these seeming shacks run into the seven figures and are just spectacularly modern on the inside.

New Orleans also is home to the first townhouses in North America - The Pontalba Apartments.

Built in the mid-19th Century these wonderful old brick buildings flank Jackson Square and feature balconies with some of the ciy's most ornate cast iron work.  Most of the iron work in NO is "cast" (made using forms/molds) as opposed to "wrought" (largely hand made using a hammer and a very strong, artistic person).  The obvious difference is "cast" iron can be far more intricate and the patterns are easily replicated.  Either way, they're fascinating.

The Pontalba buildings are these days mostly private residences and consequently not subject to private viewing.  I've always wondered what they actually look like inside.  No more.  

If you buy a ticket for a tour of the French Quarter at the "1850 House" (ground level on the left side - as you face the river in Jackson Square) you also get access to one of the Pontalba Apartments that presents as it may have looked in the 1850's.  Impressive.

Tiger Stadium (LSU) From a Mile Away

So, after a few days it was on to Baton Rouge/LSU.  While I truly enjoyed my stay at LSU (Law School back some time ago) keep in mind that Baton Rouge is to New Orleans as, well, Scranton, PA is to Paris.  BR is pretty much a company town.  Actually, two companies:  Exxon (home of one of the largest oil refineries in the world) and Louisiana State University (LSU) site of perhaps the most beautiful college campus in the country and home to Louisiana's most important treasure (i.e.) the LSU football team and its mascot - a live Bengal Tiger.

Although we've been back to school a number of times since I graduated from Law School in 1975, it had been over 40 years since I'd been to a football game.  Then the stadium was enormous (with a capacity around 70,000) and tailgating was enjoyed by lots of fans.  Now the stadium dominates the skyline and on game nights is itself one of the largest cities in the state with a capacity of 102,000+.  Tailgating has risen to an art form, so much so that thousands of fans never actually go to the game, they just show up on Thursday, eat and drink for two days and on Saturday watch the game on TV from the comfort of their land-cruising 40 ft. RV.

As for the Tiger (LSU has had a live tiger mascot since 1936) this is Mike VII.  The Tiger's lot in life has improved quite a bit since I was a student. He gets the best veternarian care and resides in an expansive (15,000 sq. feet) new habitat.  LSU doesn't buy tigers or breed them.  They're gifted from rescue facilities that are otherwise unable to keep them.  I understand the objections to keeping wild animals caged.  If Mike didn't have his current job, he probably would have been euthanized.  Would that be better?  I don't have an answer to that.

Tiger Stadium (2018)

They say it never rains in Tiger Stadium for a football game.  Well, it rained.  But since it was 70 degrees it wasn't so bad.

We won the game.  We tailgated. We were down on the field (a rare honor)  We met Coach Orgeron (an even rarer honor) We saw the campus.  We saw Mike.  We bought some LSU stuff.  And we owe it all to our hosts and their family, all of whom could not have been more gracious.

This is Billy Cannon.  He is, unquestionably, the man who put LSU football on the map.  He won the Heisman Trophy in 1959 as college football's best player and his iconic run against rival Ole Miss on Halloween night is perhaps the most famous play in college history.

He went on to a career in professional football and later became a dentist in Baton Rouge.

He also had about $6,000,000 in counterfeit $100's buried in his back yard.  In the late '80's he confessed to his involvement in the counterfeit scheme and served 2 years in Federal prison.

Later he went back to dentistry as the head of the medical program at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana and, according to all accounts, was beloved by the inmates. 

Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the country.  It houses over 6,000 inmates, nearly two-thirds of whom are serving life-sentences.  Over 100 inmates are on death-row.

It can't possibly be an easy place to work.  He worked there for nearly two decades.

Cannon's fall from grace was stunning and left his fans (i.e. just about every person in Louisiana) in shock.  Even more amazing might be his reclamation. Cannon passed away in May, 2018.

So, that's Looziana 2018.  Laissez les bon temps rouler! "Let The Good Times Roll."