Where did I leave off? New Orleans, I believe. I landed and the fun began. The wedding I was going to was in Jackson, Mississippi, but it's only a 3 hour drive from New Orleans, and one of my oldest friends, Lindsay, lives in New Orleans. Plus I've never been. So the plan was to go there on Friday night, drive up to Jackson together for the wedding on Saturday, and come back on Sunday to fly back to OC. Which is exactly what happened. So I actually only had the one night in New Orleans, but we made the most of it.
We spent a good chunk of the evening on Lindsay's boyfriend's balcony in the French Quarter listening to music, drinking and eating amazing pizza. Not the Cajun food I was hoping for, but damn it was good. And I hadn't had pizza yet in America, so I was totally happy with it. After a few hours of that and getting a bit of a buzz, Lindsay was ready for bed, but I was ready for exploring. So we compromised and she took me out for like an hour to check things off my New Orleans list. We walked down Bourbon Street (which was weirdly not crowded for a Friday night. Or at least not as crowded as I expected it to be). Lindsay actually hates Bourbon St, but she took me to the oldest bar in New Orleans for a beer, which we took to go because you can in New Orleans, then she dropped me at the crowded section and let me walk through for a few minutes and check it out. This was followed by a wander through the French Quarter back to Lindsay's house, where we stopped on the corner at a bar to listen to jazz while I got my Cajun food. So in about a 1-2 hour period, I checked off Bourbon St, live jazz and Cajun food, the only things I wanted. It was perfect! Well done, Lindsay.
I was actually up early on Saturday, because while I was home I slept like 5-6 hours a night. I hate jetlag. It was the worst. But that let me get up and go out and have a walk through the French Quarter during the day in search of coffee. So I did that, then we hopped in the car and headed up to Jackson, where our first stop (before the hotel, even) was a barbecue restaurant. I actually had visions of stopped at some wooden shack on the side of the road as soon as we crossed the state line and eating all the barbecue, but we didn't see anything by the highway. So by the time we were about 30 minutes from Jackson we realized we wouldn't be getting that and we started yelping, and thank God we did because holy shit the barbecue we found was amazing. So so good. We got a combo platter with ribs and chicken and sausage and rib tips and beans and potato salad and everything was so good. Especially the sausage. It was actually kind of like what I think McDonald's tries to do with their breakfast sausage, except this one is like the real deal. The flavor profile is really similar. I don't know if that's a standard Mississippi sausage or what, but McDonald's (and every frozen sausage patty in the supermarket) is basically trying to copy this. And failing. But at least that gives you an idea of what it was kind of like.
After lunch, it was a quick check in, shower, change, and then wedding. They had the wedding at the Agriculture and Forestry museum, which I'm actually confused as to why it's called that. It's basically a recreation of a small, rural Mississippi town from the early 20th century. They've taken all these historical buildings, like a farmhouse, cotton gin, filling station, doctor's office, general store and much more, and then rebuilt it and turned it into a museum. It's super cute. And Jay and Sarah got married in the historical church there. Also super cute. It was only my 2nd church wedding ever, and it was definitely the most Jesus-filled service I've ever been to. People bowed their heads and prayed and talked about Jesus a lot. I sat there awkwardly looking around at everyone bowing their heads. Yeah. Anyway, very sweet wedding, and then very sweet party, during which they wore traditional Korean clothes, which was awesome. I actually posted a pic of them on Instagram with what I thought was their wedding hashtag (#teammacadorykim, which was also their wedding website and what not) only to find out there was no wedding hashtag and literally nobody else posted anything on facebook or instagram with that hashtag. Whoops. But they liked it, so it's ok. Post-wedding I took a quick power nap at the hotel before heading out to a bar with everyone, which was fun. They had said it was like the most hipster brewpub in Jackson, but it was not hipster at all. It was nice, good drinks, very polite people (Southerners are crazy polite. I don't get it. They make me feel like a terrible person), good times all around.
Sunday after the wedding was pretty chill, too. We checked out and went to see the Medgar Evers House. Medgar Evers, who I had never heard of, was a big civil rights movement guy, and he lived in Jackson. He was actually murdered in his driveway by a sniper, and they've turned it into a historical site now. So we went to see that before heading to lunch with the wedding crew, then back to New Orleans. We decided to take back roads to New Orleans, though, which was a really nice drive. There are lots of little, one stoplight towns in rural Mississippi though. I think it was actually my first time seeing these fabled places. And it made me so happy that I'm not from there. Also we should have counted churches, but we would have lost count cause there are a ridiculous amount. We did see one synagogue, but that was already back in Louisiana and right by New Orleans. It was a beautiful drive, but pretty uneventful. Lindsay had also been having some issues with her boyfriend, so we actually didn't talk much on the ride back, which sucked. I only see her every few years, and unfortunately her being in a bad mood meant that she wasn't very communicative and was somewhat distracted. But she did end up playing me more country music than I've ever listened to before. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but it did seem appropriate for a back country drive through Mississippi.
After that, I flew home, slept, woke up, met up with my brother and had a nice long chat about many of the issues we've been having, had burgers for lunch with high school friends, packed, ate Mexican food for dinner with the family, then went to the airport and came back to China. And now here we are. Well, not quite. Stuff has happened since I got back, but I'll write about that tomorrow or something.
For now, we just get a quick song. Today's song is Juicy, by Radiation City. They're this band from Portland, and I heard and loved Juicy. Probably cause it reminds me a lot of Lucius, and I do love me some Lucius. This seems to be the first single off their upcoming album, SYNESTHETICA, which has amazing cover art as you can see below. Although I'm not sure how much I'll like the album. I listened to their last one, Animals In The Median, because I loved Juicy so much, but the album wasn't great. We'll see, though, maybe this new album will be and this song isn't just a fluke. But if it is, it's a great one and I wanted to make sure it made it onto my blog/a Spotify playlist so I don't forget about it.
We spent a good chunk of the evening on Lindsay's boyfriend's balcony in the French Quarter listening to music, drinking and eating amazing pizza. Not the Cajun food I was hoping for, but damn it was good. And I hadn't had pizza yet in America, so I was totally happy with it. After a few hours of that and getting a bit of a buzz, Lindsay was ready for bed, but I was ready for exploring. So we compromised and she took me out for like an hour to check things off my New Orleans list. We walked down Bourbon Street (which was weirdly not crowded for a Friday night. Or at least not as crowded as I expected it to be). Lindsay actually hates Bourbon St, but she took me to the oldest bar in New Orleans for a beer, which we took to go because you can in New Orleans, then she dropped me at the crowded section and let me walk through for a few minutes and check it out. This was followed by a wander through the French Quarter back to Lindsay's house, where we stopped on the corner at a bar to listen to jazz while I got my Cajun food. So in about a 1-2 hour period, I checked off Bourbon St, live jazz and Cajun food, the only things I wanted. It was perfect! Well done, Lindsay.
I was actually up early on Saturday, because while I was home I slept like 5-6 hours a night. I hate jetlag. It was the worst. But that let me get up and go out and have a walk through the French Quarter during the day in search of coffee. So I did that, then we hopped in the car and headed up to Jackson, where our first stop (before the hotel, even) was a barbecue restaurant. I actually had visions of stopped at some wooden shack on the side of the road as soon as we crossed the state line and eating all the barbecue, but we didn't see anything by the highway. So by the time we were about 30 minutes from Jackson we realized we wouldn't be getting that and we started yelping, and thank God we did because holy shit the barbecue we found was amazing. So so good. We got a combo platter with ribs and chicken and sausage and rib tips and beans and potato salad and everything was so good. Especially the sausage. It was actually kind of like what I think McDonald's tries to do with their breakfast sausage, except this one is like the real deal. The flavor profile is really similar. I don't know if that's a standard Mississippi sausage or what, but McDonald's (and every frozen sausage patty in the supermarket) is basically trying to copy this. And failing. But at least that gives you an idea of what it was kind of like.
After lunch, it was a quick check in, shower, change, and then wedding. They had the wedding at the Agriculture and Forestry museum, which I'm actually confused as to why it's called that. It's basically a recreation of a small, rural Mississippi town from the early 20th century. They've taken all these historical buildings, like a farmhouse, cotton gin, filling station, doctor's office, general store and much more, and then rebuilt it and turned it into a museum. It's super cute. And Jay and Sarah got married in the historical church there. Also super cute. It was only my 2nd church wedding ever, and it was definitely the most Jesus-filled service I've ever been to. People bowed their heads and prayed and talked about Jesus a lot. I sat there awkwardly looking around at everyone bowing their heads. Yeah. Anyway, very sweet wedding, and then very sweet party, during which they wore traditional Korean clothes, which was awesome. I actually posted a pic of them on Instagram with what I thought was their wedding hashtag (#teammacadorykim, which was also their wedding website and what not) only to find out there was no wedding hashtag and literally nobody else posted anything on facebook or instagram with that hashtag. Whoops. But they liked it, so it's ok. Post-wedding I took a quick power nap at the hotel before heading out to a bar with everyone, which was fun. They had said it was like the most hipster brewpub in Jackson, but it was not hipster at all. It was nice, good drinks, very polite people (Southerners are crazy polite. I don't get it. They make me feel like a terrible person), good times all around.
Sunday after the wedding was pretty chill, too. We checked out and went to see the Medgar Evers House. Medgar Evers, who I had never heard of, was a big civil rights movement guy, and he lived in Jackson. He was actually murdered in his driveway by a sniper, and they've turned it into a historical site now. So we went to see that before heading to lunch with the wedding crew, then back to New Orleans. We decided to take back roads to New Orleans, though, which was a really nice drive. There are lots of little, one stoplight towns in rural Mississippi though. I think it was actually my first time seeing these fabled places. And it made me so happy that I'm not from there. Also we should have counted churches, but we would have lost count cause there are a ridiculous amount. We did see one synagogue, but that was already back in Louisiana and right by New Orleans. It was a beautiful drive, but pretty uneventful. Lindsay had also been having some issues with her boyfriend, so we actually didn't talk much on the ride back, which sucked. I only see her every few years, and unfortunately her being in a bad mood meant that she wasn't very communicative and was somewhat distracted. But she did end up playing me more country music than I've ever listened to before. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but it did seem appropriate for a back country drive through Mississippi.
After that, I flew home, slept, woke up, met up with my brother and had a nice long chat about many of the issues we've been having, had burgers for lunch with high school friends, packed, ate Mexican food for dinner with the family, then went to the airport and came back to China. And now here we are. Well, not quite. Stuff has happened since I got back, but I'll write about that tomorrow or something.
For now, we just get a quick song. Today's song is Juicy, by Radiation City. They're this band from Portland, and I heard and loved Juicy. Probably cause it reminds me a lot of Lucius, and I do love me some Lucius. This seems to be the first single off their upcoming album, SYNESTHETICA, which has amazing cover art as you can see below. Although I'm not sure how much I'll like the album. I listened to their last one, Animals In The Median, because I loved Juicy so much, but the album wasn't great. We'll see, though, maybe this new album will be and this song isn't just a fluke. But if it is, it's a great one and I wanted to make sure it made it onto my blog/a Spotify playlist so I don't forget about it.
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