Expedition to the Mysterious Grocery Store

Today we went on a drive--we got on Highway 23 South, and drove through Plaquemines Parish along the Mississippi River. Well, we couldn't actually see the river, but we could see the upper halves of ships looming up over the levee. Everything was green, all the houses were on pilings, and there were egrets everywhere. We kind of hoped for a backwoods sandwich place to appear, but there was none, so after about an hour we turned around for home. On the way, we managed to find an Asian supermarket that had eluded us in the past: Hong Kong Market. They had the best produce we've found in Louisiana so far (the cheapest too), and good deals on staples like rice noodles and beans. They also had fun weird things--lotus seeds, "fish balls", dragonfruit, black fungus. There was a seaweed aisle. There was a selection of shrine cabinets. There was a $1300 bottle of cognac on a very high shelf. We bought so many groceries. We spent about the same amount as we did at Whole Foods last week, but we got three times as much food. Hong Kong Market forever!

Random Announcements

Last time I went on a road trip I sorta abandoned the blog afterwards... now, though, I'm kind of feeling like keeping it up for a while. So I'm going to. If anyone's still showing this to their kids, I am not going to morph into Perez Hilton or anything, but posts from here on out may contain the occasional swear or political reference. So, you know, just look it over first... Also, I have a really bad cold. Yesterday, my chest was so congested I was actually starting to worry about having to go to the hospital, but I am much better today. In the sense that I am now just incredibly snuffly and tired and gross, and have to stay in our dank little apartment when I really want to go do things. I never want cable TV until I'm sick, and then I want it so bad. On the plus side, I am now reading To Kill a Mockingbird, which I had never read before, and it's so awesome! I know everyone else already knew that. I apologize for the bright red, crazy floating type and will try not to do that again... except when I feel like it.

Still no good tourist pictures

Yeah... apparently even though I barely technically "live here" yet (though I did have some tourists ask me for directions Saturday night, and was able to give them) I have gotten all blase or something, and failed to take any fancy New Orleans pictures. I went out to the Krewe de Vue parade on Saturday (that's the naughty, very local one), but I didn't take pictures. In my defense, the only camera I have is heavy, rather expensive, and of great sentimental value, and I knew I'd be drinking some booze. Instead of Krewe de Vue, here are: moody Southern decay; our walkway (with mysterious ghost bicycle); and one of my dolls wearing Mardi Gras beads from the parade. We picked those up and brought them home, but now I'm thinking of going to a parade carrying her, topless, (but me fully clothed) and seeing if people give her beads.

We're here!

Hooray, New Orleans! No pictures yet due to computer/internet hassles at the new apartment, but we're here! It is most excellent to not be driving anymore! The weather is cold and rainy, but not snowing, thankfully. I will write a proper post soon--I just wanted to let people know that we arrived safely.

Natchitoches, LA

We made it to Louisiana! We're in Nachitoches, an incredibly beautiful town that we just drove around in looking for the Pizza Hut, like total effing Philistines. (We were really tired.) Tomorrow we will go actually look at Natchitoches, which is pronounced Nack-a-tesh, more or less. I just found out that Steel Magnolias, a movie I've loved since I was a kid, was filmed here. Bonus points! It warmed up a lot over the weekend, and most of the snow melted. We might get more later in the week. But we'll be in NOLA by then! Edit: here are some pictures I found on my camera. My friend Christine (a local) says it is pronounced "Nagadish".

All better in Fort Worth

This is in Texas! Cisco, on 1-20, to be exact. I took this picture while Eran was getting what he described as "a mayonnaise sandwich". I repeat, Texas! Apparently on Thursday it was colder here than in Alaska that same day. Below, a big rig that slid off the road. Check out these pictures! This is the melting slushy snow that's all over Texas. Today was much less crazy than yesterday. It was much warmer this morning, and we drove for a couple of hours and got to Ft. Worth, where we are staying with our friends Nina and Mark and their cute kid. Now, instead of skating our car over scary ice patches in the cold, cold night, we are checking our email and making candy in the warm apartment. Which is better. It looks like we're going to hang out here tomorrow--it's going to snow, and also it's Super Bowl Sunday, which is a recipe for awful traffic--and then continue on Monday. We can make it from Ft. Worth to NOLA in one long day, or two easy days; we'll see how things go.

Craziness in Abilene

We drove for 8 hours today and everything was fine... and then we got off the highway in Abilene, and thus began the insanity. Ice and snow everywhere! We could not find our hotel! As the temperature dropped and the ice thickened, and we had driven around and around for 45 minutes, we just stopped at the first place we could find and booked a room. The girl at the counter was both actually pretty and actually nice, but to us she appeared as a beautiful and radiant angel. We are safe now, but hungry, as nothing is open. Memo to selves, no more driving at night. Postscript, Feb 20th: still have not gotten a refund from the hotel that we were supposed to stay at... you know, the one we couldn't get to because of the NATURAL DISASTER. The one we tried to reach, only to get bored, snotty, wrong directions from the girl at the desk, who literally didn't care at all that we were lost in an ice storm, and then hung up on us. My longtime friends will tell you that I am normally a huge pansy about customer service (like, I usually won't send it back if the waitress screws up my order, I'll just eat it) but you know what? I called the hotel and I tried my best to get her fired. I mean, leaving the tomatoes on is one thing.

Yet more dolls I don't have anymore

These two are about 10" high, or a little smaller than a Barbie. The one on the left is now wearing a brown dress, the one on the right is dressed the same. This is Tanith (22") ; she was an anniversary present and I would particularly like to get her back. She's wearing a similar style of kimono, but it's brown. She might not have the horns anymore.

Pics of the stolen dolls

Zoe, top, in a really cool wig my friend made for me. She'd be wearing something different, a brown dress and white corset, and she's 23". Bottom, Suzette, in the outfit she'd be wearing. She's about 21" tall. Audra (22") in the dress she was wearing. Here are three of my six stolen dolls. I also lost a doll head--I'd only had it for a week, so no pictures, but it was this kind of doll (or her head, anyway): http://www.dimdoll.com/shop/step1.php?number=328

El Paso, so cold

Winter scenes. I talked to a lady in the hotel gift shop who said it hadn't been this cold in El Paso since the 1960s.

El Paso, TX

The view from the 7th floor. Note the snow on the roof across from us. Dirty icicles on a truck downtown. We saw these on a lot of cars, and even had little ones on our car. They weren't as impressive as these, though. This derelict building was full of stray cats. Someone had left food, but their water was frozen solid, so they were drinking out of puddles. We got to El Paso around 3pm, and then drove around for a while looking for wireless coverage so we could book a hotel. We got a relatively fancy room for relatively cheap... because it was 13 degrees all day, and El Paso was deserted. I mean, people were there, but they were mostly hiding inside, and when we got downtown it kind of looked like the intro to a zombie movie, where the protagonist discovers the streets are mysteriously empty... but the creatures are yet to appear. It's supposed to be much warmer today, though I mean "warmer" in a very Canadian/Alaskan kind of way, as in 30 degrees instead of 13. It's 9am and 11 degrees right now, so I'm glad to be hiding here in this swanky hotel.

Freezing our butts off in Lordsburg, New Mexico

We went to a cave! Colossal Cave, in Vail, AZ. It was pretty cool, but none of my pictures really came out. See? "The Thing?" (which I will not reveal the nature of) was not all that impressive, especially since we had to walk through many windy shivery buildings to reach "The Thing?". But it WAS only a dollar. The view from the visitor's center at Colossal Cave. Today we drove from Buckeye, AZ (just outside of Tucson) to Lordsburg, a little town about 30 miles into New Mexico. Lordsburg is spooky! The skyline is dominated by a motel sign that has burned out except for the neon edging, so it's just a big red glowing hexagon hovering in the sky. We got lost looking for the block-long downtown, and drove through an eerie neighborhood of unlit houses before finding the main road again. The guy at the Econolodge is very nice though, and we had good Mexican food at El Charro (apparently the only place in town still open besides a very scary Appleby's analogue called Kranberry's). California, in the weeks before we left, had been basking in a spell of beautiful, warm, sunny weather. It rained a bit in L.A. over the weekend, but nothing major. Now, though, we're driving right into the bottom of the huge storm that's immobilizing the Midwest. It's freezing here... I mean literally. 8 degrees, minus 8 with windchill. It's so cold! We are tucked up in our motel with TV and pizza and hot toddies.

Crappy to the Nth degree

Our car got broken into on Saturday night, and almost everything in the back seat was stolen. Our computers, my violin and camera, and our suitcases were safe in the house, but they took our extra clothes, my sewing machine, Eran's power drill and his medications, all our roadside-emergency stuff, and my customized dolls I use for my Etsy site. The cops said the dolls are probably the only thing we might get back (because they're one of a kind, as opposed to my sewing machine). I've having a hard time uploading pics on this connection, but I will soon. Here's what got stolen (as best we can remember) 6 Asian ball-jointed dolls. Four of them are around 22" high, and two are small, 10" high. And there's one doll head wrapped in bubblewrap. Very special and valuable! Pictures forthcoming. But if you're in L.A. at a flea market, and you see big, very realistic dolls with long skinny anime proportions, and the people selling them don't seem to know much about them... they're mine. I checked some forums and stuff, and mine are the ONLY ones ever to be boosted out of a car and not be immediately found. Lucky me. Two were together in a black soft carrying case, and four were in a gray vintage suitcase. *1 black crocodile print case, containing 1 Boss brand Polyphonic Octave pedal, 1 Rat brand distortion pedal, 1 red Danelectro mini-amp, 1 crappy microphone, and assorted patch cords. *1 Necchi Royal Series sewing machine in original box. The foot pedal has a little fairy sticker on it. *1 Bosch cordless power drill in its case--missing various drill bits. *Assorted medications in the name of Eran Haas. *1 red duffle bag full of women's clothes--mostly unremarkable, but there's a vintage blue Chinese-brocade overcoat in there that's distinctive. *1 brown duffle bag full of men's clothes. *1 pillowcase full of emergency stuff, including road flares and a jumper battery. *1 JVC car stereo with an Emily Jane White CD inside it. *1 box of Eran's cords and wires for projects. *Various small loose items: a car phone charger, prescription sunglasses, burned CDs, a map of Arizona, our trail mix and cereal bars. *probably some other stuff we haven't figured out yet. Good wishes are much appreciated. If you wanna put a hex the thieves, I fully support that too.