On the West Pearl river between Slidell and Pearlington, 7/4/12
Exploring the West Pearl River near Slidell
On the morning of the Fourth of July, I went on a swamp tour with Cajun Encounters out near Slidell, Louisiana, along the West Pearl River and the Honey Island Swamp. While we didn’t see any black bears, we did see many water birds and alligators.
Noted artist George Rodrigue is from Lafayette, but his trademark blue dogs are everywhere in New Orleans, including on the front of the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street!
This poster on a French Quarter wall was my first introduction to New Orleans hip-hop artist Lyriqs Da Lyraciss (@UnderdogCentral), whose new album “The Nobody’s Monologues 2” is available for free download here http://www.underdogcentral.net/ (and worth downloading). Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/underdogcentral or like him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/underdogcentral.
The Marriott Hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans has some really amazing art work in the lobby and elsewhere.
Walking around the French Quarter in New Orleans, July 4, 2012
The Ruby Slipper has been a great Mid-City place to get breakfast in New Orleans, and it now has a location in the downtown, one block southwest of Canal Street in the Pelham Hotel. Unfortunately, they decided to be closed on the Fourth, so I had to walk up to the Camellia Grill, another New Orleans institution that has opened a French Quarter location. Thankfully, they were open.
In some ways, New Orleans is the quintessential American city, a blending of many different cultures, and a most appropriate place to celebrate the Fourth of July.
