Sloshin' through the Jazz Fest. Click on the image for more sights and sounds.

Add to the Journal!

This is a collaborative effort. Mail your comments and thoughts to share on John's trip to me (click for email), and I'll collate them into the Voyeurs' page.

John's Journal

Day Ten

Mileage- nuttin'

Hey, there's sunshine outside! No way! Wait, I better get my shades. Didn't I just say that the weather would be great as we leave? Well, we haven't left yet, but not far from it.

So, with the weather nice, everyone got excited about actually going to the Jazz Fest today. Well, it took a while, and not everyone was into it at first. You see, after such a late evening/early morning, we all slept in until around noon, I believe. Then we gathered in Mark and Kim's room to re-live the moments from the previous night. And to assess the damage done to Mark by the evening's festivities (sorta like my stomach flu only self-induced). Mark and Kim had a flight out at 4pm, and it was approaching 1pm already, so we decided to drop then at a restaurant, said our good-byes and the rest of us headed over to the festival.

We took the long way there, stopping at Popeye's for some red beans and rice (not quite as good as Julie remembered them), and made our way into the mud pit that used to resemble a horse racing track (or is it dog racing?) around 3pm, I think. Parking was a real pain, as you might expect, but we found a real kind heart who helped us.

We were about to leave the van when a guy yells out from his porch next door that we are likely to be towed or at least get a ticket. He asks us if we are from out-of-town. We all feel the Big City Operating Mode kick in and get suspicious. He is very nice, almost too nice, and says that his mother-in-law lives next door and we can just pull into her circular driveway and park there. We can't believe it, but take him up on his offer. His wife comes out and it all seem OK, we chat for a second and he tells us the quick way to walk to the gate, which was very close. Wonderful!

It really wasn't that bad inside the festival, since the rain had stopped and we went into it knowing it would be a mess. There was mud and water almost everywhere, but you just deal with it. We hang around close one of the stages, close enough to hear the tunes, but far enough away that Matt, His friend Dan-O (not sure how he spells it, this seems fitting) and I could toss the frisbee. We never hit anyone, come close, but people are all happy and often stop to catch the occasional errant frisbee and are eager to throw it back to the other person.

We crowd in a bit closer to hear Earth Wind and Fire. They were good, but not great, playing most all of their tunes noticeably slower than desired. They just didn't seem as tight as I thought they would be, either. It was still entirely too fun watching people, dancing a bit, watching Matt mud-skiing down a tiny mud slope, laughing at the people running and sliding through the vast areas of mud and just happy the weather wasn't horrible.

EW? finished, we booked, and went to retrieve the van. The same guy was still out on his front porch when we returned. We chatted some more, his wife little daughter were also hanging out. This guy ends up wanting to take OUR picture and Mark also slips in one of him, too. He asks if he could send it too us and I give him my card. We all think that this was a little bit too much, but then he also gives us his address and phone number. He says to make sure and give him a call if we are ever back and he can get us anything. Later, we figure that we are all just so jaded from living a big city and that this guy just could have been real nice. Imagine that; so nice without wanting anything.

We come back, rest for an hour, then off to dinner at the House of Blues. This place seems trendy, but really has a great ambiance to it. Besides, they have excellent acts playing there all the time, to boot. Tonight was the Neville Brothers, but they were sold out. Well, they weren't when Wendy and Matt got here on Wednesday, though. You see, before Matt knew about all of us coming out, he wanted to get tickets to see them with Wendy. Wendy didn't want to blow the surprise, so she dissuaded Matt from buying the tickets. We still got to hear them via the sound system in the restaurant part and of the place, and see a static wide shot shown on TV's throughout.

Then, Matt, Wendy and I dropped the others off at the hotel and went in search of chocolate cake. We settled for a dee-licious French Silk pie (reminds me of someplace we used to go in Indy that had a lot of pies, can't think of the name, hmmm). it was so beautiful out, we walked back to the hotel and strolled by some big ole houses, gazed up at the lovely moon and clouds.

Well, tomorrow we all leave for home and away. Luckily, I get the away, part. I am itching to travel some more! My next stop will be in Mobile, AL to visit my cousin, Anne. I have not spent much time with her apart from family reunions, so this will be a great way to connect. I can't wait!