I took this Packers vs. Vikings photo set last year, but for various reasons, never posted the shots during the fall. Halloween seemed like the perfect excuse to finish and share the set at least. This is Wisconsin so of course, the Packers are winning this Skull Bowl game.
Jimmy Zamzow creates an annual front yard Halloween display on Holy Hill Rd., just west of Highway 164 in Hubertus, WI. It won’t be Packers vs. Vikings this year, but he’s guaranteed to have another fantastic theme. You can read more about Zamzow and his Halloween displays at JS Online.
Thanks to one of Lindsay’s recent posts, I checked out Overdrive and started listening to audio books from the library. I don’t think new technology always makes media (books, music, TV, etc.) better, but streaming audio books is really awesome, especially when it’s completely free. I may finally be sold on audio books.
I’ll be talking more about the books I’ve read in 2016 this winter. But I had to mention one of my most recent audio reads, Modern Romance. Blown away. If you listen to one audio book this year, it should be Modern Romance. I share more of my thoughts in a short review.
I also have to mention Flipped, which I bought on a whim as part of a Barnes and Noble deal and read while I was in New Orleans. With the exception of First Comes Love by Emily Giffin and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, basically all of the adult fiction I’ve read this year has been mediocre at best. But all of the young adult fiction I’ve read has been great. (I’ve also read a lot of GREAT non-fiction and look forward to talking about it more soon.) Flipped is just so simple and well-written. It isn’t bogged down with descriptions and way too much detail about feelings. It also isn’t mind-numbingly predictable, which I can’t say about most of the fiction I’ve read in recent months.
The second season of The Jim Gaffigan Show. The first episode aired on Father’s Day. Ultimately, it’s all about Jim’s calling as a father. It includes multiple dialogues between Jim and his priest, and it’s dedicated to Jim’s late father. Also, the very first scene opens with Still Fighting It by Ben Folds. It felt like an old school Simpsons episode. I can’t remember the last time I saw something so refreshing on TV. Guest stars in the second season include Jerry Seinfeld, John Mulaney, Will Ferrell, and Andy Richter. Epic. Go check it out on Hulu.
I’m sure that some of you are tired of me talking about Jason Peterson and his photos. I could share one of his photos on every single favorites post, but I try to switch it up sometimes. On Niume, I talk about three of my favorite Instagram photographers I think everyone should follow. Check it out if you want to know a little more about other photographers who inspire me weekly, if not daily.
Last week, Jake and I spent a few days in New Orleans for an annual medical conference. It was a short trip but a lot of fun. There is so much amazing food, art, and architecture in this old Southern city.
I know it seems weird to come back to the word “old,” but New Orleans is so old. I wasn’t prepared for working gas lamps, brick everywhere, narrow streets, and horse tie-up posts on every other block. Also, the blue doors above are from the children’s museum. They’re some of my favorite doors in the city.
I sort of live to wander in new-to-me churches. (I’m sure that’s a huge surprise given my choice of sites during Doors Open.) St. Louis Cathedral was founded in 1720, making it the oldest cathedral in North America. I can’t even really comprehend what that means or what the area would have looked like during the cathedral construction.
Of course, I couldn’t write a post about a New Orleans trip without talking about the food. I do feel the need to mention that the stereotypes about Southern food, even modern, hipster Southern food, are true. I’ve watched enough food TV shows to know the truth about Southern food before I went to New Orleans, but the trip definitely confirmed it. For example, Southerners frequently get defensive about vegetables and make big claims that they do really do eat vegetables. Then they promptly deep fry them and serve them alongside melted butter for dipping. You have to embrace it and take comfort in the fact that the miles you’ll walk in the French Quarter in between macaroni and cheese, raw oysters, and beignets will burn off at least a few of the calories.
I didn’t research New Orleans restaurants at all. I knew there would be multiple meals we were going to plan with other conference attendees and spouses spur of the moment. I didn’t want to spend the whole time thinking about the restaurants I didn’t get to visit. The moral of this story is that the restaurant scene in the Warehouse District and French Quarter is so amazing that you don’t have to do any restaurant research and you’ll still eat outstanding food. Every single lunch and dinner I ate in New Orleans was delicious and really interesting.
Finally, the last full day in New Orleans, we took a couple hours to visit The National World War II Museum. There are quite a few museums in the tourist areas of New Orleans, and I wish we could have visited more of them. But if you’re going to visit just one and you’re a history buff, it should be the World War II museum. It’s quite extensive, and you could easily spend four or five hours there.
