The Matt Mittan Show
(MMO) Navarre Beach Kayaks to Music in the Heart of New Orleans
Have you ever had a road trip take unexpected twists and turns that led to unforgettable memories? Join us as we recount our annual journey to the New Orleans Jazz Fest, beginning with a last-minute car rental and the scenic beauty of the Emerald Coast. From our quirky road trip rituals to the rejuvenating power of travel, we explore how these adventures breathe new life into our routines, balancing between professional commitments and our love for exploration.
Our adventure took an interesting turn at the enormous Buckeyes gas station, where despite the great food and clean bathrooms, we decided one visit was enough. Perdido Key's fishing spots beckoned us, leading to a spontaneous kayak purchase through Facebook Marketplace. This kayak, rich with history and sentimental value, became a symbol of our love for the water, though transporting it home was no small feat. The anticipation of future kayaking escapades only added to the excitement of our journey.
And then, there's Jazz Fest. From the serendipitous help of a kind officer to our humorous misadventures with forgotten phones, the festival was packed with music, food, and camaraderie. We share our reflections on the evolving dynamics of the event, the resilience of New Orleans' culture, and the sense of community that makes each visit special. These shared journeys, filled with connection and joy, are what make our annual pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast an indelible part of our lives. Join us as we celebrate the unforgettable moments and the vibrant spirit of the New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Keep up with our adventures - and misadventures - by bookmarking our MMO WEBSITE. Thanks for listening and traveling with us!
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Have you ever had a road trip take unexpected twists and turns that led to unforgettable memories? Join us as we recount our annual journey to the New Orleans Jazz Fest, beginning with a last-minute car rental and the scenic beauty of the Emerald Coast. From our quirky road trip rituals to the rejuvenating power of travel, we explore how these adventures breathe new life into our routines, balancing between professional commitments and our love for exploration.
Our adventure took an interesting turn at the enormous Buckeyes gas station, where despite the great food and clean bathrooms, we decided one visit was enough. Perdido Key's fishing spots beckoned us, leading to a spontaneous kayak purchase through Facebook Marketplace. This kayak, rich with history and sentimental value, became a symbol of our love for the water, though transporting it home was no small feat. The anticipation of future kayaking escapades only added to the excitement of our journey.
And then, there's Jazz Fest. From the serendipitous help of a kind officer to our humorous misadventures with forgotten phones, the festival was packed with music, food, and camaraderie. We share our reflections on the evolving dynamics of the event, the resilience of New Orleans' culture, and the sense of community that makes each visit special. These shared journeys, filled with connection and joy, are what make our annual pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast an indelible part of our lives. Join us as we celebrate the unforgettable moments and the vibrant spirit of the New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Keep up with our adventures - and misadventures - by bookmarking our MMO WEBSITE. Thanks for listening and traveling with us!
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Good day and welcome to another episode of Matt and Michelle Odyssey. I am Matt Mattan, I am Michelle Sheeve, and it was time for us to make our annual pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast for Jazz Fest in New Orleans Good times, it was good times.
Speaker 2:It was actually a fantastic trip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had a wonderful trip and we always like to stop by along the way and get some beach time along the golden. Is it the Sun Coast? What do they call it?
Speaker 2:The Gulf Coast. I remember the Emerald Coast, the Emerald Coast, yeah, the Emerald Coast, emerald Coast, yeah, yeah, I forgot, because the water is green and the sand is white and it's really beautiful, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's gorgeous. It's gorgeous, and we did something this time that I don't think we've ever done before. What did we do? We rented a car, that's right.
Speaker 2:We rented a vehicle.
Speaker 1:We've never done that before, but we found ourselves in a very precarious situation where, right, we had car trouble, yes, about a week before we left, yes, tried to get it fixed, but then we had new car trouble and they had to get, I think of. I could insert the audio from oh brother, where art thou?
Speaker 1:a geographic, geographical lottery, two weeks from everywhere we had to wait for parts to get shipped in and everything, and so we were going to be picking up the car the very day we were leaving for a 1,400-mile five-state trip.
Speaker 2:We didn't feel too comfortable. Yeah, after having back-to-back car issues, you keep it. You just keep it for now, we'll be back.
Speaker 1:We were like yeah, we'll be back. So we had a car rental anyway, because the car had been in the shop and you know back to back and so, yeah, we just decided to keep it and that ended up being a lot of fun yeah, no well, it felt very, very comfortable.
Speaker 2:We didn't have to worry about our little baby, that that, uh, she's getting some miles yeah she. Yeah, we definitely put miles on her vehicle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she's been good to us and everything, and she's got the stickers to show it in the back window.
Speaker 2:You know the miles We've hippied out with our stickers.
Speaker 1:I think we totally have.
Speaker 2:We've gone too far, too far.
Speaker 1:So we have to share some of the story. So, as we're going along the way we've talked about it, so as we're going along the way we have, we've talked about it, michelle has talked about it and I've always said, yeah, and then I don't do it, I don't go along, right, but videoing while we go and doing videos on these trips.
Speaker 2:We were leaving and I'm like we should just show ourselves packing up like walking out the door at 5 am you know, 4.30 am in the morning. Also in the car, yeah, 5 am, you know 4 30 am also in the car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, we are not unaware of how goofy we get with each other as we're on road trips. I mean singing, joking um sometimes, you know we stay entertained, for sure, we entertain each other very well and and so you know I I guess y'all give us some feedback if that's something you want me to finally come around on. You know Michelle's ready, willing and capable, and I'm the reason why people say how come, you guys?
Speaker 1:haven't evolved into the video age with MMO, you know, we've been doing it for so many years and we post these amazing pictures and we take all these trips. We should do videos. I want everyone to know that I'm the reason that we don't. You are the reason we could be recording ourselves right now on camera. She said that too. She's like why aren't we doing video podcasts? You?
Speaker 2:know and um, yeah, it's me, yeah, it's, it's totally me and I wanted to own that. Thank you on air, because you know, I know that's important because we talked about it for 13 hours on this road trip. No, I, I was just kidding. At least, at least 13 hours.
Speaker 1:But along the way, you know, when we try to take some little detours here and there and find some different things we haven't seen before, yeah, and this time we went with the intention of, like, getting down there, unplugging and relaxing.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Because, as we said in previous episodes, I've started a new career which is my original career, which is medicine.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You know, and so working full time in a hospital, you know that I'm pretty tired when it finishes up and everything. But getting out into nature and doing road trips is what invigorates me. I mean, I mean you too, but, speaking for me, all I want to do is be on the road. All I ever want to do is travel and be out in the outdoors. I love what I do and I love taking care of patients and my coworkers are incredible and everything but I just I long for these trips. I long to get out on our canoes and I go to the. Did we talk about the mock on the air? Have we talked about the mock yet?
Speaker 1:I don't think we have um I thought we might have mentioned it, but but I've actually gone there a couple of times, just for you know, just for the placebo, just to sit inside your your uh mock.
Speaker 2:Now, if you're wondering what a mock is, it's Matt's outdoor center, which is a converted storage unit which he has decked out with all the outdoor gear, and it's very well organized. Like you're walking into a store and you're just gonna Except for everything doesn't cost me a thing and I get what I want throw it in the car or set up a.
Speaker 1:I have a folding table that sets up in the middle and get the, you know, get the camp chairs and I can repair gear and yeah do it. Yeah, so it's. It's somewhere I love to be. If I'm not going out somewhere, well anyway. So back to this trip because, that's where I would go for a fix. As a matter of fact, I even snuck away one day during. I only get a 30 minute lunch break.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And I snuck away to the mock from the hospital where I work.
Speaker 2:Well, you, you did on the trip back. Now we've got to get, we've got to get into the trip to say why we had to stop, why you had to stop at the mock, you know after the trip. Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1:I'm not following chronological order, Right, Okay so we're on our trip, we're going along. I think we kind of came to a conclusion about something that has become as American as apple pie on road trips and I don't know that we're going to do it anymore.
Speaker 2:Is apple pie still American?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:But the phrase is I like that Okay.
Speaker 1:But there's a really, really, really giant gas station store place that this time, you know, because we stop, we get a picture People around where we live.
Speaker 2:Freaking love this thing.
Speaker 1:Because we don't have one right near where we live Right, so it's like a thing. The closest one is like 100 and something miles away.
Speaker 2:But I am kind of terrified of it.
Speaker 1:For some reason, I don't know the food's really good, food's good, so we're talking about the eager beaver Buckeyes.
Speaker 2:Buckeyes, buckeyes.
Speaker 1:Buckeyes, buckeyes. Buckeyes, buckeyes, buckeyes and yeah, I think we've tapped out on that because it's just so big.
Speaker 2:It's so Well and it's all Buckeyes stuff and it's like, but the food was really good. The food was good.
Speaker 1:The bathrooms are nice, but I think we may have made our last stop at Buckeyes, unless the family wants us to pick up some jerky or yeah, yeah, things like that. So right anyway. So we're going along and we get down to our destination and it's absolutely beautiful. We went to perdido key florida, which is a regular.
Speaker 2:That's kind of our coastal home away from home. You can go back to past episodes and listen to other trips that that we've done on this area and, um, like matt said, it said it's a regular journey that I've been taking most of my life and I was stationed not far from there when I was in the Air Force for a number of years.
Speaker 1:So it's our coastal home away from home.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like the Pensacola area, and so we get down there and you have the big bays and all this stuff and you know it's the early parts of spring and there's good redfish and speckled trout fishing to be had. And at the place your brother's got a couple of properties around that area but one is a piece of land that's on an inner bay and it is just prime redfish and speckled trout fishing area.
Speaker 2:It's a gorgeous piece of bay. It's beautiful grass flats and bay and everything else.
Speaker 1:And we get down there and we had decided, because we were in a rental car, to not bring one of our boats Right.
Speaker 2:We were going to we were that had been the plan, that was the plan, but we had specific racks for and then. So when we got the rental, yeah, we were like, eh, let's just go yeah.
Speaker 1:And so we get down there and all of a sudden if you've been listening to us for a long time, you're gonna recognize this is not the first time this has happened to me. But I was like I really wanna get out on the water.
Speaker 2:Right and.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine renting equipment when the rentals cost about 30% of what it would cost to just buy something off of Facebook Marketplace or something like that, and so that will take us back to where you got your canoe.
Speaker 2:We call Providence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we got it where In Providence, rhode Island when we were up on the Boston main trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Acadia National Park and so one day you're like I'm going to go get a canoe now.
Speaker 1:I was like I really got to get out of the water and we didn't bring one.
Speaker 2:So, it was the exact same thing where you're like I'm going to go get a kayak now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I got on the marketplace. We've been talking about making a transition into kayaks no, as an option. Nope, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was talking about getting a fishing kayak I had been talking about I had been talking about it for me okay, we weren't talking, we weren't talking about it, you were talking to yourself about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I said it out loud, at least a couple times.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've been watching podcast videos of people kayaking YouTube videos of people kayaking and very inspiring and I think that that just got you kind of teed up for wanting to go out.
Speaker 1:I wish it was more divinely inspired to connect on a different level or anything. For me, the canoes just getting heavy to put on top of the car.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know the canoes are. You know I love canoes and I will never stop loving canoes. But I was open. I've had some friends of mine that have started kayak fishing and they've raved about it, like you said you know, YouTube channels that that we watch. You know there's kayakers and mostly canoeists, but there's kayakers too, and so I was open to at least trying it, because the friends of mine that have gone and gotten into kayaking were former canoeists.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so I was like well, I'm willing to give it a try and it would be a lot easier, for when I go out on my solo trips Right, you know, when we're not going together it might be a lot easier to just throw a kayak on top of the car.
Speaker 2:I'm sure.
Speaker 1:So I searched Facebook Marketplace and I looked through. I didn't see anything that really grabbed a hold of me and everything and I went back out. But then I went back in after I'd scrolled through.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I did that.
Speaker 1:But I went back in and, lo and behold, there was a different kayak on there that had not been on there when I had just looked it had literally just popped up the listing had just got on there and it happened to be in Old Town Right Now. Long-time listeners of ours will know. I have a real connection to Old Town. My first canoe that I ever went on for many years were all Old Towns. I have roots in Maine, not far from where Old Town is based and where they're manufactured.
Speaker 1:I already have an affinity for Old Town and I looked at it and it looked great and it was an angler edition of this certain line of Old Town kayaks, right, and the price was like really, really good, right. I mean like not naturally.
Speaker 2:Right, and I'm thinking like is it damaged? Has it got a hole in it or something?
Speaker 1:like that, and so I contacted the seller and it ended up. The seller was also in the medical profession and was a nurse and we, you know, we connected. There was nothing wrong with the boat or anything, but I got a sense there was something else going on, you know.
Speaker 2:Why this kayak was up on the market, why this kayak was up for sale.
Speaker 1:Right, and you know the price being what it was and things like that, and so get communicating back and forth. We drive out, it was actually Navarre Beach which is where we bought it.
Speaker 2:And it had been before. We had talked about Navarre before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had in previous episodes for travel purposes but this was for a purchase, and so we get there and she meets us. She's still in her scrubs and everything she got off work and went out and meet us to get it and everything.
Speaker 1:And then one of her kids comes out too and helps carry the kayak out and I could just feel there was something there and everything. And so we get talking. Come to find out her husband had passed away about five years ago and this was his kayak and they'd held on to it and she said it just got to a point. It was a time where they needed to go ahead. We found that out after the transaction had already happened Right and it was the child.
Speaker 2:There was a sense. You just feel like there's sadness, there's a connection there, yeah, like of something.
Speaker 1:I saw it and I said I said I.
Speaker 2:You're very empathic and you really can feel when people feel something I said I don't know what the stories are.
Speaker 1:That are inside this kayak, but I feel they're pretty awesome and I just want you to know it's going to a place where it's going to continue to have a lot of good stories. And it's really going to be loved and appreciated lot of good stories and it's really going to be loved and and appreciated. Yeah, and that was the moment that the mood, you know it kicked and you could see it on on. You know the child's face and and said you know that was.
Speaker 1:It was their dads yeah you know, and that's when we talked about it and everything and it was. It was a really sweet thing and it really felt meant to be yeah, it did.
Speaker 2:It really was going to the right person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it felt meant to be and yeah, it did. It really did.
Speaker 2:It was going to the right person. Yeah, it felt meant to be. And a beautiful kayak too. It's a beautiful kayak.
Speaker 1:For those that are kayak nerds, it's an Old Town Heron 11-foot Angler Edition, 11xt or TX, yeah, xt. I think. We actually haven't been out on it yet, but that's some more of the story. So we get the kayak all excited and everything, and you're like all right, so we're leaving, for we're leaving for Jazz Fest the very next day. So when we get back we're definitely going to go and you were like, and I'll hang out on the shore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're paddling around out there and fishing and everything and and uh, we went to jazz fest and we'll talk about jazz fest in a minute. But when we got back, the rest of the time of the trip it was like 35, 40 mile an hour, winds, right, and never once got to take the kayak on the water.
Speaker 2:We forgot to even put it in the pool to take a picture. That's the last thing you, you said was like. Oh, I could have put. I could have put it in the pool for a picture.
Speaker 1:I could have practiced capsizing and get back up.
Speaker 2:Right, you could do a roll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but uh, so we never got it on the water there and we're driving back and, you know, brought the kayak back with us and everything and we were just like you know, maybe that's it just wasn't meant to get on the water down there.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You know, and and I had, I had sent. Since that time, I sent pictures on Facebook through messenger to the mom to show places that we kayak and or the places that we canoe, that the kayak will be getting to go, and they just thought it was so beautiful and they'd always wanted to go to the Smoky Mountains and all that kind of stuff and the fact that their dad's kayak was gonna be on these waters somewhere that they always wanted to go was really special.
Speaker 1:So it felt really good. And just to close the kayak story for this moment anyway, is that it still hasn't been on the water right because of weather being gorgeous during the week when I'm working and not being gorgeous on the weekends it's been rainy and stormy and everything else, so we haven't been on the water with it yet, but anyway, so yeah, that that concludes that part of it. We ate like champions.
Speaker 2:Well, there was one other part.
Speaker 1:You know so well. I mean the transport. You're talking about the vibration and everything. How we got the loud hum the whole way back and everything the constantly like mmm, mmm, mmm. Couldn't get the straps quite right, or something?
Speaker 2:But it wasn't actually as bad as a canoe. Sometimes when you go on a highway or when you have to, we try to avoid highways actually, but uh yeah I didn't get like a kayak rack thing for it we just put it on the roof racks that usually carries a canoe.
Speaker 1:So I think the the angles and everything were just a little bit off, and so every time we were driving it was like I'd pull over and I'd try to adjust the straps because we'd get like this you know that many hundreds of miles Right, but we made it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the kayak is sitting below us now.
Speaker 1:We're in the treehouse studio here at our home and the kayak is down below us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's waiting for its maiden voyage.
Speaker 1:Anyway, so yeah the time on the beach was wonderful and everything, but then we leave for jazz fest right, and it was great.
Speaker 2:Um, I you know, last time we were driving to new orleans and about halfway there between the beach, about three and a half hour road trip. Um, I leave my sunglasses or no, I leave my phone. I leave my phone. I would have left the sunglasses.
Speaker 2:I leave my phone in the bathroom at one of the the gas stations, like right outside of perdido, right outside of you know on the gulf coast and so we we had to turn around and go back and then we missed the day we were going to go and it was just like a whole kind of hit and miss. Still had a great time, but but this time we were on it. I I felt like we stuck to the plans, we stayed every single stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you went through your checklist yeah like oh wait, now do I have this yes, do I have this?
Speaker 2:Yes, I did. And then you were like I'm leaving my phone in the car, I'm leaving my phone in the car, and I said that out loud so many times going into a gas station. I'm leaving my phone in the car Just going to go do whatever, but the funny thing about that, though, is that every time we got back in the car and started to drive off you're like, and she couldn't find her phone, and so I'd have to text it. I was scarred from last year.
Speaker 1:I was like wait, but you didn't bring it in. I know, but I can't find it.
Speaker 2:Where's my phone?
Speaker 1:every single stop it became this running storyline to the trip so we get to New Orleans and we got to stay with some close friends, as we always do and just enjoy the visit with friends.
Speaker 2:It's so nice staying with them and catching up it was nice.
Speaker 1:We didn't get almost swept off the highway. They always cook us dinner and make it. It's always so good, they made jambalaya or something we were eating, and this time we didn't get almost swept off the bridge by a tornado. Right, that's true, that almost happened last time.
Speaker 2:You know it was a lovely trip over and then a lovely evening with our friends the next morning hanging out. And then we did something I have never done in the 30-something years of going to to jazz fest.
Speaker 1:Before we say what this is got to do, the little wayne's world go back in time. So I have a lifelong injury that I sustained yes, in the military yes, and some days it's worse than others and everything and it's. It's that I have a knee. That's basically no good right and because of that I have a handicap placard that. I can use discretionally when I feel like I need it, Because sometimes walking across a parking lot is like constant stabbing to my knee like bone on bone pain and everything, and so, working at the hospital, my knee's been it's been giving me more trouble.
Speaker 2:It's had a lot of use there. It's had a lot of use. It's like a car. It's got a few miles on it lately.
Speaker 1:It needs new tires and new suspension for sure. And you, okay, over there, you just like collapsed down like a foot from where you were.
Speaker 2:What happened?
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, I wanted to scoot closer and you like, hopped in the air and then your chair went down like a chair it's the chair.
Speaker 2:I need a new chair for you.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no because you know I've gotten really good at facebook marketplace. I know you're fantastic. I've been buying all kinds of stuff oh, yes, you have and I think I'm probably going to continue doing that too I think it's a thing, little foreshadowing it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the thing. Anyway. So working at the hospital and all the I'm getting in so many thousands of steps and everything, my knee has not been as usable when I'm not at work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've been having a lot more problems.
Speaker 1:yes, and even at work. Sometimes, by the end of the day it's like I'm sweating because of the pain in my knee. Anyway, so we're going to Jazz Fest, where usually we go ahead and park.
Speaker 2:Yes usually we meet up at a friend's house that lives near the festival. But a walk but a walk, but they have a pre and post parties. During Jazz Fest Everybody walks as a walk, but they have like a pre and post parties.
Speaker 1:like during Jazz Fest, Everybody walks as a group.
Speaker 2:Everyone walks as a group and you just kind of you know you pre-drink and eat and hang out.
Speaker 1:Start the morning right is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:New Orleans style, and then you walk together and they have a group there that we'll get into in a second. But, um, but because of matt's injury and the problems especially he had been having lately, he decided we were going to do the handicap parking at the festival, which you'd never done, that the only time I had actually parked at the festival was back when I was in college at loyola in new orleans and my parents had come down for jazz fest and they parked there that was it.
Speaker 1:That was the only time in all the times I've ever done jazz fest, so yeah, so we drove around trying to find where the handicap parking was, and we circled the entire festival grounds, the entire festival grounds, the entire festival grounds driving around it, which is a racetrack, by the way, a very big one, yeah, a very big racetrack.
Speaker 2:And so we finally found where it was A horse racetrack, by the way and it ends up we had driven right past it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because it didn't look like there was parking between where people were going in and the festival happening Right right right. There was actually a narrow strip of parking right in the gate.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I mean behind the gate.
Speaker 1:Yes, and so when we found it, actually it was an officer that helped us find it. Yeah, you know, and we pulled in and we both started looking at each other like.
Speaker 2:We couldn't believe. Are you kidding me? Yeah?
Speaker 1:we literally parked right now.
Speaker 2:There was a fee, but it wasn't. It was like what? 50 bucks? Yeah, it was like 50 bucks, but oh my god, was it worth it?
Speaker 1:like yeah especially for me.
Speaker 2:I was like so many years later.
Speaker 1:I'm like okay, I like this because, yeah, the lines at the gate were further out from the festival than where we parked right and so we just parked and we literally got out of the car, walk like a hundred feet and we're in the festival.
Speaker 2:We showed our ticket. Um, and one thing with jazz fest like you, you show your ticket and then you go through and they check all your stuff just to make sure they don't do like micro checks. They can't.
Speaker 2:There's hundreds of thousands of people coming through every day it's like safety screenings, making sure you don't have, like, bottles of alcohol, whatever and um so so that was a part I was used to. Well, they take our ticket going into the the fest and that was that's it. It like not going into the fest, going in in our car yeah we were. We were still in our car, they scan our tickets, we go park and we are in the festival. And at first I was just like I cannot, I can't get over this, like my mind is.
Speaker 1:And then you know, fast forward past all the experiences we had and food and everything which we'll talk about, but when we were leaving we literally literally just walked 100 feet and got in the car and then we were in air conditioning and comfortable seats and listening to all the fun stuff, the music on the streets outside the festival and the good New Orleans music live on the sidewalks.
Speaker 2:And then we drove over to our friends and then we went for the post party. So the festival, the festival, holy, cow friends. And then we went for the post party, but all right. So the festival, the festival, holy cow.
Speaker 1:Um, so if you, if you watch festival schedules, everything you may have seen or heard that the rolling stones were going to be at jazz fest this year. Yes, but jazz fest did something they haven't done before that I'm aware of. You had to get separate tickets and they made everyone leave the festival and then come back in for the Rolling Stones concert. Yeah, which was just weird. It's weird and the vibe that's a weird vibe for what the setting is and the community that develops around the festival to say everyone leave, buy a separate ticket and come back in for a certain concert.
Speaker 1:It's just a weird kind of thing, but it's the Rolling Stones and we knew we didn't want to have anything to do with being anywhere near that, because usually there are all of these. There's dozens and dozens of places to go and see live music, right, but when the Rolling Stones were playing, all the crowds at the dozens of stages all over the festival grounds were all going to be at one stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we didn't want to mess with that. Yeah, no, yeah, so None of us.
Speaker 1:Not our friends or anything, yeah, so we did not go when the rolling stones were playing we were not there that weekend right and um and we had a great time we got to see some amazing music, as always, but um our friends.
Speaker 2:I think we talked about this in a previous episode of the previous trip and we'll talk about it, I'm sure in another one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's annual, every year we'll break away to go to Merle fest every once in a while, right same week, yeah well, that's it if we want to get a second weekend.
Speaker 2:So there's two weekends of jazz fest, every that's what it was this year.
Speaker 1:But second again was the stones, and we didn't want to do that and we didn't want to do that.
Speaker 2:So we went first weekend. But and if we ever go to second weekend of jazz fest, we can hit Merle fest too. Cause it's that last weekend and it's it's close to us, it's in an area that we're we're ambassadors towards yeah, it's our adopted second home in North Carolina. So, yeah, so. So our friends um, you know, set up a camp at the festival basically, and we all, wear pins with the same flag.
Speaker 2:We have pins with the same flag, the same number. It happens to be my number 22, which I have weird associations with. It just happens to be that, and so we look for that flag. We know exactly where it is. It's the same place every year and they put out camp where there's chairs, there's blankets. There's tarps.
Speaker 1:UV umbrellas.
Speaker 2:Umbrellas yeah, like you bring your own stuff, we add to the mix. But it's one of those safe spaces where, if you're going to run and if you're going to, you can make camp and then you can walk unhindered by all your stuff.
Speaker 1:And you have a place to always go back and recover, recoup, rest, yeah. And over the years you get to know people, festival goers in the party that the only time you see them is at Jazz.
Speaker 2:Fest and it's really fun to reconnect and talk about the last year, and it was so weird because one of the festival goers this year happened to live in um same town we do, yeah, yeah, just moved there yes, so. So it was just one of those weird connections always happen, but um, I got to try, so food is a big thing at Jazz Fest.
Speaker 1:Before the music, if you ask me.
Speaker 2:Yes, and one of the reasons is you can't. New Orleans has such incredible food all of the time. Everywhere you go there's just great food, but at Jazz Fest there are certain foods you can only get at the festival, and so that's always a treat. There's always something to look forward to. The different dishes, the number one dish that has always been the number one dish that I had at least a few different.
Speaker 2:Yes uh, and I had some bites of yours. I didn't actually buy one for myself this time it it's so good though it is. I cannot express enough how simple this dish is and how good this dish is.
Speaker 1:And that would be the crawfish monica.
Speaker 2:That would be the crawfish, monica.
Speaker 1:Yes, and they weren't there last year.
Speaker 2:No, they were there last year?
Speaker 1:What was the one that wasn't there last year? It was the crawfish bread.
Speaker 2:Oh, the crawfish bread wasn and they weren't there because they were mad that last year, for the first time, they weren't taking any cash at the festival. It was a cashless festival.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So everybody had to, and if you had cash you had to go to a machine, put it in a machine, they would spit you out a card. Everything was done on card. And this particular business, who had been doing it since the fest opened, was like no, we're not going to do it. But they changed their mind and there was such an uproar, um, from from people of like where's the crawfish bread?
Speaker 1:which is amazing it is interesting, you know, with jazz fest they've been trying to do some things different the last few years and mixing up some things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some things have worked some others haven't, you know? I agree. I think that, um, they've, definitely they've they've expanded in different ways. Uh, one of the ways they expand is, first, first weekend, they always had the thursday open for, and it was like a it used to be a locals.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, like you, you could almost you could get a discount if you lived, if you were local, you'd go on a thursday, which I, which I was, um, and it was always nice, it was the opening of the fest, and, and it was really for new orleans. Well, that for New Orleans. Well, that is not the case anymore. Now both weekends have a Thursday on the weekend as well, so, yeah, Well, and it just seems it's gotten so big and you know so structured now. Hundreds of thousands of people.
Speaker 1:It's just, it's gargantuan, but I guess, though, one of the things that they really still do really well is highlighting culture.
Speaker 2:Yes. And you know they will have all sorts of things about the culture. They'll have music, they'll have food, they'll have, you know, wares that you can go and shop and stuff. And this year it was Colombia, last year it was Puerto Rico. Was it Puerto Rico? And one of the most cool things that.
Speaker 1:I got to see for me musically was because when they have the theme for that year and this year, columbia, and they had the Colombian stage and Colombian artists and they had indigenous performers and percussive and their garbs were so beautiful and colorful and everything. And one of my all-time favorite albums is Rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon where he basically went and open-air recorded these different tribal percussive things to back his songs and it just creates this ambiance and there's times where you can actually hear the rain and the openness of the jungle behind it and everything.
Speaker 1:And I got that same feeling with this music. It was authentic, it was soulful it was it was, you know, just beautiful and the percussive and the harmonies and the timing, the time signatures of the music being different than what we get in mainstream American music and everything, and so I really got to give credit to Jazz Fest that they hold on to that commitment to really giving a spotlight to culture and that aside from community, which is huge for us seeing friends and having that time together and everything seeing friends and having that time together and everything but getting access to and sinking ourselves into a culture where the food, the music, the art because there's all kinds of artisans and vendors, and some of them are doing their work right out there at the festival.
Speaker 1:It's not just a sale tent, they have a workshop.
Speaker 2:They set up a portable workshop and they're doing their craft right there in front of you. Yeah, they're weaving or they're painting.
Speaker 1:They're weaving, or jeweling or painting or whatever it might be. So while they try to figure out what they want to be going forward, as one attendee I would say that's the secret sauce right there yeah. Tweaking the stuff about like cash or no cash or access or no access to this or that and everything, and buy separate tickets for this show or that show.
Speaker 2:And they had that stuff. Well, that was. The other thing is they had this VIP ticket that you could get and it would give you access to, but there were. I did not like it. I'm so glad I mean it was not something I would ever do, because you would get these covered stages that you could watch stuff in the middle of all these people. You could be in this covered stage with your little group, with your little cocktails and whatever, but I guess, yeah, but it didn't you know those people?
Speaker 1:I was like the Bud Light VIP area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it was the.
Speaker 1:Attorney General of Louisiana had a special area.
Speaker 2:But some of these tickets, y'all, they were like $10,000 to get in one of these areas.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's just the way the world's changing, though. Yeah, I guess, mike.
Speaker 2:my one word of concern about jazz fest is I don't want to see it become corporate well, I think that new orleans, even after katrina, where when things got rebuilt they were very much gentrified at that point, um, you know, and in a way that someone who lived there for a decade or so it really was noticeable the gentrification after going back but New Orleans but having friends that live there and friends that have adapted, and you know they have to deal with the different issues with the city which have always been there issues with governance and louisiana, um, yeah, and and, but the thing is is they are resilient.
Speaker 2:They're so resilient as a culture and and the the underbody of New Orleans, you know cannot be touched in a way you can build all the fancy stuff you want, but there are still going to be people gravitating to where the good food is, the good music is, and and that is all like nature in a way.
Speaker 2:that's all such a natural thing, like you're saying about the percussionists, like the beats of New Orleans, just in general are there, and so I think Jazz Fest is the same way in a lot of ways. But they do highlight but the things that like the Crawfish Monica, but the things that like the crawfish monica. Just take, for example, they could put how much was it to buy a bowl?
Speaker 1:It was a lot, what like? I think it was $9 or $11.
Speaker 2:They could do $20 if they wanted to, but they don't because other things had $20.
Speaker 1:If you wanted to go get a crop Like you said there's a lot of food that you're not going to see anywhere else.
Speaker 2:You're not going to see it anywhere else. But there are things that they do keep manageable because they know the regulars are expecting it to be there and they need to have it at a price point that reflects people who are coming every day and getting this food and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Maybe that's the way the world's changing. They have to do some of these like VIP right special yeah, you're standalone, it takes our thing. Yes, and you know the dignitaries wall of like we're yeah, above the crowd, yeah, yeah, yeah. Conditioned right vision screen test to watch the show maybe they just have to do that in order to keep the price points.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I love that. I'm down with that. I have no desire to go be one of those people. We certainly had an amazing trip. Yeah, we did.
Speaker 1:And you know. So I guess what I would say to folks, because we hear this all the time. People go, oh, when they hear we're going back to Jazz Fest, or they hear an episode from a trip like oh I've always wanted to go you can. And even if you have mobility issues.
Speaker 2:You know I'm in a phase right now hopefully temporarily where my mobility you know it used to be that your mobility would be an issue Mine's actually the issue right now, and yet we were able to still really enjoy.
Speaker 1:Jazz Fest in New Orleans even with the physical limitations that I'm enduring right now. But, um, you know it, it is a long trip down there, but it's so worth it because, um well, it's not long for people that are listening closer to there. But for most of the country. It's not a quick trip to get to new orleans. Yeah, you have to have intention, and we've talked about this in previous episodes and I guess we'll kind of close it out this way. But when you go into something with intention, it manifests outcome.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It really does Right. And when you go to Jazz Fest, you're intent on soaking in the culture, the music, the food, the art and community.
Speaker 2:Right, and you're going to get that. Yeah, and you're going to come out with it, and you're going to come out with it. So it was a wonderful, beautiful trip. It was a great time. I really enjoyed that trip, start to finish, and I love when we can get in a car and just hang out for that long. Yeah, we love it.
Speaker 1:You know Somebody would be like how is it like doing 1,400, 1,500 miles in six states in?
Speaker 2:five days, like we love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we would just go ahead and let's say, hey, let's drive to Chicago and back, just to be in the car together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're lucky that way. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 1:All right, so any final thoughts that you want to pass along before we cut these mics off here.
Speaker 2:I can't think of any. Stay tuned, stay tuned All right.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you all listening and coming along with us with our often intentionally unintentional travel yeah this time we had intentional travel, but we had unintentional um addition to our water fleet yay, it happens especially with me. All right, well, we'll see you on the trails and waterways out there. Hope to catch you soon and take care.