State by State

Apparently there is an entire country between Boston and San Francisco.

sunday

by Natalia

Note to self: don’t visit Oxford, Mississippi on Sunday. The city looks dead. Bars and restaurants are closed. No sign of the lauded nightlife. It is the direct result of the ban on alcohol sales on Sunday: one of the many dry laws in the state. It may be different during the week, but we have absolutely no desire to stay and check.

Oxford CourthouseOxford Courthouse

We owe special thanks (and the fact we didn’t go to bed hungry) to Joel Miller, chef and proprietor of ravine and his staff, for keeping it open on Sundays. And for serving such excellent local food. Especially fresh ripe tomatoes from their own garden.

Mississippi State Tax Commission forbids selling alcohol on Sundays, unless a municipality petitions for an exemption. <a href-“http://www.oxfordrestaurants.org/board-presentation/”>Restaurateurs in Oxford start feeling the recession and could use some extra revenue. However Oxford Board of Aldermen seems secure in its budget projections and decided against alcohol sales this June. The rationale: to preserve dignity of Sunday. They seem unaware that dignity is something one attributes to people, not to days of the week. And if we start outlawing all the things people believe deities get offended by, we will - one day - wake up in Iran.

In the meantime Oxford Aldermen (and Alderwomen I hope) better start praying for money: when bankrupting restaurants stop paying taxes preserving dignity might be the least of their worries.

vette

We have bought the wrong car. In Bowling Green, Kentucky we’ve learned that instead of a truck we should have got a lifestyle. Preferably in red. We are hopelessly behind. Even 10 years old dream about Corvettes. And hot underage babes. In that order. We wouldn’t have to compromise on luggage. Much. According to the manufacturer’s site fully enclosed trunk of Corvette convertible carries two golf bags with top down. Maybe we would have to drop the bikes but who needs them driving a 'Vette anyway.

trace

We travel along Natchez Trace Parkway built roughly along the old trail used by boatmen to return home after floating down Mississippi river. It’s a strange road maintained by National Park Service. Driving it is like driving through 400 miles of park. You are easily fooled thinking you are in the middle of nowhere, but most of the time you are in the narrow green strip of trees isolating the parkway from farmland and subdivisions. Better this than nothing.