2015 March



We moved on from Fig Tree in South Texas to Lafayette, Louisiana.  We are getting an education in Cajun food, enjoying the tastes of Crawfish, Gumbo, Etouffee, Bowdin and Cracklin’s.  Our first meal included gumbo, oysters, shrimp, fish, crab and etouffee, all very delicious at Fezzo's in Scott. 



 

 

 

Jerry really enjoyed his first crawfish experience at Nancy’s Seafood Shack in Homa, LA on our way to New Orleans. 

  

 

 

We traveled by car into New Orleans to spend 2 nights in the French Quarter enjoying the food and entertainment.  Awesome food!!  At Hotel St. Helene we had a great courtyard room. 

 

 

 

We started our afternoon with a stop at Pat O’Brien’s for drinks and popcorn by the courtyard waterfall.  Afterwards we strolled down Bourbon Street where Jerry had his beignets at the Café Beignet while we listened to great New Orleans music. 

 We spent the next morning touring Mardi Gras World.  They make floats for 22 of the parades, there are 50 plus parades during Mardi Gras season.   It was very educational to learn about the Mardi Gras history, tradition and pomp & circumstance that goes into each parade.  The money spent can be in the millions which truly amazed us.  The tour included watching the artisan’s crafting the float pieces for the 2016 parades.  The floats were so much bigger than we ever thought they would be and each one includes several bathrooms built in for the riders. 

 

Covering the foam structure with paper mache prior to painting.

 

The drawing for 2016

 

Tires are all rubber with no air to assure there are not flat tires during the parade. 

Hold on straps so the parade riders don't fall off.  They are optional and a few have been know to fall off during the parade, no major injuries.

 

Bathrooms on the first floor of the floats.

 

The train is one of the longest floats, 265 fee long and cost $650,000 to make.  This is one of the few that is used every year just as it is. 

 

I feel like a miniature.

We had dinner at our favorite French Quarter Restaurant, The Court of Two Sisters.  It did not disappoint, everything was delicious and the atmosphere is beautiful. 

 

 

 

  

After returning to the Lafayette area we took a road trip south of Lafayette for the day into the bayou country.  Lot’s of wide open space with the oil industry along the coastal waterways.  We had never seen houses built on such high stilts, they were everywhere in the flood plane.  The crawfish rice farms were plentiful. 

 

Of course no good road trip would be complete without a stop at a local restaurant.  Thanks to Trip Advisor’s recommendations we found the best oyster restaurant out there.  Shucks Seafood House in Abbeville has the largest oysters we have ever seen and they were delicious.  We started with the seafood gumbo, it was full of oysters and shrimp, awesome.  The gumbo came with a side of potato salad like nothing we have ever tasted.  It was mashed potato salad with a few chunks of potato, very delicious.  Our main dish was the oyster appetizer plate, 10 oysters made 5 different ways, they were all delicious.  We are ready to go back for another plate full. 



 

 

 

 

Our next week was a rainy week that we spent relaxing and getting the air conditioner fixed on the Trail Blazer.  We had a great experience at Courtesy Chevrolet in Brossard, just south of Lafayette, Louisiana.  Their customer service manager, Keisha, was the friendliest, caring customer service staff we have ever run into at a dealership.  She had some Boudin delivered to us for lunch in the waiting room since we had not tried it, the Boudin was very tasty.  We had our crawfish dinner at Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn, what a feast along with alligator for an appetizer.

 



 

Our first Boudin "boodan"

 

 

Poor Boy's Riverside Inn Alligator appetizer and Crawfish dinner.

 

 

The next week Fred & Nancy came for a visit for the week.  They stayed at the KOA just a few miles away in the Camping Cabins.  We did a lot of sight seeing.   

First we hit Avery Island, home of the Tabasco Factory and Jungle Gardens just outside of New Iberia.  We had a surprise run in with Judy, one of our Fig Tree Friends in the parking lot of the Tabasco Factory, what a surprise!!  We also met her at the Konriko Rice Factory Tour which was next on both of our travel lists.  The Tabasco is manufactured by Mcllhenny Company on the very site that it was invented in 1868 by Edmund Mcllhenny, the company is still owned and operated by his direct descendents.  The Tabasco sauces are exported to 180 countries around the world and is the largest revenue family owned business in the country.  Jungle Gans is a 170 acre wildlife conservation area.  There is a snowy egret aviary that helped save it from extinction in 1895, the rookery is now called “Bird City”.  There were 15 stops that had quite a variety of wildlife and plants and flowers from around the world.  Our next stop was the Konriko Rice Factory tour, it is America’s oldest operating Rice Mill.  In 1981, the Mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Jungle Gardens on Avery Island

 

 

 

The next morning we toured the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangalist in Lafayette, what a beautiful church. Construction was started in 1912 and finished in 1916.   After the church we did Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tour on Lake Martin just east of Lafayette.  The trees and wildlife were amazing. 

 

The Champagne's Cajun Swamp Tour

After a great day of touring we went to Hawks in Rayne for a crawfish feast.  While in the parking lot waiting for it to open a few Cajun’s offered us a tailgate beer, everyone is so friendly in Cajun country.  Jerry and Fred definitely got there fill of crawfish.  

 

The next day we took a road trip to New Orleans, Fred and Nancy had never been.  We walked through the French Quarter, enjoyed a Hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s and lunch at Muriel’s on Jackson Square.  We all had a great day with wonderful weather.



 

Our last day with them we visited Vermilionville Historic Village, a living history of the Acadiana, Native American and Creole Cultures of the early Lafayette days. We had a wonderful visit with Fred & Nancy.



 

Jerry & I did a 2 hour Kayak tour back on Lake Martin, it was great kayaking and very close to all the wildlife. 





 

Our next adventure was to a very unusual museum, the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum.  It was just outside the Angola Penitentiary.  The museum was very informative and educational and about all the great things Warden Burl Cain has done during his appointment as warden.  On our way back to Lafayette we stopped in Baton Rouge and enjoyed a walk on the Mississippi waterfront and lunch. 



 

 

We moved from Lafayette, LA to Natchez, MS.  Natchez is the beginning of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a National Park Scenic Drive that is 444 mile long from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN through 3 states.  We spent 3 nights in Natchez.  Because Natchez did not hold a strategic position during the Civil War, it was spared much of the damage other cities suffered and remains home to more than 600 examples of antebellum architecture, more than any other city in the South. These historic homes and buildings, along with churches and other heritage sites, make Natchez a treasure trove of historic sites.  They have a Spring and Fall Pilgrimage with many of the homes open for viewing.  Our RV Park was right on the Mississippi River in Vidalia, LA across the river from Natchez, MS.  The view out our front window was awesome, the barges went up and down the river on a regular basis. 

 

 

 

 

Our first day included a visit to the Frogmore Cotton Plantation.  The Historical Cotton & Plantation Culture is the story told at Frogmore Plantation, with cotton in the fields to pick.  It is an 1800-acre working cotton plantation with 8 restored antebellum structures that date from the early 1800's. Along with the history of the early Natchez planters and their slaves, the tour includes a rare Smithsonian quality steam cotton gin.  Lynette Tanner, owner of the plantation with her husband Buddy, have done a wonderful job and are very passionate as historians. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

Our afternoon was spent on a Natchez City carriage tour learning the history of the city and all of the historical architecture. 

 

 

We visited the Forks of the Road, site of the second largest slave market in the South.  No remnants of the site remain but the open land and historical information was there.  It was a very chilling feeling. 

 

The next day we drove 20 miles up the Natchez Trace Parkway visiting several historical sites. 

 

 

 

The Mount Locust Inn is the only remaining example of a frontier “stand” or inn.  It was restored to its original appearance.

 

 

Emerald Mound is the second largest Indian ceremonial mound in the nation and covers nearly eight acres.  It was built by ancestors of the Natchez Indians in 1400 AD. 

 

 

 

We had lunch at Mammy’s Cupboard built in 1940.  The woman's skirt holds a dining room and a gift shop.  The skirt is made out of bricks and the earrings are horseshoes.  She is holding a serving tray while smiling.  Mammy's Cupboard has been through several renovations, the exterior has been repaired and the interior refurbished.  We had blueberry lemonade that was delicious.  Jerry had Lemon Meringue Pie, the tallest meringue we have ever seen, at least 6 inches high, browned perfectly and still warm. 

 

We visited Longwood in the afternoon.  It is the grandest octagonal house in America with construction halted by the Civil War.  This six-story 30,000 square foot mansion was designed by Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia for wealthy planter Haller Nutt and his wife, Julia Williams Nutt, and epitomizes the rise and fall of the South.  As it was nearing completion, the Civil War began and the workmen dropped their tools and went home.  Haller died in 1864 and his wife Julia continued to live in the finished first floor that today contains many original family furnishings.  The upper five stories are an architectural wonder - a magnificent work in progress where time just stopped and stayed.