Spring Training Trip - Day 19

We got an early start this morning, since we wanted to get breakfast beignets at a local bakery in Layfayette (Poupart’s) where we had eaten last year.  After that, we wanted to get to the Cajun Festival site at Louisiana University at Lafayette to park the car by 9:30 am so that we could walk to the spot on the Mardi Gras parade route where we planned to watch the first parade of the day (three were scheduled).

Alas, when we got to Poupart’s, it was closed for Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday,” or, today), so we ate breakfast across the street at Starbucks.  Today is sort of a holiday here in Louisiana, with some businesses closed for the day and some schools closed for the week.  We did get to the festival site in time, and walked along the parade route for about a mile until we found a spot in the shade.  (The day had started out cool and overcast, but it turned warm and sunny late in the morning.)

The festival grounds are essentially in the parking lot of Cajun Field, the football stadium of The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (The Ragin’ Cajuns).  Many regulars have rented spots along the parade route as it comes into the festival grounds at the end of the parade.  Their RVs, and Trailers are parked there and BBQ and picnic areas are set-up under covered picnic tents.  Some of the set-ups are elaborate and include music and dancing. Chairs along the parade route barriers are also set-up to watch the parade as it goes by.  Other groups were set-up in parking lots and the streets along the route.  There was also a large private party festival site near the reviewing stand, apparently for the local dignitaries.

The parade, typical of most parades we have ever attended, was late in starting, but once it got going it was a lot of fun.  True to the descriptions we had read beforehand, the parade was family oriented and neighborhood-based.  The floats and costumes were less elaborate than those in the New Orleans celebration, and the marching bands were all from local high schools.  The people on the floats were throwing beads and trinkets, just like in New Orleans; we caught our share, but gave most of them away to children who stood near us, since we still have two large bags of beads left over from our Mardi Gras trip two years ago.  It was a happy crowd and everyone was having a good time.

Bringing up the rear of the parade was a flatbed truck covered in beads that people were throwing back on it.  We learned later that the local environmental groups were encouraging people to recycle the beads.

After the parade was over, we went back to the Cajun Festival grounds and ate lunch (brisket barbeque sandwiches) and listened to live Cajun music.  We also met Elsie the Cow from the Borden’s Milk Company, a local business in Lafayette, and one that we remember from our early days on the east coast. 

We decided to wait for the next two parades in a spot closer to the festival grounds and to the car.  There was lots of shade there which was very comfortable on a warm afternoon.  Many families were waiting there as well, picnicking on the grass.  However, when the second parade still hadn’t shown up by 4:00 pm due to several breakdowns along the way we were told, we decided to leave.  We came back to the RV and rested before dinner.

Dinner was an adventure, at Gator Cove, a restaurant recommended by someone at the RV park.  Pat found the address and put it into the GPS, but it was dark by the time we went out and the address turned out to be on the not-well-lit frontage road of the listed street and not the street itself.  After going up and down the road 3 times we finally found the place, set back from the frontage road, down by the bayou with a “Live Alligators” sign beside it.  It is a restaurant frequented by locals – we were definitely the only out of state people there.  The food was good – they actually do serve alligator as well as shrimp, crab, tilapia and crawfish.  (We passed on the alligator.)  Most of the locals were eating trays of boiled crawfish.  The serve them in 3 and 5 pound trays and a lot were being consumed. Napkins on the tables were rolls of paper towels and a wash station to wash your hands (either before or after eating) was along one of the walls.  We noticed some of the pro crawfish eaters wore surgical gloves while eating, I guess to keep their hands clean and not smelling like crawfish when done. Also, when they bring your beer to the table, they don’t ask if you want a glass.  The place is very casual and a popular place for the locals to eat, well off  the tourist circuit.

Tomorrow it’s on to Destin, Florida and the beach.

Day 19 Pictures

Jazz Fest Trip - Day 20

Judy rose early, along with the resident roosters, and got a picture of the sunrise.  It promised to be another hot, humid day in southern Louisiana, and it was. We drove to a local French bakery for breakfast, Poupart's, full of beautiful-looking things to eat. We had coffee, beignets and a croissant sandwich before heading south from Layfayette to the New Iberia, LA area.

We stopped at the local visitor's center there to try and get a feel for which of the local attractions should be visited first.  There seemed to be a lot to do in the area and we didn't think there would be to time to see it all.  We were right about that.

We decided to head further south to Avery Island, since that was the point furthest away that we wanted to visit; then, we would work our way back to the RV park. Avery Island is the home of Tabasco hot sauce, a venerable name in American cuisine.  The company (McIlhenny) was founded before the Civil War, when Edmund McIlhenny married Elizabeth Avery and moved to her ancestral home on Avery Island.  Here, Edmund and Elizabeth founded a family, a company and an empire.  The extensive grounds of the island are taken up by the McIlhenny mansion, the Tabasco factory, some pepper-growing fields, the requisite gift shops, a salt mine (no joke) and a large "Jungle Garden" to drive through, filled with many different kinds of trees and shrubs collected by Edmund, who was "into" gardening and growing things besides peppers.

The salt mine is there because the island is actually the top of a geologic feature called a salt dome which reaches many miles below the surface of the earth.  Salt is actually used in the manufacture of Tabasco sauce, so it's good that they have an unending supply.  We found out that there are actually 6 or 7 different flavors of the sauce and that you can buy it by the gallon in the gift shop.

The Jungle Garden drive was very interesting; we almost didn't go because it sounded a little, well, hokey, but we really enjoyed it.  In the lagoons and ponds scattered throughout the garden we saw more alligators than we had seen on the swamp tour yesterday.  Unfortunately, these alligators were used to being fed handouts by the passing tourists; they swam right up to the edge of the ponds towards the car, showing no fear whatsoever.

A big part of the Jungle Garden was Bird City, a bird sanctuary for egrets and herons started by Edmund, who helped save the Snowy Egret from extinction in the late 19th century.  We love to watch for egrets on our travels and this place had more egrets than any other place we had seen.

By the time we had finished with the tours on Avery Island, it was long past time for lunch, so we decided to skip that meal and just go for dinner.  We went to another local Cajun restaurant, Paul's Pirogue. A pirogue is a Cajun boat, a sort of wooden canoe used in the swamps. (Actually, nowadays they all use shallow-draft motorboats out in the swamps.)  Dinner was very good, gumbo, shrimp etouffe, stuffed potatoe and gateau sirop, a wonderful gingerbread cake.

Tomorrow we leave Cajun country several pounds heavier than whence we came and head for Austin, Texas and the regional foods there (barbeque is being considered).  The diets start when we get home to California.

Wednesday Pictures - Lafayette, LA

Jazz Fest Trip - Day 19

We left the RV park about 8:30 am for our swamp tour.  The tour was on Lake Martin, just outside the nearby town of Breaux Bridges.  The lake is essentially a land locked shallow lake with swamp vegetation along the shore, cypress and gum trees growing in the water, lots of birds, alligators, and snakes, etc. along with whatever else we couldn't see. 

Our tour guide was a native Cajun and the son of the tour operator who runs the company.  He was was very knowledgeable about the swamp and the surrounding area.  Our boat was a shallow bottom motor boat and  six other tourists were on the tour with us.

The swamp is an amazing place and nothing like you would ever see in the west.  Trees covered with "Spanish Moss" were growing out of the water, water plants and flowers were everywhere and we saw lots of different types of birds.  The lake is also full of alligators and, seasonally, water snakes.  There were also several fisherman in bass boats fishing in the shallow waters.  Our guide said the fishing is very good with different varietiess of fish to be caught.  Duck hunting is also very popular on the lake and we saw several different types of duck blinds that are regularly used during hunting season.  The tour lasted about two hours and we did get to see several alligators (big  and small ones).  The tour guides we talked to before we decided to go on the swamp tour were right - no mosquitos.  Apparently the cypress trees give off some sort of resin that keeps them away.  The weather was pleasant and not too hot.  It was a great experience.

After the tour we went to "Vermilion Ville", a Cajun/Creole Heritage and Folk Life Park just south of town.  The park is essentially a recreated village along Bayou Vermilion depicting Cajun/Creole life in the 18th and 19th century.  It is sort of like a Cajun/Creole Colonial Williamsburg on a much smaller scale.

The park has about a dozen houses and buildings displaying different functions of village life of the time (school house, blacksmith, church, boat shed, etc.).  Several of the buildings had docents in period costumes explaining things while performing tasks such as weaving, woodcarving, etc.  There is also a large performance center for special events, a watershed building explaining the history and importance of water to the region, and an an excellent restaurant where we had lunch.  The park apparently is a regular attraction for school groups; we saw two different groups passing through today. The park also has a number of other activities on weekends, including more craft demonstrations and musical programs.  The crowd was pretty small today, which was good. It allowed us to move through the displays without a lot of people in the way.

After leaving the park we went to the adjoining Acadian Cultural Center.  The center is one of six sites in Southern Louisiana that make up the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve.  One of the other sites we visited was the French Quarter visitor center in New Orleans.  The Cultural Center has a very nice museum and a number of displays portraying the history, life, and culture of the Acadians (now Cajuns) from their migration to southern Louisiana after they were forced by the British to leave Nova Scotia in the 18th Century.  We also saw a movie at the center depicting the story of the Acadian relocation and immigration.

After resting back at the RV, we went to Prejeans restaurant again for dinner and had another excellent Cajun meal accompanied by live Cajun music.

Today we are going to travel about 30 miles south to the New Iberia and Avery Island area to visit some more Cajun/Creole attractions.

Tuesday Pictures - Swamp Tour

Tuesday Pictures - Vermilion Ville/Acadian Cultural Center/Prejeans