FTJ, Entry 67: A Day in New Iberia

Where was I? Oh yes, the rest of our time in Cajun country. We moved to Bayou Wilderness RV resort in Carencro, LA...

 ...and had a great dinner in a real Cajun joint called Mulate's, where we listened to a terrific zydeco band. Beau spent a lot of the evening talking to a couple from the area -- he is 86, she is 85 -- and they were doing zydeco dancing. He is also a WWII vet. They were very cute.

Dave and Joyce, hanging out with us at Mulate's. Nice photo, guys!

Our daytime pursuits in Carencro were mainly aimed at my "mini bucket list" goal of visiting author James Lee Burke's New Iberia -- whose Main Street Burke describes as one of the prettiest in the nation. It was indeed a sweet little town, with lovely majestic live oaks draped with Spanish moss, and wonderfully preserved historic homes lining the street along Bayou Teche.

Below, a pictorial.

Bayou Teche

A beautiful home in New Iberia's historic district.

At Shadows on the Teche, the former home of a sugar planter,
and now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation

A copy of the shrine at Lourdes, France.

Beau (disappointed we missed Buckwheat Zydeco!) outside New Iberia's Evangeline Theater.

Some quick facts about New Iberia:

• It was founded in 1779 and is Louisiana's only remaining Spanish town.
• The Konriko Rice Mill in town is the oldest in the United States.
• In 1927, the Mississippi broke through protective levees and Bayou Teche rose more than 20 feet, flooding the streets of the town. As a result of this terrible flood, the US Army Corps of Engineers harnessed the Mississippi and its delta.
• Acadian refugees settled in Iberia Parish in 1765, and the area is closely connected with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline.
• During the Civil War, Shadows on the Teche was seized by Union troops (in 1863) and was used as a command post.
• And then of course, New Iberia is the home of the fictional Dave Robicheaux, the protagonist of James Lee Burke's series of crime novels. (Read them -- they are great!)

 

We lunched in Breaux Bridge, a cool little town named for its unusual lift bridge:

We ate at a little restaurant called Angelles -- and then we all screamed for ice cream!

 And then we saw this wonderful oddity!

Beau's hand gesture says it all -- what the heck?!?!

The guy pulling this saw Beau's expression and yelled, "This here is a Cajun Camper!"  Allrighty.

During the day on Sunday, we did other things, including a short stop in St. Martinville, known as Petit Paris (it wasn't), but I want to keep this short.

Four for Texas

Today we had a long drive to Galveston, TX, and are now at a cute RV park (Jamaica Beach) opposite the long, long beach. We can see horses out the windshield.

I will blog about our adventures in Texas in a few days.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 66: In Cajun Country

Before I get into our days in Louisiana's Cajun country, I must include these very special photos of an establishment that I have never before frequented: Hooter's. I shall say nothing more except that 1.their food was quite good, and 2. I have never seen either of our fellas quite this happy.

Moving on...

Our next stop after New Orleans was Poché Plantation in Convent, LA, in Cajun country. It it right along the Mississippi River, which is pretty cool, in that the levee is across the road and ships are loading and unloading all day (and night) long. It is, as its name implies, also the site of a plantation established by Felix Pierre Poché, a Civil War diarist, prominent jurist, and one of the founders of the American Bar Association. The house on the grounds is a Victorian Renaissance Revival style plantation house built around 1870.

Our sites at the plantation.

The plantation house.

This entire tree is full of sculpted animals.

View from atop the levee, looking down at the church next to our RV park.

Views from/on the levee.

For dinner, we went to Hymel's (eh-Mel's), a joint where Thursday night is open mic and we were entertained by a jam band of locals. As you can see below, the beers were huge. And we ate crawfish! When in Rome....

Crawfish aplenty. The food was very good, and the people were just wonderful.

The next day we visited the magnificent plantation known as Oak Alley. Here are some photos:

The Oak Alley tradition is to sip mint juleps while you stroll the grounds! Deee-lish.

 These trees were planted here from Virginia about 300 years ago. We thought they were native, but, NOT! This whole trip has been a real education in parts of America we didn't really know anything about. It's great!

I included this because I had never seen a single row soldier sugar cane harvester. It gets its name from
the military-like, single file way the cane "marches" into the harvester.
It replaced the cane knife, and preceded the combine. Yet more education!

It is late so I am quitting -- tomorrow I will try to catch up on this blog. Need to write about our time in Carencro, LA, and today's thrilling visit to New Iberia, the setting of crime novelist James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels! Burke is one of my favorite writers -- perhaps not quite up there with Steinbeck, Pat Conroy, or Larry McMurtry (a few of my other favorites), but darn close. I was SO excited to see the place he writes of so often.

Till then.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 65: More from the Big Easy

We are now in Convent, Louisiana, about 2 hours out of New Orleans, in a place called Poche (Po-shay) Plantation. The trip was a bit nerve racking, in that first our tail lights on the car did not work. After some fiddling, they miraculously started working again. Then the damned bike rack! We cannot seem to get those stupid bikes secured. We will likely have to get yet another new rack.

Otherwise, we are hanging out and chilling out  -- the plan is to go to a seafood restaurant tonight where there is music.

I know Beau loves New Orleans, but in my opinion, we stayed too long. Two days would have sufficed pour moi! Laissez les bons temps rouler is wonderful, but in small doses.

But as a farewell homage to The Big Easy, here are some additional photos from our stay: (We will blog about our current town next time.)

Jackson Square

Yet another New Orleans weirdo, pictured here with the nice lady with the parasol.

 

The Big Muddy - the Mississippi River.

Dave and Joyce and the New Orleans paddleboat.

Julie and Jay-Red at Felix's Oyster House. Note Jay-Red's gold teeth.

Always the ladies' man!

This was in a doorway along one of the streets -- why, I am not sure.

A giraffe-drawn carriage.

Our pals, at the Crescent City Brewhouse.

Note the Man of War lights behind Beau. Very cool.

This cemetery, the first in the city, was around the corner from our RV park. It was established 1789.

The tomb of famous Voodoo Priestess Marie Laveau.

If you knock three times on her crypt and are sincere, it is said that Marie will grant your wish.

 

They sell these in the drugstore. Yum!

Enjoying warm beignets and coffee with chicory at Cafe du Monde.

Joyce outside the French Quarter RV Resort.

The pool and hot tub area.

Our lovely site.

Say bye bye, Lucy!

Tanks, Panky