We took a long-weekend side-trip to New Orleans while we were staying on the Gulf Coast. We had fun doing all the tourist things. But in retrospect, this trip has very sad associations because Hurricane Katrina happened the following September. We were back in the Northwest by then and watched the TV coverage in horror, seeing places that we recognized totally destroyed. Of course, we would have been horrified anyway, as everyone was, especially with the aftermath, but having been there so recently put a personal face on it.
This is one of the many street bands performing in the French Quarter.
New Orleans’ cemetery with above-ground graves.
As it turned out, we got there on St Patrick’s Day weekend (not really on purpose) and as if we hadn’t seen enough Parades during Mardi Gras in Mobile, here New Orleans was throwing a huge St Pat’s party and parade. The floats were similar to the Mobile ones (mostly green of course) except besides the usual stuff, the Krews also threw cabbages and potatoes. Apparently it’s tradition, so that parade-goers can go home and make an Irish Stew. The fellow standing next to us was happy to take any of ours (which we caught only out of self-defense — believe me, you didn’t want to not be paying attention). Wild!
We’re glad we saw New Orleans (while it was still its old self) and hope it get backs to what it was (I was going to say back to normal, but New Orleans wasn’t ever exactly that.)
After we left Alabama, we spent the month of April in Louisiana Cajun Country. We stayed in New Iberia and in Carencro.
We had an absolute blast! While we wouldn’t necessarily go back to New Orleans, we would LOVE to go back to Cajun Country. It’s a different and exotic world. Even the language is not English as we know it. And the food is wonderful and not as we know it either. We ate at two famous Cajun restaurants — Prejeans and Mulettas — where you also get music and dance along with dinner. We loved Cajun food and even learned to cook some of it ourselves! (You could make a pretty long list of the foods you can get here that you don’t find in other places: crawfish all different ways, boudin sausage, andoille, gumbo….)
Avery Island is where McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce products are made. You drive by acres of red peppers, and get a very nice tour through the plant (and gift shop of course). This is Bird Island, right near the plant. One of the McIlhenny family was active in saving the White Egret from near extinction. (Like a lot of exotic birds, its feathers were once prized for ladies hats.)
We took a swamp-boat tour of Vermillion Bayou. Our tour guide, Marcus de la Houssage, who owned the boat, is a proud native Cajun. He could drive that boat through swamps that looked totally clogged with duckweed — and get up really close to these denizens of the Bayou.
We went to several parts of the Jean Lafitte Historical Park, getting history lessons and even good Cajun music and dance.
We really do hope we get to go back to Cajun Country sometime!
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