• Daily Life,  dog,  Florida,  Louisiana

    This and That

    Spring Break has come and gone. We didn’t go anywhere, and truth be told, I didn’t do anything productive. Well, I did write a paper for one of my grad school classes, but that had to be done anyway. I’m just trying to get through this semester. I wanted to quit after that awful February, but like Joel says, just get keep plugging on. We did binge both seasons of A Discovery of Witches, but I don’t think that counts as productive. I don’t know, I’m just tired all of the time. Aren’t we all though? Anyway, here are some photos from the last few weeks.

    Freyja, April 3, 2021
    Sunset March 29, 2021
    Idunn
    Annie, my sister’s cat, in Louisiana, Feb. 27, 2021
    On the way back from Dad’s funeral, wearing his hat. (I didn’t want to squash it in the suitcase) Th
  • Daily Life,  Louisiana

    Before and After

    May 26, 2019

    I simultaneously love this photo and hate this photo. I love this photo because it is a photo of friends who are puppy raisers and it was also the cover photo for a local magazine. I hate this photo because the shoot took place the day before my mom died and in my brain, it marks “before”. Rationally, one doesn’t have anything to do with the other, but my psyche has tied this photoshoot with me not being in Louisiana when my mom died, which is ridiculous, because with the information that I had at the time, I don’t think I would have done things any differently.

    A little backstory. My mom was diagnosed in April 2019 (I forget the exact date, but for some reason I want to say the 4th.) with pancreatic cancer. At the time of diagnosis, she was 66 years old. After various scans, and tests, we discovered that it stage 4 and it had spread to her liver and her lung. I had planned to spend all summer with her, and skip TSA Nationals. (I’m one of three advisors for out TSA Chapter at my school. Our National competition is at the end of June every year.)

    The plan was for me to drive to Louisiana around June 7th and stay until I had to return to Florida for the 2019-20 school year. Mom ended up in the hospital for blood clots in late May. She called and asked if I could come home earlier and I said sure, I’d be there the 28th as she was feeling better, was scheduled to go home as she didn’t want to be in the hospital any more and she was going to forego treatment. Wednesday, May 22nd, she was discharged home to hospice care. At that time she was stable and was having friends come over to see her on Friday like it wasn’t a big deal. I had the photoshoot scheduled on Sunday, I would pick up the rental car on Monday the 27th, spend the night about half way and drive the rest of the way on Tuesday. There was no indication that anything was imminent, or if it was, it wasn’t information that I had.

    Sunday afternoon, as I was leaving Chip and Chris’s, I got a call from my sister asking me if I could manage to get there on Monday, as Mom had taken a turn and she was afraid she would be unconscious by the time I got there. I called the rental car company to see if I could pick the car up early, and on Sunday evening, picked up the rental, hurriedly packed some clothes, called my principal to let her know that I had to leave and give instructions on how to give my final exam, (we still had a week of school left) and around 4 am on Monday, started driving from my home home in Manatee County Florida to Dry Prong, La, a solid fourteen to fifteen hour drive. Detours for road construction on I-75 and a delay near Mobile due to heavy Memorial Day traffic, made the drive all the more nerve wracking and anxiety inducing. Somewhere on Hwy 190 in Louisiana, northwest of Baton Rouge, I got a phone call from my brother. Mom was having trouble. He tried to reassure me that I would make it, but I was still about two hours, maybe less, away. I hung up, started sobbing, and then about ten minutes later, called my brother back told him to take the phone to Mom. I told her that I loved her and that if she was ready to go, she could, she didn’t have to wait for me, but I was on my way. She was unconscious at that point, and on morphine, but I was at least able to tell her I loved her. For the next hour and a half, I drove and sobbed. At some point, my husband called me and started talking to me about nothing and everything. At the time I thought he was just trying to keep my mind off the rest of the drive.

    I finally drove into the driveway around 7pm, I think. It’s all a blur. My youngest brother was waiting for me in the driveway, and I took one look at him and knew. Mom was gone, and I didn’t make it. She passed away about 15 minutes after I had called. That hour and a half that Joel kept me on the phone? He and Amanda knew that Mom had passed as Kevin (my other brother) called them. They made the decision to not tell me as I was still driving. At the time I was so mad at them for not telling me, but looking back it was the right decision.

    Mom on Lake St Martin in 2016.

    Meanwhile, the week after the funeral, I edited this session in order to have it ready for the deadline that the magazine needed. No biggie, I didn’t have a lot to do as my sister and one brother had returned to work, and my other brother andI were hanging out with my dad and writing thank you notes , and tying up loose sends from the funeral. I ended up staying two weeks before driving back to Florida.

    Cover of Bayside Living

    I was home about a week then turned around and took 30 kids and adults to Washington DC for that National Conference that I planned on skipping.

    SEHS TSA in Washington DC. June 2019

    Two days after we returned home from the conference, I photographed my best friend’s wedding on July 4, 2019 and then basically put down my cameras except for a handful of times.

    July 4, 2019

    Over the last 22 months, my love for photography and anything creative has taken a nose dive. Prior to May 27, 2019, in addition to my regular job, I also did photo shoots, and was a volunteer photographer for Southeastern Guide Dogs. I have had little to no desire to photograph anything beyond the occasional shots on my phone. I have photographed maybe two families and then a handful of puppy raiser days and in-for training days for SEGD, but beyond that, I have no desire. Of course, 2020 and the pandemic was it’s own thing, and unlike a lot people, took away my creativity instead of stoking it.

    I guess it’s just been one thing after another since 2019 and finally I feel like the creativity has started to creep back in. The desire to knit has slowly returned, as has the desire to write. I am also slowly beginning to think about a photo challenge that DOESN’T use my phone to force me to take Big and Little Mama (my cameras) out for a spin.

    It took me a while to figure out why I had this block, and I think it’s been just sheer overload of everything. Work, mom’s diagnosis and death, starting grad school, my dad’s illness, and his passing last month, pandemic, the crazy election, serving on a Board of Directors (I’ve since resigned to give myself my breathing room) and just daily life. I am hoping that I am finally chipping away at that block and maybe some of my creative self returns. I have missed her.

  • coffee,  Kiki Mac Photography,  Louisiana,  NaBloPoMo,  Road Trip,  Travel

    Road Trip Part 3, Home

    After a very quick trip to New Orleans, we headed home to Dry Prong. Yep, you read that right, I am the Village of Dry Prong. When I lived there, I think the population was somewhere around 325. I think that is slightly low, but that was what was on the road sign, so who really knows. Regardless, my family is still there and I love going home when I get a chance. I know, you’re going to ask, what the heck kind of name is Dry Prong? Well, way back when the village was founded, the family that settled there accidentally set up shop on the dry prong of Big Creek. The one that went dry every year. Probably not the smartest move if you wanted to build a mill, so the eventually moved to the side that had water all year, but the name stuck. My dad served as mayor for eight years, my mom served as alderwoman for twelve years, and my cousin, Shane Davis is the current mayor. Anyway, more on that in a bit, so we headed out of New Orleans, passing by the Super Dome. (Geaux Saints!), headed north.


    This way to Dry Prong…we actually went up I-49 instead of 167. It’s faster because we don’t have to stop in all the little towns for stoplights….and speed traps.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    It is not a trip home unless we stop for Shipley Donuts.  When we fly in, Mom is usually waiting with a box for Amanda. We stopped at the Exxon station on McArthur Drive forome donut holes. Happy Amanda. (PS. I just found out that Shipley is building it’s first location in Florida…about 15 minutes from my house!)s

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Of course, we had to do a coffee crawl in Alexandria. We hit up Crave and took a few pictures of the artwork downtown.

    My sister took a day off from work and we headed to St. Francisville. It had been years since I’ve been there, but it is such a pretty town. It’s home to the famous The Myrtles Plantation. Known as one of America’s most haunted houses. My uncle has stayed overnight there and can attest to some very mysterious things happening.  We didn’t take the tour, but we did get a few photos.

    I love Louisiana towns and St. Francisville has the cutest bookstore named Conundrum Books. What could make a bookstore even better? Meet Buster the Bookstore Dog. Of course, we were missing our fur babies, so getting to love on a dog was a bonus.

    Sadly, all too soon it was time to head back to Florida, and we headed out dark and early.

    Taken sitting in my mom’s driveway as I cried like a baby.  It was such a fun trip. The first part busy, the second part, not so much, just hanging out with my family.  Amanda and I did the trip back to Florida in one day, driving straight through. Amanda drove the entire trip, despite me begging her to let me drive.  Guess she didn’t want anyone driving her precious Minerva, not even her mother! I can’t wait to do it again, and we are already planning for the next trip.

  • coffee,  Louisiana,  New Orleans,  Road Trip,  Travel

    A Much Overdue Post #2 from NOLA

    I know this is much overdue, but school started, Hurricane Irma paid a visit and quite frankly, I still haven’t found a good balance for blogging, but I’m working on it.  Anyway, when we were last together, I reviewed our fabulous hotel, The Old 77 Hotel and Chandlery. I loved it so much that I can’t wait to stay there again.  As we had less than 48 hours in the city, we had to figure out what we wanted to do and see while dodging the torrential rain that New Orleans gets every afternoon.  Amanda and I laughed and said that we were the only people who go to New Orleans and go the to Zoo.  Yep, we did. We went to the Audubon Zoo. More on that in a bit, but we got into New Orleans late afternoon, so we had some time to rest and then head out to the Quarter before it got too dark. We were hungry so the main thing we wanted was dinner! I had a yummy polenta and grits at The Gumbo Shop on St. Peter. Amanda had etouffee and a drink.  She deserved it after all that driving! (I’m going to apologize for some of the photos, the humidity was awful and causing all sorts of fogging that I couldn’t correct.)

     

     

     

    After dinner, we wandered around the Quarter for a bit and decided that we both need a tiara.

    We headed back to the hotel for drinks and we stopped so I could get a photo of Amanda by the Mississippi.

    Funny story about that shirt.  She got comments on it by several people including the maitre’d at the restaurant who gave us the history of whiskey in the US. On the way back, these two sassy ladies looked at her and said “Ok Miss Tennessee Whiskey!”  Cracked us up but was so fun.

    Back at the hotel, we stopped in for drinks at Compere Lapin where this adorable bartender made me his award winning cocktail, Page of Swords. It was a nice way to end a long day.  We had a busy day the next day so both of us pretty much crashed when we got up to the room.  

    The next morning we got up bright and early so we could eat breakfast and head out to the zoo. Right across the street is a New Orleans institution, Mother’s Restaurant. This is a perfect place to people watch, and I wish that I had more time to stay and just watch. By the way, no way are you leaving hungry from Mother’s.

    After breakfast, we hopped into an Uber and headed to the Audubon Zoo for the morning.  I had forgotten that New Orleans in July has approximately 1000% humidity. Despite the heat and the humidity we had a great time, and we even saw the newest addition to the flamingo family and adorable baby chick. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

    And then my favorite photo from the day, a dragonfly on a branch.

    Summer is rainy season, so we managed to stop at Revelator Coffee just down from the hotel for an iced tea for me and an iced vanilla latte for Amanda. This is a place that I could see being my favorite coffee shop in New Orleans.

    Just as we got back to the hotel, the deluge started. We had great views for the rainstorm from our room. It actually made for a relaxing couple of hours. Well, until Amanda wanted to get a closer look and managed to bang her head on the window and leave a nice makeup print of her forehead!

    Not wanting to waste any time and having one more shop we wanted to get to before we left, once the rain slacked up, we took off to the French Quarter to Papier Plume on Royal Street. I was on the search from my New Orleans inspired fountain pen ink and Amanda was just along to look at the pretty things. We found some musicians braving the rain in front of St Louis Cathedral. Once at Papier Plume I found my ink, and Amanda found a nice glass dip pen. The guy in the store was flirting like crazy with Amanda, which amused me to no end. Oh well, he got a nice sale out of it.   We opted for one last iced latte and iced tea at French Truck Coffee before heading back to dinner at Compere Lapin.  Here’s a lesson for you. Brave the rain, life is too short to miss out on anything because of a little bit of rain.  

    We headed back for dinner at Nina Compton’s Compere Lapin and I managed to get one photo of Amanda when she wasn’t looking.  I’ll have a full review in a later post, but if you are ever in New Orleans, you must have at least one meal here.  The Soursop dessert is one of the best things I have ever had.

    Amanda waiting for the elevator.

    Alas, the next morning it was time to say good-bye to our short stay, but before we left, we had to make it to Cafe Du Monde.  As neither one of us was ready to walk to the French Quarter location, we headed a block up to the Riverwalk to that location.  It was much closer and air conditioned with a great view of the Mississippi. We are planning a longer trip the city for next spring when it is cooler and I have plans to make it a photographic tour.  Between the short visit, and the rain, I didn’t get to as many places as I wanted, including listening to live music, but we had a fabulous time.  I can’t wait to go back the city that care forgot.

  • Louisiana,  New Orleans,  Road Trip,  Travel

    Where to lay your head while in New Orleans–the Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery

    When I started looking for hotels in New Orleans, I started looking, like most people do, in the French Quarter.  I stayed in the French Quarter a couple of years ago and it made everything so convenient. This year, I wanted something different. Amanda had visited in New Orleans last summer, so with both of  us knowing that there were only a few things we wanted to do in the Quarter, I started looking for hotels elsewhere.  I had couple of requirements, while not in the Quarter, it needed to be within walking distance of the Quarter and it had to be something different than a traditional hotel.  Enter The Old No. 77 Hotel and Chandlery on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Warehouse District/Central Business District of New Orleans.

    Confession time. I was talking to my friend Chip at Oceans and Lands Travel about this hotel and he highly recommended it, and said that he wanted to stay there the next time he got to New Orleans. It also houses Compere Lapin, the restaurant of Chef Nina Compton , one of my favorite chefs from Top Chef. (More on our dinner there, later) We talked for a bit then I went ahead and booked it. Like an idiot, I forgot to let my bestie travel agent BOOK MY HOTEL.  While all’s well that ends well, I feel guilty that I didn’t let him get the booking. So a piece of advice. When your bestie is a travel agent, let him book the hotel even if it is only for two days!

    When you walk into the hotel, you are greeted with a mix of what Amanda called ‘western industrial’ I just called it fabulous. (the following photos are all from the media kit from the hotel)

    The second part of the hotel’s name is Chandlery. What the heck is a Chandlery? Well, a chandlery is a warehouse where goods are sold. As this building’s history is that of a warehouse, the Old No. 77 has sells goods made and produced from local artists and entrepreneurs. We wanted to take one of everything home with us, but we refrained.  I really loved seeing a hotel support locally produced goods.  It also honors the history of the building.

    I originally booked a king room with Lagniappe, meaning, my rate included parking and a credit to their lobby coffee bar.  When we checked in, they asked if I would rather have a room with two queen beds instead. Yes please!  Upgrade time! Our room was awesome. We were in the Lafayette section, on the third floor in a corner room. Pretend I have photos because yeah, photographer fail! I forgot to take photos because we were so tired that we both collapsed and made a mess of the room. You’ll have to enjoy these photos provided in their press kit  and pretend that I took them.  We had HUGE windows that looked toward the river then the down Tchoupitoulas. Below are some examples of their rooms.

    I did take a couple of photos of the view, which was lovely.

     

    One thing that did make me laugh and is SO appropriate for New Orleans is the door hangers. Instead of a typical “Do not disturb” sign, we were greeted with this:

    The beds were super comfy with Egyptian cotton linens imported from Italy and a pillow menu in case you are picky about your pillows. We just used the standard pillows on the bed and they were some of the most comfortable pillows that I have had in a hotel.  The hotel is pet friendly and has complimentary Wi-Fi should you find the need to work while in New Orleans.  A complete list of amenities can be found here: Signature Amenities

    As part of their commitment to embrace local culture, the Old 77 displays and sells local artist’s works throughout the hotel and host an Artist in Residence every July.  I’ll have more information on the Art-o-mat in a later post.

     

    While we were in New Orleans, Travel and Leisure Magazine named The Old No 77 Hotel and Chandlery to their list of the Top 15 City Hotels in America, coming in at number thirteen.  Overall our stay was great and I will stay there again–this time remembering to book through Chip!  The only issue that we had was that the room wasn’t as cold as I like, but I like my hotel rooms to be arctic temperatures, (not like a normal person) but giving that our room has massive windows on two sides,faced east, it was July in New Orleans and temperatures reached into the mid 90s every day, I’m not surprised that the air conditioning had trouble keeping up.

    One last thing, I wasn’t paid to stay here or asked to write a review, so these are my own thoughts and opinions. For more in depth information, please click on the links, and if you are looking for a fabulous travel planner who LOVES to do custom planning, click on Oceans and Lands Travel Planners.  There is also a link in the sidebar.

    Next up, Part 3, our one full day in New Orleans…we go to a zoo. Literally.

     

     

  • Louisiana,  New Orleans,  Road Trip,  Travel

    Road Trippin’ 2017 Part 1, the drive to New Orleans

    What do you do when your daughter moves home, you both have the summer off before you both return to the classroom and you need a break? You take a road trip to Louisiana with a two day stop in New Orleans, that’s what!  After our trip to TSA Nationals, Amanda and I were both ready for a break. After talking with my husband, we decided that it would be cheaper to drive, spend some time in New Orleans and then drive to central Louisiana to see my parents.  We decided to take Amanda’s Mini Cooper instead of renting a car, and after a little bit of planning…meaning, I set up a hotel and made reservations for dinner one night, off we went the morning of July 9, 2017.  We left ridiculously early in order for us to have most of an afternoon and evening in New Orleans.  Amanda insisted on driving, as it was her car and she’s a little bit of a control freak about who drives her car, and I was totally ok with that.

    See…early.

    Just outside of Ocala, we made out first Starbucks stop of the day. Iced tea for me and an iced caramel macchiato breve for Amanda. I got to talking with the nice barista while waiting for our drinks and she asked where we were headed, and I told her that we were doing a mother/daughter road trip and she wished us safe travels and gave me a gift card for the next stop. Wasn’t that sweet?

    About three hours after we started, give or take ten minutes, we see the sign to head westBy the way, the drive from Tallahassee to Pensacola has to be the most boring stretch of I-10 ever.  When I did this trip last year, I thought I was going to fall asleep during this stretch. There is NOTHING except for rest areas and the occasional off ramp to get gas.

    See ya Florida, on to Alabama where we passed this sign. Wonder if I could find some shrimp in Bayou La Battre

    So what do you do when you have a 10-ish hour drive? You sing…badly to movie soundtracks, Broadway soundtracks and Spotify…I’m going to warn you…it’s very off key, but we had a great time. 😀

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    One of the coolest things on this stretch of I-10 is the George Wallace Tunnel that goes under Mobile Bay.  It’s also where a huge bottleneck happens, so it took a little bit for us to get through it. Amanda was a little freaked out driving through it. I agree, though, if you think too much about exactly where you are, you start to get nervous. And yes, we blew the horn as per tradition.

    Tunnel at Mobile

    After one last Starbucks stop and a potty break outside of Biloxi, we drove into some torrential rain just outside of New Orleans, but once we got through Slidell and onto the bridge over Lake Pontchatrain, it was smooth sailing to our hotel.

     

    You can see New Orleans in the distance.  The trip wasn’t bad at all. Amanda wouldn’t let me drive, so I just rode along and kept her company. It is a weird experience to be the parent and not do ANY driving, especially on a trip that long, but I teased Amanda and told her that it made up for all the driving I did for her until she went to college! She just pursed her lips at me then laughed.  In the next post, I’ll have a review of our hotel, the Old No. 77 Hotel and Candlery plus some photos from our first evening in New Orleans.

  • Florida,  Louisiana

    I left my heart in Louisiana

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    Thirteen years ago, my husbnad took a job in Florida and uprooted me from everything that I had known for the first thirty years of my life. For those thirty years, I had grown up in, lived, worked, got married and had my daughter in Louisiana. I didn’t know anything different. I worked with family and I could guarentee that if I went anywhere ‘in town’, then I would run into someone that knew me or knew my parents. I fully expected to live there the rest of my life.

    As things go when you make those plans, plans unexpectedly changed. We moved. To Florida. Fifteen hours away from everything I had ever known. Let’s just say that I didn’t take it too well. It wasn’t like we had a choice. My husband needed a job and there was none to be found there. I had always thought that we would move, but maybe to another city within the state. I didn’t expect FLORIDA. The only parts of Florida that I was really familiar with was part of the Panhandle as this is where we would go for vacation. I had been to Disney World once, but seriously, that is just a bubble within Florida, so that didn’t really count.

    After the move, Joel started work, Amanda started school and I, well I, got depressed.  I missed everything. I missed my family, I missed the food, I missed FRIENDLY people. What people don’t tell you is that when you move to this area of Florida, you might technically be in a southen state, but you live surrounded by people from New Jersey.  The Monday after our move, Joel handed me the keys, a map, said, “Everything is in a grid pattern, you can’t really get lost. If you get to the Gulf, turn around.”  Uh, ok, thanks, that is real helpful.

    Eventually,we settled in, I got my Real Estate license so that I would actually get out of the house, started knitting, met some Linda and Kathleen though a knitting internet group, and started making friends within Keller Williams where I worked.  While I began to like living here, I still missed Louisiana, and I still do.  I watched in horror when Katrina hit New Orleans, stared in disbelief when Rita took out southwest Louisiana a few weeks later, and more recently, teared up when a gunman changed Lafayette forever.

    I often think about what it is about Louisiana that makes me long to go home. Everyone says that once you visit New Orleans, you never forget it and that she calls to you.  Well, that may be true, but for me, it is the rest of the state.  There’s just something about it.

    It’s the friendly people, the work ethic, the willingness to help out a neighbor, or a stranger and expect nothing in return.

    It’s the food. You haven’t had lived until you’ve sat outside in the late spring at a table covered in newspaper and a pile of crawfish, corn and potatoes in front of you.

    It’s gumbo and LSU football on Saturday and Saints football on Sunday.

    It’s the swamps of the Atchafalya, the Christmas Festival at Natchitoches, the hunting in the Kisatchie Forest, the fishing at Toledo Bend, duck hunting in Monroe  and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

    It’s  zydeco music in Lafayette, gospel music in central Louisiana, and jazz in New Orleans.

    It’s family.

    It’s home.

  • Louisiana,  Road Trip,  Travel

    Champagne’s Swamp Tours, Road Trip Day 4.

     

     

    We decided that our swamp tour would be the last thing on our scheduled trip through South Louisiana and after looking a brochures and looking at Yelp and TripAdvisor, we settled on Champagne’s Swamp Tours in Breaux Bridge. Breaux Bridge is a quick twenty-minute drive from Lafayette. My mom wasn’t into the airboat type tours, so this one, using flat bottom boats was perfect.  Champagne’s has been name a TripAdvisor 2015 Award of Excellence winner. After taking the tour, I can see why. The people there are super friendly and the guides are wonderful.  This is the only swamp tour in Breaux Bridge that has its own bathroom facilities and the ability to purchase water and cold drinks.  The $20.00 per person ticket price was well worth it. I was so impressed that I wrote a TripAdvisor and Yelp review, and I never do that.  We arrived for our 10am tour and was glad to see that it was overcast as summer in Louisiana can be a HOT!  Our tour was on Lake St. Martin and it was so peaceful and beautiful.  Our guide, Andy, was a great storyteller and was very knowledgable about the area and the lake. I highly recommend this and will go back.

    2015-07-19_0004Our transportation for the tour.

     

    2015-07-19_0005Kayakers headed out for the day. Kayaks can also be rented. I love to kayak and would do this in the fall.

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    2015-07-19_0025 An anhinga drying his wings.

    2015-07-19_0024 Lily pads and cypress trees.

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    2015-07-19_0014Cypress trees under a cloudy sky

    2015-07-19_0010Andy telling us about the lotus flowers.

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    2015-07-19_0013 The seeds in the pod are edible.

    2015-07-19_0012 Field of lotus flowers.

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    After our tour, we drove up to Arnaudville and had lunch at The Little Big Cup and then headed on towards Grand Coteau on our way to I-49.  This little town is home to a convent and a boarding school. The town has done a great job making it an antique lovers destination with cute shops and cafes. We only explored a tiny bit of the town, but it is one place that I’d like to go back and spend more than the hour that we did this trip.

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    After our quick stop in Grand Coteau, we headed back to  Dry Prong. We were tired, and too full from all the good food that we had eaten, but we had such a wonderful time and I’m so glad that we did this.  I can’t wait for us to do it again.  Sunday was my dad’s birthday and Father’s Day, so that was so nice to be able to be there to celebrate. I had Monday to myself, so I cooked dinner for them, packed and flew back to Florida on Tuesday.  It was the longest time that I had spent at home in years.  I plan on going back for a few days in the fall and then for at least a week next summer.

     

  • Louisiana,  New Orleans,  Road Trip

    Louisiana Road Trip Day 3.

    We headed out of New Orleans on Friday, but before we left, I snapped this guy jamming out and DJing  his own concert. He was having a great time!

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    IMG_0437Headed out of the city, you can see the Super Dome peeping out from behind the building.

     

    After we left New Orleans, we headed toward Lafayette via Hwy 90. Going via Hwy 90 did two things. 1) We stayed south of I-10 and didn’t thereby avoiding Baton Rouge traffic and 2) it’s a prettier drive.

    IMG_0444 Yep, a real, honest to goodness, paper map. Hwy 90 is in red.

    IMG_0439Approach to the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge as we were leaving I-10 and headed toward Hwy 90.

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    We headed toward Houma where we stopped at the cutest little Tourist Center. The ladies there were so nice and helpful.  If Houma sounds familiar it’s probably because you’ve seen at least one episode of Swamp People.  We didn’t see Troy, but you  can just see how proud this area is of their ‘boys.’  I would love to do a ride along and photograph one of those gator hunting trips. (Yes, I’m crazy.)

    IMG_0449 IMG_0448 2015-07-16_0028A few photos from our stop at the Tourist Center. In our family we read pretty much every historical marker that we come across. This one was at the Tourist Center.

    Our first destination was to Avery Island , home of TABASCO.  This island, while home to the bottling plant, is also home Jungle Gardens.  The gardens were beautiful and very peaceful. Lots of places to have a picnic or just to sit out on a quilt and read.  We were there in the summer, so past peak bloomng season, but in the spring, this place is a riot of color with tons of flowering plants and trees.   There is a $1.00 toll to get on the island, and to tour the gardens, there is a small admission fee.

    2015-07-16_0006  Visitor’s Center and gift shop

    2015-07-16_0005 Resident kitten.

      2015-07-16_0021 Bamboo Stands

    2015-07-16_0020 2015-07-16_0019 Bird City

    2015-07-16_0017 2015-07-16_00162015-07-16_0015 Buddha temple.

     2015-07-16_0018 Baby gator.

    This is a driving tour. Of course, the adventerous are welcome to walk it, but summer in Louisiana, I’m staying in the comfort of the air conditioned car. After our tour of the gardens, it was time to head over to the TABASCO bottling plant. The plant runs four days a week, and wouldn’t you know it, the day we were there, they weren’t running. You can still go in, get a tour and see the machines and visit the country store. They give you miniature bottle of TABASCO as part of your tour and anything TABASCO that you would want can be found at the country store.  I bought some wood chips that were made from the barrels that they age the TABASCO in for my brothers when they use the smoker.

    2015-07-16_0023 2015-07-16_0024 2015-07-16_0022 IMG_0463 IMG_0488.

    We left Avery Island and headed toward our hotel in Lafayette. Our plan was to finish up our road trip with a swamp tour on Saturday, then head back to Dry Prong that afternoon.

    Sugar cane fields.

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    Before we go into Lafayette, we made a stop in St. Martinville, home of the Evangeline Oak and Acadian Memorial. In this location you can find the story of the Acadiens (Cajuns) and their journey from exile in Canada to the swamp of Louisiana. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is know for his poem Evangeline, a bittersweet love story about two lovers who were seperated when Canada exiled the Acadiens.   The memorial to this poem is also found here.  You must stop in the museum and plan to spend a good amount of time as the volunteers are very friendly and will tell you the amazing history of the Cajun people.

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    After our tour through St. Martinville, we drove the short thirty minutes to our hotel in Lafayette where we grabbed some dinner at Cheddars and shopped some at World Market. I love World Market, but as the nearest one to me in Florida is over two hours away, I take advantage of when I can shop! The drive from New Orleans to Lafayette is approximently two hours, which is nice, because if you aren’t in a hurry, you can do what we did and stop and sightsee along the way.  Next trip, I think I would like to go down and the Houma area and spend a little more time, maybe do a swamp tour in that area.  In my next post, we’ll wrap up the road trip with a swamp tour on Lake St. Martin and a stop in Grand Coteau.

  • Louisiana,  New Orleans,  Road Trip

    NOLA, Day 2 Part 3

    One of the things that New Orleans is known for is music. Music can be found at any time of the day around the city. If you want to listen to great music, just walk around the French Quarter and will not be disappointed.  As we were walking through Jackson Square, we came across this wonderful band playing their hearts out in the ridiculous June heat.  They were so good and had gathered quite the crowd. They didn’t have a sign to indicate their name, but I wish they would have.  Everyone in the crowd had a smile on their faces and a group of children were having the best time listening and dancing along. On my next trip, I am planning on going to some of the music clubs along Frenchmen St.

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    Play for that money! (they had gathered quite a bit already)

     

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    This little boy was really moved by the music, he danced and tumbled to to the music.

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    Hot and humid in New Orleans, but still they played on.

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    They didn’t mind me taking photos.

     

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    This wraps up the New Orleans posts. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the rest of our trip through South Louisiana.