Cajun Country, The Last of Louisiana: June 21-22, 2018

Thursday

Leaving Lafayette, we headed southwest to Abbeville and then west through southwestern Louisiana. I read about a great restaurant for a Cajun lunch. Five miles out of a small town, we found Suire's Grocery. Atmosphere and no-nonsense lunch joint. Place was very busy with folks doing a lot of take-out and a few eating in. We asked what they suggested for us newbies to Cajun food, and she recommended the special, Chicken Stew for Jack and I ordered a couple of appetizers – a pistollete and boudin balls. Pistollete is a yeast roll the size of a very large dinner roll with a creamy craw fish filling and then the roll is deep fried. Yum! The boudin balls are a take on regular boudin which is ground pork and rice, spicy seasoning in a sausage casing. The balls are the same, but instead of in a casing, they are covered in cornmeal and deep fried. Excellent! Jack had the chicken stew which was not a stew as we know it. Two large pieces of chicken atop a mound of rice, all covered in brown gravy.

Our drive across southwestern Louisiana started with miles of rice fields. Some fields were flooded, and had conical cages in the shallow water to catch craw fish (AKA Mud Bugs). High ground was used as grazing for cattle. Red-winged blackbirds flitted across the road and covered the telephone wires. We made a stop at one of the two large wildlife refuges in the area. They had a small visitor center with an interesting multimedia presentation about bayou creates and the Cajuns. We drove a 3-mile loop through the low country and spotted quite a few animals. I would love to come back during a spring or fall migration to see the birds. 

We are right at the junction of two flyways - Mississippi and Central making this a prime birding location

The Cajun woman in the multimedia presentation

Our campground is a city park with a boat launch and fishing pier right on the Gulf. Nothing special for campsites, but being on the ocean with the waves crashing, the gulls shrieking and brown pelicans everywhere. Unfortunately, the low overnight was to be 80 degrees, so too warm to sleep with the windows open. 

Offshore Oil Platforms

Friday

Enjoyed my morning coffee outside watching and listening to the birds and the large shrimp boats and oil tankers going to the port. Very breezy, so even at 80 degrees, it is comfortable. 

Graves are above ground in most of Southern Louisiana

Continued our drive along the western Louisiana Gulf coast continued a few miles this morning to a nearby beach, known for shelling during the winter. We drove right onto the beach and enjoyed our lunch watching the Gulf.

Snowman in Southern Louisiana

 We continued our journey across the remainder of Louisiana and entered Texas at Port Arthur.