I'm posting some pictures of the "Eat your way across Louisiana" trip Melissa and I went on just after Christmas. We left here on Sunday, Dec. 27th (I'd spent the last 3 days trying to eat all the Christmas Eve Dinner leftovers).
About the time we got to Rayne (just west of Lafayette), the urge for some good, authentic Cajun food hit. Try as we might, all we could find were fast-food chains. In our quest, however, we happened upon a sign "Wortman Pottery" with an arrow. We decided to check them out. After making several turns and ending up at dusk on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, we located a house with a showroom in the front. The showroom looked closed but the sign on the door said "Ring bell and Come on In"...so we did. David Wortman arrived almost immediately with a big, friendly smile. After about an hour of conversation on topics from pottery to football, David had directed us to Prejean's Cajun Restaurant in Lafayette and an old plantation on our way to New Orleans that he insisted had the most interesting family history of any he had ever been to...Laura Plantation. Prejean's was truly authentic Cajun food. And, it was delicious Cajun food. The Zydeco band was even good. It was just too big and "touristy" for us. I ate so much I couldn't even stand to look in the cookbook they were selling to see if their wonderful Crab and Corn Bisque or Maque Choux recipe was included! I made it all the way to Baton Rouge before I simply had to stop. We pulled off at a Comfort Suites...not so much comfort and not so "suite"...but there was a shower and a bed!
On the road to New Orleans the next day we finally located Laura Plantation and did the tour. David didn't steer us wrong...it was interesting. However, we agreed not to do any more tours.
This is a picture of Laura Plantation (built in the 1780s).
The above 3 pictures were made along Jackson Square in New Orleans. Melissa and I stayed at the Omni Hotel on The French Quarter Monday night. We ate at Emeril's NOLA Restaurant located just across the street from the hotel. It was
really good! On Tuesday morning, we walked a couple of blocks over to Cafe DuMonde for beignets and coffee. Then we went down the street to Central Grocery & Deli for their "original muffuletta" (to eat on the road later). After a stroll around Jackson Square (that's Melissa strollin' in the orange shirt), we hit the road again!
The true purpose for this trip for Melissa and me was to get back to Biloxi, MS. We were there in May 2007. Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 2005) pretty much destroyed the lower MS coast and we wanted to return to see what progress had been made. We went through Gulf Port where we found this steeple. Obviously, The First Presbyterian Church hasn't built a new home for their steeple yet. But, so much has been done...it looks way better down there! Look at the neat carvings along the coastal highway made from some of the devastated old oaks ! The first one is hard to make out (I was trying to "snap and drive"). It's porpoises jumping...pretty awesome!
We wanted to go back to Mary Mahoney's Restaurant (built in 1737)! In 2007, we found Mary Mahoney's by accident tucked down off the road across from The Beau Rivage (just reopened in 2007). We had some wonderful meals, wine and conversation out in the courtyard. It was still wonderful but different...too cold for the courtyard so we had to eat indoors and they were way busier. So, while we remembered our waiter, he was too rushed to visit...we missed the personal attention. The meal was delicious!
After dinner, we decided to check into the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel (under construction in 2007)...we got an awesome room for an unbelievable rate! A quick trip to the casino left my wallet a couple hundred lighter (so much for the unbelievable room rate). The night was still young so we decided to check out the music and have a drink. The band was just OK so we had a beer and decided to go up to the room. I'm so glad we were early to bed and early to rise...check out the sunrise from the room!
We started driving home along the coastal highway, stopping at a beach we visited in 2007. Back then, there was a sign "Keep off the Beach" due to all the debris. This trip we were able to walk the beach. The sign "Gone to Texas Doc" remains on this wall even though all the other graffiti phrases have been removed...leaving us to wonder if it was left intentionally or if it was simply too stubborn to be washed away!
We jumped back up on I-10 and headed back to Texas after we had our fill of wandering the beach and looking around...got home around 9 PM, unpacked, watched some TV, kissed Joe at midnight and went to bed.
The last time we were at the ranch (about a month ago), I snapped this picture of some old, retired farm equipment among the wildflowers blooming. I love how the new, colorful flowers make the old, rusty tools look beautiful.
A good portion of our "newest addition" to the ranch has been leased to Pennington & Sons Watermelons. This is their planting on what is now the highest point of the ranch. I hope they haven't harvested all the watermelons before we get back up there : )...I'm missing the place.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day! 
