Cajun Country!

March 20 – 27, 2023

Enjoying a bourbon on Bourbon Street!

We finally got our Louisiana sticker put on the map!  Louisiana is the 45th state we've stayed in during this trip.  During our time in Cajun country, we also celebrated our third anniversary of being on this adventure!  The time has certainly flown by.  At the same time, it seems so long ago that we were sorting through the house and getting ready to put it on the market!  Meanwhile, RV living is wonderful and we continue to look forward to each of our upcoming spots to explore!

“Home is where we park it”, is a common theme among our fellow campers, so by that definition, Lakeside RV Resort in Livingston, LA was our home for the week.  Sites were a little tight and their picnic tables were the tiniest tables I’ve seem! Aside from that, this has got to be one of the best thought-out RV campgrounds we have been to.  

Our site backed up to the small lake occupied by turtles, fish, ducks, coots, cormorants, and even a swan.  The swan and a mallard seem to have made each other life partners!  The two of them were inseparable.  They swam together, ate together, cleaned their feathers together, and even built a nest together!  Birds of a feather usually flock together, but this was a case of opposites attracting. It was always entertaining to see what these two love birds were up to!

I woke her up from her nap!

It was common to see campers fishing along the shores of the lake, but it was thrilling to watch a red-tailed hawk go fishing!  It swept into the water and came out with dinner in its talons! I couldn’t pull out my camera fast enough to capture the moment, but I sure tried!  

The campground also offered a small pool to cool off in.  I’m glad they did, as it reached into the mid 80’s several days we were there and, with the humidity, it felt much warmer.  A dip in the pool was refreshing!  I can’t even imagine what August days feel like if this is what March feels like!

Two years ago, we were staying in Mississippi, but within striking distance of New Orleans, so we cheated a little and got a sneak peek at NOLA.   It was fun taking a second trip into the city and checking out a few additional spots.  Beignets and coffee at Café Beignet was our first order of business!  Café Beignet locations abound in New Orleans so, although this was not a new experience for us, we at least went to a new location – Bourbon Street! Recessed in the back of Musical Legends Park, we put in our order and found a table.  It was delightful eating beignets while listening to live jazz music performed by a talented trio!

We had promised ourselves a paddleboat ride up the Mississippi River following our first visit to New Orleans.  Having grown up near this river, it was a bit of a Father’s Day tradition to participate in a Quad Cities event, “Ride the River”.  It was a bicycle event that followed the river along the Davenport bank, crossed the river on a paddleboat and then followed the river back downstream on the Illinois side.  It was always such a fun day!  I found it so interesting to be back on a paddleboat at the southern end of this mighty river!  The captain pointed out so many interesting landmarks along our route, including where the levy broke during Hurricane Katrina, a couple of steamboat houses, the Domino Sugar factory, and Fort Jackson, to name a few.

Once back on dry land, we took a self-guided walking tour (thanks to the GPS My City app!) of “Top Religious Sites” of NOLA.  The tour included St. Augustine Catholic Church, which is the oldest African-American Catholic parish in the nation.  Outside of the church is a memorial to the grave site of the unknown slave.  St. Augustine is located in the Tremé neighborhood, known for its jazz clubs, soul food restaurants, and Creole heritage.  Sadly, this site was the only one we came across that has yet to be restored following Hurricane Katrina.  It came close to being closed, but the neighborhood community rallied, locking themselves inside of it and saving it.  Hopefully, they receive the funds necessary to bring it back soon.

Our Lady of Guadalupe was another great stop!  Most interesting were the mosaics located in the naves in front of the church and the statue of St. Expedite.  Apparently, St. Expedite has cured many a case of procrastination!  

St. Expedite has his work cut out with me!

A tour of top religious sites would not be complete without a stop by St. Louis Cathedral.  Originally built in 1727, it burned in the fire of 1788 and was rebuilt in 1793.  This is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US.  Its three spires are quite the icon of the French Quarter!

Having worked up quite an appetite, it was time to find some dinner.  We couldn’t resist the opportunity for a Cajun dinner on Bourbon Street.  Olde NOLA Cookery had a great menu and had seats available, so we grabbed a table and placed our orders!  I had a “Taste of New Orleans” that included crawfish etouffée, red beans and rice, and gumbo.  Of the three, red beans and rice was by far my favorite!  This is a very traditional Monday meal, the day formerly reserved for doing laundry.  This dish is said to be an easy one to get going and let it do its thing, making time for dovetailing with getting clothes washed, dried, ironed and folded.  I don’t know about dovetailing with laundry, but as tasty as it is, I’m going to take a shot at making this dish! 

Before leaving town, we stopped by Southern Candy and took home some fresh pralines.  Who would have guessed sweet potato pralines are so delicious?  Dessert and vegetable all in one!

Baton Rouge was another destination for us.  We spent a morning wandering the boardwalks and trails of BREC's Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.  I was thankful we had gotten an early start to the day, as several buses of 2nd graders were visiting the swamp that day too!  It’s hard to imagine, but the swamp was actually beautiful!  Irises, spider lilies and many other spring flowers were blooming.  Another couple told us they saw snakes but. thankfully, we didn’t spot any.  However, we did find a turtle!

Another day took us to downtown Baton Rouge.  There, we walked a bit along the Mississippi River front before taking another self-guided walking tour.  St. Joseph’s Cathedral, built in 1792, is quite the site!  It was greatly damaged by cannon fire during the Civil War, making it necessary to cover the original red brick with stucco.  As striking as the exterior is, the mosaic Stations of the Cross are incredible!  It’s amazing the detail these tiny pieces of glass can make.  

The Old State Capitol was also pretty interesting.  It looks just like a castle!  The land for this castle was once a Native American meeting site, marked by a red pole.  When French explorers settled in the region, they referred to that red pole as “baton rouge” and the name stuck!

We also spent some time walking around the campus of Louisiana State University.  It was fun just being on a college campus, watching tomorrow’s leaders go from class to class.  Similar to Iowa State University, central campus has a campanile!  LSU tradition has it that to be a “true” LSU student, you need to kiss under the tower on Valentine’s Day when the chimes ring at midnight!  Wow!  That’s a lot of specifics!  

Across from the LSU stadium is where Mike the Tiger lives.  I literally mean it!  They have a Bengal tiger there!  It goes back to 1934 when members of the athletic department decided to bring a real tiger to campus.  Today, Mike VII lives in a very nice habitat across the street from the stadium.  Mike put on quite the show for us during our visit, parading directly in front of us before cooling off in his personal pond.  I had to admit that a dip in the pool sounded like a great idea, but I was more than content to allow this Bengal tiger to have his pool all to himself!

Indian mounds believed to be up to 11,000 years old are also on this campus.  These mounds are the oldest known human-made earthworks in the Americas!  They were built overlooking the Mississippi River (the river changed paths since then) and used for ceremonial purposes.  It’s unclear whether there are cremated remains in the mounds or not.  Needless to say, protecting these mounds from erosion and damage is taken very seriously.  It’s pretty darn cool to have such a treasure on campus!

Denham Springs was only a few miles from our campground, so we needed to check it out a bit.  We walked around the historic area and discovered lots of antique shops, several cute gift shops and a yummy coffee shop.  We apparently also walked the route of the Mardi Gras parade, as I found an unbelievable number of strands of Mardi Gras beads!  The grandkids will love them!

On Friday, we went to Stations of the Cross at Immaculate Conception.  We’ve been going to stations each Friday during lent; however, the reflections read at each station were especially beautiful.  They offered such direct connections to our lives today.

Another trip into Baton Rouge took us to a farmers market.  There, I found homemade bar soap to complement my sponge from Tarpon Springs!  We couldn’t resist the short walk to Beignet Baton Rouge coffee shop for breakfast.  It’s an easy guess what we had!  I also found a quilt shop to finish up my Lenten desert quilt as well as a Christmas store where I found a crawfish ornament for my collection of state ornaments!  

Mass at Mission of the Sacred Heart completed our time in the area.  Dick and I are so thankful to find a local church to worship with as we travel around.  We always feel welcome and part of the community, and this church was no exception.  Mission was built in 1916 and remains as a small, humble church.  The parishioners had the small church absolutely packed!  It’s been wonderful to see the churches beginning to fill up again.  Covid was hard on everything.  It’s good to see normalcy coming back! 

Next up!  Notchitoches, Louisiana