Oak Alley

Since leaving Michigan, I took a quick tour through Kaufman, Texas and another couple of weeks in Moss Bluff, Louisiana.  Feeling a tad under the weather through both assignments, I simply just did not feel like going out on photo excursions.

However, my mother had not seen our new digs since we bought the new house in August, so I rode up on Boudreaux (the Harley-Davidson) Tuesday and drove her down in her new car for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Oh, I mentioned "new car" didn't I?  Well..... It seems that Mama failed to negotiate a narrow corner near her home last week, nailed a metal gate post and managed to knock the bumper completely off her 13 year old Chevrolet Lumina.  Neither Mama or the fence post on the corner suffered any damage but the cost to repair her car was more than it was worth, so she and my brother went on a car shopping spree and came up with a Chevy Malibu to replace it.

Not that it was a burden but when you have your Mama down, there is this innate drive to do your best to entertain her.  So, today I chose to drive her down the river road to Oak Alley.  Oak Alley is a historic plantation site dating back to 1840.  The trees that gave the plantation it's name were actually planted 100 years earlier by an unknown French settler.

Mama and I took the paid tour which turned out to be a really nice half day trip.  She and I both truly enjoyed hearing the history from the guide.  The giant Live Oak trees were spectacular and with rows of Crepe Myrtles and beds of Flocks, I'm sure it's even more lovely in the spring.

Here's a few pictures.

 

 

She will be 91, January 12, 2013.

Oh, dey pass a good time, yeah.

When I left the Grand Rapids airport, I was dressed in a leather jacket, wool pants and an Indiana Jones hat which was fitting and appropriate for the 30° western Michgan temperatures.  A few hours later, landing in Lafayette, Louisiana, it was evident that I was way overdressed in more ways than one.

With no particular plans, Darlene mentioned a festival in Girard Park, near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  "We're here, so we may as well go", was the agreement.

Lafayette isn't shy about having some kind of festival, party or fais do-do, so here we are with the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles featuring 50 Cajun and Zydeco bands.

The music was loud and plentiful which released the inhibitions of many, not that it took much encouragement as evidenced by the late morning crowd.   I'm sure it would become more "interesting" later in the day or early evening when the Budweiser and Abita beer took control.

Aside from the bands, we found rows of tents selling local artwork, trinkets and displays of handmade musical instruments.   No self respecting south Louisiana festival would be complete without the food tents.  Darlene and I feasted on boudin and cracklings, passing up the jambalaya, barbeque, poboys, fried alligator, funnel cakes and beignets.

After a couple of hours, we enjoyed about as much of the heat and humidity as we could stand in a pair of wool pants, so we made our way back home and left the party life to the creoles, cajuns and those who aspired to be.

It's vacation time for me next week, with no particular plans in mind but just cooling my jets and trying to get business off my mind.