Cajun Country Road Trip

My last post about New Orleans got me thinking.  Louisiana has so much to offer!  The Big Easy is probably the most popular tourist destination in the state, but there are other areas to explore that offer visitors a glimpse into a distinct regional culture.  A few summers ago, a friend and I took a weekend road trip off the beaten path through Cajun Country to check out the southern central part of the state.  It's a fun little weekend getaway and pretty easy to cover in a couple of days, especially if you live in a bordering state.

On a Friday night we left from Dallas and spent the night in Shreveport.  If you live in the Southern part of the country and are passing through, it's a fun little town to stop and place some bets, but I don't recommend it as a destination.  Go to Vegas.  Just do it.

After winning a little and loosing more, we got up early the next morning and set out for our primary attraction of the weekend: the Tabasco bottling plant on Avery Island.  In my opinion, it was a scenic four hour drive almost due south from Shreveport, so if you enjoy swamps, bayous, and cute little historic towns, you'll agree!

On our way we stopped for lunch at Pat's Fisherman's Wharf in Henderson, which has been serving Cajun cuisine since 1948.  It's still operated and owned by the Huval family and is a popular stop in the Atchafalaya Basin.  We sat on the screened-in patio on a bayou and enjoyed some cold beer and crawfish!  Yum!

New Orleans

Summer trip no. 1…  New Orleans.  Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The first trip my guy and I took together was to New Orleans in the summer of 2010.  I had been a handful of times but he was a Big Easy virgin (haha).  One of my favorite things to do is play “tour guide,” and I loved showing him some of my favorite places in the city.  We had such a great time we decided to make it an (at least) annual trip.

When we landed in New Orleans in July for annual trip no. 2, we grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel in the Vieux Carre.  (Insider tip: This taxi ride is usually about $60 each way, so if you go for a day trip as I’ve done a couple of times, you’ll come out ahead if you rent a car.  If you’re staying in the French Quarter for a night or two, you can easily walk to where you want to go or take a streetcar for $1.25 per ride.  Plus, parking at a hotel might cost you $20 per night, so I think a taxi makes things easier.)

Hello World!

Wow, 2011 flew by, and brought a lot of changes with it.  I went from couch-surfing to putting down roots in a lovely little apartment.  Shortly after I got a promotion (yay!) and traded my cube for a home office.  I love my new job but the first six months were incredibly BUSY!  I have a handle on things now, which means I also have a reasonable amount of free time again for this blog!  :) 

There are lots of stories to be told about my last six months of travel. Like I said, I’ve been B-U-S-Y, and yeah, that is my alibi! Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting on the following trips:

New Orleans

Chicago

Austin

San Antonio

Denver

International Falls, Minnesota

London

Paris

Cincinnati

Keystone/Vail

Oklahoma City

I hope this year will bring as much excitement and adventure as the last!  Here’s a picture of my hand-made Christmas gift from my very talented brother: