Day 18-Heading North

We are now past the midpoint on this trip, so as we pulled out of Palmetto Island State Park at 8:00 AM we were heading north toward Arkansas, and then Missouri.

 There's not a lot I can say about Abbeville.  The town has clearly passed its prime. It continues to be surrounded by very fertile farmland, which is what attracted the Acadian deportees to the area in the 18th century.

Q1:  What's growing in this field?  

Answer at the bottom of this blog.

Q2 : What's happening in this body of water?  

Answer at the bottom of this blog.

Although the land is extremely fertile, the poverty in the area is overwhelming, and illustrates the challenge that farming presents throughout our country as it becomes more and more mechanized, less labor intensive, and more and more dominated by huge conglomerates.

Our first stop on day 18 was in Lafayette, where we were going to have breakfast.

The Marquis de Lafayette

Our breakfast spot

French Toast

A scrambled egg and bacon crepe with Hollandaise sauce

Vermillionville, similar to a Sturbridge Village, Plymouth Plantation, or Williamsburg, is a recreation of a 19th century Acadian village, and focuses on the unique aspects of the Acadian/Cajun culture.  Adjacent to Vermillionville is the Acadian Cultural Center which is operated by the National Park Service.  The exhibits at the ACC focus more on the history of the Acadian deportation.  

In 1755 the British government, that at that time had gained control of Nova Scotia, decided to deport all French Catholics who would not sign an oath to side with the British and oppose the French who were still fighting with the British over the control of North America.  Known as Le Grand Dérangement, this forced deportation resulted in the deaths of thousands as many were killed before being deported, or died in transit to their new home in Louisiana.  Most of the coastal colonies, with the exception of Louisiana, refused to accept the Acadians, 

How the word Cajun evolved from the French word L'Arcadie.

The material is the wall is known as bousillage.  It combined Spanish Moss and clay to create an insulating material that was also used in the construction of chimneys.  

The sticks that you see protruding from this chimney were positioned to allow men to climb up the outside of the chimney in order to make any necessary repairs.

Once boys reached the age of 9 years they were relocated into the attics of most homes.  The homes had a stairway on the outside of the house to the garconniere, the bedroom for boys.  This outdoor stair saved interior in the home and allowed the boys, who were also starting to work, to come and go without disturbing the rest of the family.

This photo illustrates an interesting building practice where the top row of shingles on the windward side of a house were extended beyond the peak in order to prevent rain water from leaking into the home.

We had lunch in the La Cuisine de Maman, in the Vermillionville village, which specialized in Cajun food.  It was delicious!

Grilled Cajun Shrimp with red beans and rice

Fried Cajun shrimp and sweet potato fries.

Leaving Lafayette, we continued north driving through two small towns highlighted in Anthony Bourdain show on Cajun & Creole cooking and culture. The photos were all taken in Mamou, which is where Bourdain attending a wild Mardi Gras celebration. If you haven't seen that episode of his Parts Unknown series, I highly recommend it. (Season 11, Episode 7)

Continuing north toward our campground near Alexandria, La, we stopped for dinner at Popeye's created by  Al Copeland. He became famous as a high speed motor boat racer,  but ask a second career, he  became infatuated with developing a fast way to cook chicken.  

Joni waiting for her birthday dinner.  We've never eaten here before.  It was very good.

Continuing on to our campsite near Alexandria, Louisiana, we passed countless yard signs for the upcoming sheriff's election in every town.  The sheriff was be a very important position to hold.  We also noticed that as soon as we got south of the Mason Dixon line, no highway was spared from the personal injury lawyer billboards.  

Our luck with unpopulated campgrounds continued.  For the first time on this trip we  did not have a reservation, this one was probably the prettiest one we visited so far, and I think we counted only three other campsites were occupied! 

Lake Valentine Recreation Area near Alexandria, La.  A National Forest campground, so our fee, as senior citizen pass holders, was only $5.

Q1 Answer:  rice fields

Q2 Answer:  crawfish/crawdad farms