Lovin' Louisiana

When we were making our winter travel plans from Kansas City to the Alabama Gulf Coast via Texas, I looked for a way to avoid Louisiana. My prejudice for the place was based primarily on the experience of driving for a couple of hours a couple of years ago in the northeast corner of the state. That unpleasant ride soured me on the whole place. I had no desire to return. Of course, you don't have to look at a map for too long to decide that it's not really practical to route around this state. So, with me keeping an open mind, we left Texas and headed east on I-10.

My apologies to the good people of the great state of Louisiana.

We absolutely love it here! We have discovered, and the locals will readily attest, that there is a vast difference between northern and southern Louisiana. This lower half has it goin' on!

These last two weeks have been a whole lotta fun. The weather has mostly been down right pleasant. We've seen a big riva and a great big lake, visited some lovely plantation homes, enjoyed a day of sightseein' in N'awlins that started with tasty coffee and beignets in da' French Quarter, had some of the best cookin' anywheres and have met some downright nice people.

When it comes to food, southeast Louisiana might just be our favorite place anywhere. We've sampled po' boys, boiled shrimp, fried catfish, gumbo, crab bisque and New Orleans' own muffaletta. New Year's Day a neighbor delivered a huge plate of "real Cajun" home cookin'. And, this morning, we enjoyed an outstanding local brunch spot that served up tasty entrees with a side of the best grits ever.

Have I mentioned that we love Louisiana?

The real reason we decided to move from Convent to Mandeville was our desperate need of exercise. Fountainebleau State Park has miles of hiking and biking trails, and we're happily putting them to use every day. If we didn't, we'd be well on our way to weighing 400 pounds. Each!

The wonderful folks we've met have made our stay extra special. The locals are most welcoming of visitors. They genuinely seem happy that we're here. (We sure are!) We've had nice neighbors in both parks, and we've even met up with a couple of geeks.

Tricia and Keith (aka Geeky Explorers) have been on the road fulltime since November. They've been served up a couple of challenges in their early travels that would have frazzled most newbies. But, they've handled it all with patience, grace and a healthy sense of humor. These good folks definitely know how to go with the flow. Tricia left a comment here on da ol' blog a while back and we discovered that they were camped where we were planning to be. It's been a real treat to meet them. We look forward to getting to know them better before they take off next week.

And us? We're lovin' Louisiana so much we've decided to stay awhile. We've extended our stay in this beautiful park to the two-week maximum allowed. After that, we'll head to Alabama.

Meanwhile, as they say in these parts: Laissez les bons temps rouler!