Cajun Country Lagniappe

This is the last in a series of posts featuring pictures from our recent trip through the heart of Acadiana, an area in South Louisiana, which is more commonly known as "Cajun Country."  

We drove the back roads that cut through endless acres of sugarcane fields, groves of magnificent old live oaks whose massive moss-covered limbs looked as if they were so heavy the trees couldn't hold them up any longer, and rice fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Louisiana is second in sugarcane production in the United States, and ranks third in rice production. This was very much in evidence as we drove through the heart of Cajun Country. There were thousands of acres of rice fields, ranging from lush emerald green to gold.

The rice tassles were as droopy as I felt after wandering around those rice fields in the midday August sun taking pictures ... isn't it pretty, though!

 

 

It would probably be very difficult to find a pantry in the State of Louisiana, especially south Louisiana, that doesn't have a package of rice on its shelves.  And in Cajun Country, chances are,  most of the classic Cajun dishes include rice.

On a more personal note, as a Louisiana native, I grew up eating rice dishes, and loved rice cooked just about any way you can cook it ... with brown gravy, red gravy, in soups, gumbos, casseroles, with red beans, and even rice pudding.  But about three years ago I developed a health issue which caused difficulty when swallowing, and after having several food allergy tests done, I was told that I was allergic to rice!  The allergist couldn't tell me why, after eating rice all my life, I was all of a sudden allergic to it, but I immediately quit eating rice the day I found out it was the cause of my problem. I have to admit that I miss it ... red beans and shrimp creole and gumbo will never be the same again ... but, thankfully, I haven't had any more difficulties swallowing, so it's a small sacrifice to pay.

Along with the rice fields, I would like to share some of the other scenes I captured during our travels, like this store called, "Just out da Bayou Seafood" ... gotta love it!

And the street signs that were printed in both English and French ...

I love the neon signs on these two old movie houses, in Crowley and New Iberia, respectively ...

Downtown Crowley, known as The Rice Capital of America, where "Life is Rice and Easy!"

New Iberia is also home to the beautiful Shadows on the Teche (ca 1831-1834)

Our time was limited and we weren't able to tour the house,

but I managed to get this shot through the front gate.

Two attractions in St. Martinville, Louisiana, caught my attention.  One was this charming bed and breakfast inn called Hotel Castillo (ca 1827) ...

A little historical lagniappe about the Hotel: Throughout the 19th century, steamboats sailed up and down Bayou Teche bringing travelers and goods to Acadiana.  Those who stopped in St. Martinville found lodging and hospitality in a large brick building that came to be called the Castillo Hotel.  It had one of the area's most luxurious ballrooms and was the setting for decades of community activities. When steamboat travel gave way to the railroads, the old hotel was sold to the Sisters of Mercy, who operated the Convent of Mercy School there for almost 90 years.

The second attraction in St. Martinville was next to the hotel -- the famed "Evangeline Oak," which marks the legendary meeting place of Emmeline Labiche and Louis Arceneaux, the counterparts of Evangeline and Gabriel, in Longfellow's poem, Evangeline. The poem immortalized the tragedy of the Acadian exile from Nova Scotia in 1755.

 Near the old oak tree there is a bust honoring Longfellow, as a "Poet of the People."

St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

Breaux Bridge, known as "The Crawfish Capital of the World," prominently displays a giant crawfish on the bridge crossing Bayou Teche, leading to the historic downtown area ...

Downtown Breaux Bridge ...

More street signs ...

By the way, we stopped and ate at the Cafe Des Amis downtown, and enjoyed our meal so much that we stopped there again on the way home!  I highly recommend the shrimp gumbo, if you are ever in the area.  It was delicious, even without rice!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my pictures from our trip to South Louisiana, and found the stories behind them to be interesting.  If you would like to read more about our trip through Acadiana, you can click on the links below:

Off the Beaten Path in South Louisiana

Rayne, Louisiana: Frog Capital of the World

Audubon Bridge: A Work of Art

Stepping Back in Time

Adventures on Avery Island

Sugar, Sugar

Sugar, Sugar

Our recent trip to South Louisiana would not have been complete without pictures of a sugarcane field.

Louisiana produces about 20% of the sugarcane grown in the United States, on over 400,000 acres in 22 parishes.  In south central Louisiana you can see thousands of acres of sugarcane fields, most of which are planted along the roadsides.  This time of year they are lush green, and stand tall in the fields. 

As we traveled the back roads through the heart of Cajun Country, we stopped at an especially pretty field so I could capture a few "up close and personal" pictures.  

I like the contrast of the shadows of the stalks against the cracked, dry soil ... 

With August temperatures reaching the high 90s, it felt good to walk in the shade between the rows.

In the South, you can buy sugarcane stalks at farmer's markets or roadside vegetable stands, and one of my fondest memories from my childhood is my grandfather bringing sugarcane home for me and my cousins.  We would wait patiently (or not so patiently, if the truth be known) for him to cut pieces for us to munch on, relishing the sticky sweetness of the sugar from the cane as it melted in our mouths.

  

The fields will be harvested soon and during harvest time, sugar wagons clattering off to the mills are common sights on country roads.  I would love to go back and get pictures of the harvesting process, and perhaps even munch on some sugarcane ... just for old times' sake.

If you would like to read more about our trip through Acadiana, you can click on the links below:

Off the Beaten Path in South Louisiana

Rayne, Louisiana: Frog Capital of the World

Audubon Bridge: A Work of Art

Stepping Back in Time

Adventures on Avery Island

Adventures on Avery Island

My husband and I recently spent a couple of days exploring the heart of Cajun Country in South Louisiana, and one of my favorite places we visited was Avery Island.  

Avery Island is actually the tip of a subterranean mountain of salt thousands of feet deep, three miles long and two and a half miles wide, and is surrounded on all sides by bayous, salt marsh, and swampland.

The Island's "claim to fame" is being home to the McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce Factory, where they have been making the famous sauce for over 125 years.

Tours of the factory are given Monday through Sunday and admission is free.  There is also a Tabasco Country Store where you can enjoy some hot and spicy ice cream!

Our time was limited, so we decided to explore the island's Jungle Gardens, instead of touring the Tabasco factory.  But before I begin my tour of the gardens, I'd like to share a little of its history:

Born on Avery Island in 1872, Edward McIlhenny was an arctic explorer, naturalist, and conservationist.  He studied the plants and animals on Avery Island and in the surrounding salt marshes, and in 1895 he founded "Bird City," a private bird sanctuary for the once-endangered snowy egret.

The son of Tabasco sauce inventor E. McIlhenny, "Ned," as he was affectionately known, assumed the presidency of McIlhenny Company in 1898, and ran the world-famous pepper sauce operation until his death 51 years later.

In the 1920s, however, Ned found time to convert his private Avery Island estate into Jungle Gardens, decorating it with exotic botanical specimens from around the world.  He gradually expanded the gardens until it reached its present size -- more than 170 acres.  

Under the Avery/McIlhenny family's management, Avery Island has remained a natural paradise, inhabited by many animal species, as well as exotic plants from throughout the world.

Jungle Gardens has a five-mile drive through live oak groves, along man-made lagoons teeming with plant and wild life, through an arch of old wisterias, inside an extraordinary row of hollies and a garden grove of camellias.  You can also visit a 900-year-old Buddha and an ancient oak tree over 300 years old.

Now for the tour of the gardens as they looked on the hot, sultry August day when we visited them. I can only imagine how they look in the springtime when the azaleas, irises, wildflowers, and wisteria are in bloom.

The first stop we made was to capture some pictures of the magnificent moss-draped Southern Live Oaks. 

  
 

 

My pictures don't begin to do the oaks justice ... they were truly majestic.  I was born and raised in Louisiana, and I don't remember ever seeing Spanish moss as heavy as it was on those old oak trees.

  The next stop was to look for alligators in the Bayou Petit Anse which runs through the gardens.

I so wanted to get a picture of one out of the water, but I guess it was too hot even for the alligators to be out that day. When we pulled over and stopped beside the bayou, I was excited to see a gator swimming straight towards me.

I quickly switched to my long lens camera so I could stay a safe distance from him.

 

The brochure we received before we began our tour cautioned about feeding the alligators.  I later read that they love marshmallows because they look like egret eggs, and they gobble up both in a snap (no pun intended)!

I have to admit that it was a little scary standing less than eight feet away from an alligator ... even though he wasn't but around five feet long ... and I quickly changed my mind about wanting to get a picture of one out of the water.  I was happy to see one that close, but I wanted him to stay in the water, lest he mistake me for a marshmallow.

The following pictures are of the marsh trail where you are most likely to find alligators ...

 

Our next stop was a little more comfortable since we didn't have to be on the lookout for alligators. This is the ancient oak tree I mentioned earlier ...

Named for President Grover Cleveland, who visited the McIlhenny family and this tree around 1891, the Cleveland Oak is over 300 years old.

Another interesting and very old tree in the gardens is the Survey Tree.  Survey trees, or witness trees, are used by surveyors to mark the corners of a tract of land.

  

  

I believe the live oak referred to on the plaque at "Point A" is the Cleveland Oak.

This beautiful Holly Arch was planted during the 1920s ...

 

I would love to see the Wisteria Arch in the Spring ...

 

Our next stop was to visit The Buddha.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get a full picture of him, but can certainly understand why he is encased in protective glass.  

The following plaque explains how the 900-year-old Buddha ended up at Avery Island, Louisiana.

 The following is a beautiful tribute to Buddha written by Edward McIlhenny ...

The Palm Garden was once an old mining sand pit.  Ned planted palms and cacti here because of their love of sandy soil ...

I almost ran into a rather intimidating-looking creature while taking the picture of the Palm Garden.  I surely am glad I saw him in time to capture him (or her?) with my camera instead of in my hair [shudder!] ...

By this time, the hot and sultry weather had taken its toll on me and we skipped touring Bird City.  I'm sure the egrets and herons were probably huddled in the shade of one of those old oak trees, or perhaps gathered under the branches of the cedars ...

 Our last stop on the tour was my favorite (or maybe a tie with the alligators), and I spent a good bit of time exploring and capturing pictures of the Timber Bamboo.

Imported from China, Timber Bamboo grows a foot or more a day, and is fully grown in 65 days!  Maybe the creaking sound I kept hearing was the bamboo growing.  

You can tell I really liked the bamboo by the number of pictures I took.

We enjoyed seeing Avery Island, and I'm sure every time we see a Tabasco bottle in a restaurant now we will be pleasantly reminded of our visit.  If you are ever in South Louisiana, I hope I have inspired you to explore the Island for yourself, and, if possible, plan your visit for Spring when the flowers are blooming.  A word of caution, though -- leave the marshmallows at home.

For more information about Avery Island, you can visit the Avery Island website:

Avery Island Visitor Information