Jan and Brian Champaign, the tour guide for our swamp tour.
As you can tell, we have been letting
no grass grow under our feet, and have been on the go while here in Abbeyville. Last time I posted, we had been looking at all the sites around the Abbeyville area. We wanted to participate in the real "Cajun experience" while we are here on the Cajun coast, so we went to a little town named Breaux Bridge and had an authentic Zydeco breakfast. We had to be there to stand in line by 7:30 even though the actual serving time didn't start til 8:30. George and I both had really great breakfasts - eggs, boudin, shrimp with cheese and biscuits as big as muffins and we thoroughly enjoyed listening the the Zydeco band and watching the dancers on the little crowded dance floor.
From there, we headed over to the swamp tour which was recommended to us by Betty at the RV Park. Brian Champaign gave us an excellent tour (2 hours) and served "cracklins" and "Boudin sausage". We learned a lot about alligators, birds, trees and water. Brian explained that there were no mosquitoes in the swamp because of the insects and birds that ate them as well as the plant life on the water. We saw many
large and small alligators, like the one Jan is holding. Though he was small, he still could bite and created a very shrill sound to let you know that he did not appreciate being pulled out of the water for all the tourists to look at. George and Shirley, the folks we are traveling with and their daughter, Mindy and her son, 
Azur came with us on the tour, as well as another couple who were staying at Betty's, so we had a full boat!
After the tour, we drove over to the Acadian Village and spent the rest of the afternoon going thru about 18 old buildings that described the life of the Acadians. It was interesting but we were definitely pooped out by the time we got back to the park.
On our last night in Louisiana, we decided to go out for Crawfish since it was crawfish season and this is a large area where cr
awfish are harvested on farms. Each couple ordered 5 pounds of crawfish and they were definitely the largest I had ever seen, about the size of the palm of your hand. Hopefully you can get an idea of the size in this picture. After eating, we definitely decided that we could have ordered more.
Tomorrow is "head out" day and we plan to leave about 9:30 and drive about 200 miles to Kiln, Mississippi where we will spend one night and then head on to the SKP Park in Summerdale, Alabama to spend a week. Weather has been beautiful so far and McKenzie is enjoying being able to sit outside for long periods of time and just watch what is going on. Check back with us periodically to see what we are doing next. You are all in our minds and close to our hearts. P.S. to the Genesis folks, "we love the camera". You couldn't have given us a better gift! Hugs to all of you.
no grass grow under our feet, and have been on the go while here in Abbeyville. Last time I posted, we had been looking at all the sites around the Abbeyville area. We wanted to participate in the real "Cajun experience" while we are here on the Cajun coast, so we went to a little town named Breaux Bridge and had an authentic Zydeco breakfast. We had to be there to stand in line by 7:30 even though the actual serving time didn't start til 8:30. George and I both had really great breakfasts - eggs, boudin, shrimp with cheese and biscuits as big as muffins and we thoroughly enjoyed listening the the Zydeco band and watching the dancers on the little crowded dance floor.
From there, we headed over to the swamp tour which was recommended to us by Betty at the RV Park. Brian Champaign gave us an excellent tour (2 hours) and served "cracklins" and "Boudin sausage". We learned a lot about alligators, birds, trees and water. Brian explained that there were no mosquitoes in the swamp because of the insects and birds that ate them as well as the plant life on the water. We saw many
large and small alligators, like the one Jan is holding. Though he was small, he still could bite and created a very shrill sound to let you know that he did not appreciate being pulled out of the water for all the tourists to look at. George and Shirley, the folks we are traveling with and their daughter, Mindy and her son, 
Azur came with us on the tour, as well as another couple who were staying at Betty's, so we had a full boat!After the tour, we drove over to the Acadian Village and spent the rest of the afternoon going thru about 18 old buildings that described the life of the Acadians. It was interesting but we were definitely pooped out by the time we got back to the park.
On our last night in Louisiana, we decided to go out for Crawfish since it was crawfish season and this is a large area where cr
awfish are harvested on farms. Each couple ordered 5 pounds of crawfish and they were definitely the largest I had ever seen, about the size of the palm of your hand. Hopefully you can get an idea of the size in this picture. After eating, we definitely decided that we could have ordered more.Tomorrow is "head out" day and we plan to leave about 9:30 and drive about 200 miles to Kiln, Mississippi where we will spend one night and then head on to the SKP Park in Summerdale, Alabama to spend a week. Weather has been beautiful so far and McKenzie is enjoying being able to sit outside for long periods of time and just watch what is going on. Check back with us periodically to see what we are doing next. You are all in our minds and close to our hearts. P.S. to the Genesis folks, "we love the camera". You couldn't have given us a better gift! Hugs to all of you.
