This morning I slept in until 10:30 (glorious, glorious), then hopped in the rental car and went off to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park. I'd gotten directions from Yahoo indicating it should take me an hour and a half to get there, so I budgeted my time so as to return to Lafayette by 5:00. Keith, John, and I had planned to go to the Cajun music show at the Liberty Theater in Eunice (not Eustace); Keith thought that the show began at 7:30, so I figured I'd get back in plenty of time to shower and be picked up for dinner beforehand.

About ten miles down the road I saw a sign for the park, indicating a turn that wasn't on my Yahoo directions. I briefly considered whether turning off would be Just Too Flannery O'Connor (I have never and will never forgive her for "A Good Man is Hard to Find"; it's the one and only work of hers I have ever - or will ever - read), but decided that what the hey, that's fiction, right? Everything turned out fine (as you already knew, since you're reading this and I wrote it). As a matter of fact, I really enjoyed my circuitous foray into the Louisiana countryside. For instance, I saw a combination grocery store/casino. You just don't see that sort of thing in Michigan . . .

And an extra bonus: I made it to the park in only 40 minutes or so. I'd settled on Lake Fausse Pointe because they rent kayaks; once I arrived, I secured a boat and spent two happy hours paddling in the bayou. (Sadly, although I'd brought my camera, I had neglected to remove the memory card from my computer, so I don't have pictures.) Temperatures were in the low 70s, and many turtles and an alligator or two were sunning themselves on the logs. I was just totally thrilled to see the alligators. After a while, I learned to recognize the ones under the water, too.

I suppose I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised at how brown and brackish the water was. It was also really shallow, which was another surprise. And, happily, I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed kayaking. I've never been before, oddly enough - and by comparison, paddling a canoe is like rowing a battleship. I'm thinking about trading in our canoe . . .

The park was out of cell phone range, so when I got back in the car to return to Lafayette I discovered a text message from Keith. Turns out the show at the Liberty was at 6:00, not 7:30 - so my leisurely plans became quite rushed, and we ended up driving separately to Eunice and foregoing dinner until after the show. Nonetheless, we made it - and it was absolutely wonderful. The theater itself is gorgeous - built in the 20s, it retains most of its original decor and atmosphere. It's amazing to find a place like this in the middle of nowhere.

The "RENDEZVOUS DES CAJUN" Cajun Radio & TV Show is broadcast every Saturday night and can be heard on KRVS, Lafayette's public radio station. (It's also streamed; if you click on that link you can find the link to the stream.) Tonight the first act was Briggs Brown and the Bayou Cajuns. Totally awesome - especially given that Briggs is fourteen years old, and plays with his brother, sister, and father. I've forgotten the second act; they were good, too, but this kid could really make the accordion sing.







(Keith took the picture with his cell phone - I still didn't have a camera.)

After the show we went to dinner at a place called Fezzo's. I got to try alligator bites. (I'd heard, of course, that they taste like chicken - but John and I agreed that no, they actually taste like whitefish. Quite logically, the flesh is more like fish than fowl.) The other big treat was boudin balls - boudin is this incredibly tasty sausage. And then for the main course: Catfish smothered in crawfish etouffee, sweet potato fries that were lighter and fluffier than any I've ever had; and a dinner roll with a butter crust that was . . . well, yeah, to die for.

We skipped dessert.

On the way out of the restaurant, the alligator got its revenge.







Tomorrow, another T. Coon's breakfast, and then I catch the plane back to ten inches of snow and seven degrees of Fahrenheit.

*sigh*