Louisiana - where you will never be hungry

Well, here we are on the gulf and near the ocean but it is still bloody cold.  Zero degrees some days and we are rugged up. Tiger's gas central heating capabilities are coming to the fore.

This was our welcome to Lousiana - a warning about alligators at the first rest stop.  An appropriate welcome for Aussies.

As always, thoughts turn to food and Louisiana is the right state to be if you like food.  Everywhere you go there is a nice restaurant and we have gone by personal recommendations so far.

Below is Comeaux Restaurant just four miles over the state border where they sell boudins - Louisiana sausage.  These are flavoursome and not unlike Hungarian white pudding but they come in an assortment of types, smoked, spicy or plain.  They also do them as patties or balls.  All delicious.

But the highlight of the visit was THE best burger, ever.  It is titled a Dreamweaver and it contains, as well as the meat patty, a slice of brisket, caramelised onion and I think an egg as well as cheese.  It was out of this world!  The lady at the visitor's center recommended a visit to this food establishment.  Small and unpretentious, it packed a big punch with us.

Our next recommendation, and an excellent one, was Prejeans in Lafayette, about 3 miles north of the I10 on the service road for the I49.  We had a wonderful reasonably priced Cajun style dinner and they let us stay in the carpark overnight in our RV.  The next morning we had breakfast.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of our seafood platter at dinner but here is a shot of breakfast.

You can see how popular this eatery is.  And there is live music too.




The next stop was at another recommendation, Bergeron's Boudin & Cajun Meats.  This is a grocery and delicatessen with the finest array of cajun smallgoods.

We stocked up as if there was no tomorrow.




With all this talk of food we need a nature photo.  Here is one of the Louisiana marshes.

And the houses.  I believe only Georgia outdoes Louisiana in gracious southern houses.  That is yet to come.

We drove around Lake Charles' Charpentier historic district and took some shots of houses.

Below is a house on the water.

Then we visited a plantation and heard stories of the wealth and culture that powered the many hundreds of plantations that lined the muddy Mississippi shoreline.  We chose Laura: a Creole Plantation because of the Lonely Planet recommendation but wonder if we may have enjoyed the Oak Alley Plantation more.  Here is a shot of both plantation houses.

This is the best I could capture of this classic antebellum mansion, the Oak Alley Plantation.

The more modest Laura.  The guide explained that the creole mansions were painted in colours but the American ones were all white.

A slave cabin.