Cajun Coast
The "Cajun Coast" is primarily the area between Houma and New Iberia. Most of the filming done on "The Swamp People " is filmed here.
First stop, Cypress Lake RV park in Berwick, LA.
Parked, set up and ready to go Cajun
Our view from inside our coach
We drove to Houma first and decided not to stay. Too crowded.
Then on to Pierre Part, home to the Landry's of :Swamp People".
While here,we met Ricky Landry, Troy's brother. He sounds just like Troy. We talked to him about 30 minutes, very interesting.
Ricky told us about a local 'artist" that makes things out of driftwood. We had to see it. The man was gone but left a note to look, take pictures and call me if you want to buy.
The Statue of Liberty
Marie Laveau
Raising the flag on Mount Suribachi and other soldiers
and, of course, the Swamp People of Pierre Part.
We did find some more good Cajun food.
Susie's Restaurant
great boiled crawfish
I did get very serious about them.
and in Pierre Part, Landry's Seafood, not sure of relationship to Troy.
On to New Iberia
our site
On the other side of the small lake is a water complex complete with pool and lazy river. Lots of things for kids. That is why we are on this side.
It was really crowded over the weekend but this was on Monday, almost empty.
Conrad Rice mill and Farms, established 1912. Later renamed Konrad, operated by the Conrad family until 1975. Bought by Mike Davis, the present owner, who at that time was the youngest rice miller in the USA. Now he is the oldest.
The Mill was placed on the National Historic Register in 1981.
The store is the central point
As the rice comes in, it is weighted and unloaded in the opening to the left. From there it goes to the storage area to the right (round structure).
This is the same building that Mike Davis bought.
The milling process is the same as it was in the early days except electric power instead of steam power.
Every thing is still belt driven and uses automatic oilers (center of picture).
Since 1981, they are not allowed to upgrade to more modern equipment, just repair the old.
The green packers are more modern but still from before 1981.
These still require operators.
They have 15 employees at the mill.
They only process Louisiana grown rice.
We found out that the rice paddies are also used to farm raise crawfish. In the summer, crawfish burrow deep into the ground. When they flood the fields the crawfish come up.
When you visit this area, you have to go to Avery Island. Avery Island is a salt dome that is estimated to be taller than Mt. Everest. Of course all that height is below ground.
It also has oil deposits and of course, Tabasco Sauce.
The Tabasco complex has grown since we were here the last time.
The cafe was not here. There was a small food cart that had excellent Cajun food. The Cafe is nice but the food was better before.
and there was no museum.
The outside of the factory
blending floor
McIlhenny CO insignia
Bottle capping machine
filling bottles
bottle count per day. This was about 1:00 PM
more of the bottle room
where it is sold
a section showing the salt mines
a typical chunk
underground mine
Original: It's like love, you always want more no matter how badly you got burned last time.
Green: In this case, milder only means it will take less time to recover from it.
Habanero: Don't forget to close your mouth so no one will hear your tongue scream.
I'm gonna take this home with me.
the cafe
and food, crawfish etouffe. and look at all the different types of Tabasco sauce. I tried them all.
Inside the store for the samples.
I went back several times for the ice cream.
They have pretzel sticks to dip into the samples for a taste.
I could visit this store every day.
You cannot leave this area without walking along the banks of a bayou, in this case, Bayou Tesche.
Just to explain what makes a bayou.
a bayou is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area, and can be either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or a marshy lake or wetland.
I wanted to go fishing on one of the many bayous here but it was too hot to be sitting out in an open boat.
Maybe next time.
In this area, if you threw a rock up in the air in a crowd of people, it would probably come down on a Landry.
In a 100 mile stretch, we saw 4 Landry's Seafood restaurants. None associated with the chain or to each other.
This one had a great buffet.
Another good local restaurant was the Boiling Point
First day open after two weeks of renovations
Next stop back to Biloxi for some $5.00 a dozen oysters and a muffeletta then on to Pensacola NAS RV park, "Blue Angles RV Park" where we hope to catch some Blue Angles practice sessions. Also I want to see the museum there.
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