3 February ‘09 Tuesday
Monday’s seem to be the perfect wash day (clothes that is…). I don’t have an idea as to why, but it does, and besides, yesterday was Groundhogs Day. What does Groundhogs Day have to do with anything…well it’s my birthday that’s what. Actually it goes like this… We woke to heavy rain and didn’t have any additional plans for the day. Sooo with the laundry bag getting close to full, we decided to get the laundry done. Once that was done we were open to do what we wanted, rain or shine. Well we ended up just staying home and staying warm and cozy. Louise made a wonderful stew for dinner and the only thing I can say about that is, it smelled so damn good for so long that it was hard to hold myself from eating before it was done.
This morning we decided to “take a ride”… After dropping by the City Hall of Abita Springs to offer our LARGE supply of Mardi Gras beads (those that were tossed to us from the floats), we stopped by the Tourist Information office. We were looking for a place to go that we might have overlooked this last week. After going over some maps and additional literature we decided to see some of the “Plantations” around the area. Following the map inside of the New Orleans Plantation Parade brochure, we headed out. Our map lead us out towards the northwest of New Orleans by about 40 miles and then follow the Mississippi River levies. Along the way we saw quite afew of the older homes that sit from 1 foot to as high as 20 feet above the ground. This is to give a little air-conditioning during the summer time and a little relief from the flooding waters that seem to affect this area.
Monday’s seem to be the perfect wash day (clothes that is…). I don’t have an idea as to why, but it does, and besides, yesterday was Groundhogs Day. What does Groundhogs Day have to do with anything…well it’s my birthday that’s what. Actually it goes like this… We woke to heavy rain and didn’t have any additional plans for the day. Sooo with the laundry bag getting close to full, we decided to get the laundry done. Once that was done we were open to do what we wanted, rain or shine. Well we ended up just staying home and staying warm and cozy. Louise made a wonderful stew for dinner and the only thing I can say about that is, it smelled so damn good for so long that it was hard to hold myself from eating before it was done.
This morning we decided to “take a ride”… After dropping by the City Hall of Abita Springs to offer our LARGE supply of Mardi Gras beads (those that were tossed to us from the floats), we stopped by the Tourist Information office. We were looking for a place to go that we might have overlooked this last week. After going over some maps and additional literature we decided to see some of the “Plantations” around the area. Following the map inside of the New Orleans Plantation Parade brochure, we headed out. Our map lead us out towards the northwest of New Orleans by about 40 miles and then follow the Mississippi River levies. Along the way we saw quite afew of the older homes that sit from 1 foot to as high as 20 feet above the ground. This is to give a little air-conditioning during the summer time and a little relief from the flooding waters that seem to affect this area.
There are 7 different Plantations on this route and try as we could, we were only able to see 4 of them. Unfortunately, just about half of this route took us by so much heavy industrial that it about destroyed the impact of these beautiful pieces of history. The San Francisco Plantation was totally surrounded by an 8’ cyclone fence that came as close to the mansion as 20 feet. On one side and the back it is set against a huge industrial building, on the other side, a large parking lot. The building and the grounds are in total disrepair and really didn’t beckon us to visit. It’s really sad as this “Grand Mansion” was beautifully designed with elaborate Gingerbread work and was once known as the most opulent Plantation in the South. It also had some of those "Ghost Trees" that we see here in the deep south.
3 more miles further down the road we came upon Laura: A Creole Plantation. This Plantation was named “Best History Tour in the US” by Lonely Planet… Unfortunately we were so far by it before we realized it, we decided to continue on to the St Joseph Plantation. All of the Plantations we visited were “sugar” plantations and spread out as far as you could see. Heading towards our next plantation we found another building of high interest…a Cajun Restaurant. Now we’re a long way from nowhere and we come across this little restaurant. Of course we had to stop. It is a seafood market that doubles as a Cajun restaurant at the same time. The small restaurant is set-up off to one side as you walk into the market. The moment the menu was presented we knew we had found “THE PLACE”. Louise ordered a cup of rice/seafood gumbo while I ordered an appetizer of mixed seafood. The mixed dish was battered in light and spicy flour and then deep fried. It consisted of 6 crab/spears (the small claw with the meaty end), 4 catfish, 6 alligator chunks, hushpuppies, and something called Boudin Balls (rice, sausage, and..REALLY GOOD !!!). All the food was really good, and there was plenty of it. This was our first time to taste alligator and the Boudin Balls. As I mentioned, the Boudin Balls were really good, but the alligator, well a little chewy and it kind of reminded me of chicken gizzards. OK, back to our tour of plantations. The St Joseph Plantation wasn’t my favorite, but it was in pretty good condition. We only took the “grounds tour” which gave us the chance to visit the 2 desk schoolhouse,
the small slave quarters, and of course a walk-around of the mansion. The large manor house was built by Louisiana Creoles of French descent in 1830. Now with time getting really short we decide to make the next one our last. About 3 miles further down the same road we’ve been on for the afternoon, we find an incredible mansion that was set way back off of the road. Huge OLD Oak Trees lined the walk that took you to the front entrance of the Oak Alley Plantation.
This plantation was built sometime in the early 1700’s and then the “Big House” was completed sometime in the early 1800’s. Jacques Telesphore Roman, a wealthy Creole sugar planter, and his wife became the original owners. Unfortunately after a couple of years, the “Mrs.” wanted to move back home, so she left and became an absent wife. Jacques sent for her many times but she didn’t budge until after his death. Then after coming back and trying to run the plantation she took it into financial devastation. Their son then took it and try as he might, his mother kept spending the monies until there was nothing… This was a good stop as we were able to see, feel, and almost feel a part of Oak Alley (ya right…).