Where We Be
| Lafayette, Louisiana |
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| No swamp tour would be complete without an alligator sighting |
| Robin with our Cajun boat captain who grew up on the Atchafalaya Swamp |
| Entering a partially submerged cypress grove in Atchafalaya Swamp |
| This amazing stretch of I-10, known as the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, stretches for 18.2 miles on elevated pillars |
| The murky brown waters of the Atchafalaya -- so different from the crystal clear streams of Colorado |
| What a strange environment! |
| Our boat captain grew up on a houseboat not unlike this one |
| We tried catfish, alligator, and Andouille sausage at this Cajun restaurant |
| Crawfish go together with Louisiana like lobster with Maine |
Lafayette is right in the heart of Cajun country. For two days
we reveled in Cajun food -- crawfish, catfish, alligator,
Andouille sausage, and boudin (a spicy sausage made with
pork, rice, onion, and spices). Learning that Cajuns were
forcibly exiled from Acadia up in Nova Scotia and Maine and
resettled in this unlikely corner of the world just increased
our interest in the area, given Robin's family ties to Acadia
National Park in Maine.
We particularly enjoyed our boat tour through America's
largest swamp, the Atchafalaya Basin, about ten miles east of
Lafayette. McGee’s Landing tour company led us through a
very strange country. We chugged slowly past partially
submerged cypress groves with Spanish moss dangling
close to the water. Birds flitted over the surface. Bright-
green plants—water hyacinth—grew in protected parts of the
swamp where the current was less strong. We saw two
alligators and might normally have seen more, but it is a hard
time of year to see them as they tend to burrow under the
mud and “hibernate” through the cooler Louisiana winter
weather. We're glad we did this tour through an unusual part
of planet Earth.
we reveled in Cajun food -- crawfish, catfish, alligator,
Andouille sausage, and boudin (a spicy sausage made with
pork, rice, onion, and spices). Learning that Cajuns were
forcibly exiled from Acadia up in Nova Scotia and Maine and
resettled in this unlikely corner of the world just increased
our interest in the area, given Robin's family ties to Acadia
National Park in Maine.
We particularly enjoyed our boat tour through America's
largest swamp, the Atchafalaya Basin, about ten miles east of
Lafayette. McGee’s Landing tour company led us through a
very strange country. We chugged slowly past partially
submerged cypress groves with Spanish moss dangling
close to the water. Birds flitted over the surface. Bright-
green plants—water hyacinth—grew in protected parts of the
swamp where the current was less strong. We saw two
alligators and might normally have seen more, but it is a hard
time of year to see them as they tend to burrow under the
mud and “hibernate” through the cooler Louisiana winter
weather. We're glad we did this tour through an unusual part
of planet Earth.
| And now for something completely different...the Atchafalaya Swamp |
