Day 3 - Plantation Nation

Today we got a car rental and took off!!! We had the funniest little Chevy Aveo, just a tiny bit bigger than a SmartCar, and it zipped us to Vacherie, LA via the Great River Road.

Before the fun started, we wanted to do right by New Orleans, and view the damage done by Hurricane Katrina in the Lower 9th Ward.  Closest to the levy breach, they have already cleared out most of the damaged homes, and one whole street is part of Brad Pitt's foundation "Make it Right", which is building sustainable homes, complete with solar panels.  We saw construction workers, and it gave us a little hope.  Mixed into the neighborhood were homes that are still abandoned, left with the spray-painted X's, done by aid workers in the weeks after the storm as they were searching for bodies.  Most had 0's for the number of bodies found. Some had "1 dog". They were all really sad.  Scattered throughout the abandoned homes are the resilient residents who don't want to leave.  They have rebuilt, or are in the process of rebuilding their homes.  We also saw the site of the levy breach.  It has since been repaired, but it was hard to imagine such a thing could cause so much damage to so many lives.  The whole experience felt almost surreal, and caused for great introspection. 

Moving along, leaving New Orleans, and heading up the river, LUNCH.  And man, did we eat... We stopped at a tiny little "diner" off the Mississippi River called B&C Seafood.  We were the only Yankees there, and EVERYONE stared at us... pretty much the whole time we were eating.  But don't worry, we stared at them too, as they devoured 20 pounds of crawfish out of a bucket.  They generously showed us how to eat them, as we ordered our 1 pound to split. They were delicious!! We also enjoyed seafood gumbo with garlic bread, catfish, alligator nuggets, hushpuppies, and crab stuffed jalapenos - all fried.  We tried, but didn't enjoy crab legs and boudine. 

What is boudine, you ask? We wondered too. Especially after Lara took a bite and almost spit it out. Cara was not brave enough to try it after seeing Lara's face.  When the owner came over and saw that we hadn't liked it, we asked him what it was.  He asked if we had ever heard of "Scrapple" (Cara had, Lara hadn't) and told us that it's something like Scrapple, except with pork parts.  (Scrapple, in case you don't know, is all the meat left-overs, ground up.)

After that, it was off to Plantation life at Laura's Plantation.  This was a typical Creole family plantation, nothing like Miss Scarlett's Tara.  It was very simple, just 6 rooms total, and painted bright yellow, with red and blue trim.  At one point the plantation had 14,000 acres, but now they just have 14.  The rest of the land was sold, lost in gambling debts, and given away over the years.  There were even 5 slave quarters still upright that we toured.  It was an interesting view of previous Southern life. 

On our way back to return the car, we stopped to fill up for gas.  This was one of the best gas stations Cara has ever been to.  She had to go in to get my receipt.  They sold fried chicken - fresh - in the market.  In line ahead of her were 2 guys selling a Cadillac Deville (white), and a man buying a 40.  And then a policeman buying fried gizzards and chicken.  The whole time she was in there she was afraid that Lara was going to get shot while innocently sitting in the car. 

We read about this convent that supposedly had really great handmade Christmas ornaments, so we thought we'd go. When we got there, they were just okay. But the nun was REALLY hilarious and they were also selling pralines, which were made by Sister Mary. They were delicious.  

Tonight is try #2 for Preservation Hall and Italian food... hopefully we are more successful!!!

Much love,

Cara and Lara