Laissez les bons temps rouler! (Let the good times roll)

Our day began at 8:15 waiting in line at this cafe in Breaux Bridge.   We waited nearly an hour and a half  before we were seated.  Some in our group (they shall remain nameless!) were impatient but it was worth the wait.   The music provided by Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners was great.  The group was being videoed for a television broadcast.The dance floor was filled with great dancers.   Three hours later we exited the cafe with a lot less hearing then when we entered!

The afternoon of music and food continued at the campground.  The campground had a "boucherie" or hog killing.  It was in reality a pig roast with jambalaya, roasted pig, dancing, and music provided by CajuNation.  I think that dancing is second nature to the people of Louisiana.  They can really "shake a leg."

As we were walking Sandy, a beautiful sunset appeared in the sky.  It was a nice, quiet way to end the day.  I am having trouble with my entry tonight.  Just when I think I have this blog and IPad figured out, it hands me a big curve and nothing I did yesterday works today.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better one for me and my blog.

Cajun Palms: Golf Cart Capital of Louisiana

Today we decided to find a local bakery we had heard about to buy some donuts and go to an antique mall we had seen when we came into the campground.  We scored on one of these..we brought donuts.  The antique mall wasn't open yet.  We decided to drive through the countryside and happened upon another antique mall to explore.  We enjoy exploring the rural areas.  On the return trip we got back on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge on I-10.  We had just gotten on when we were stopped by an accident involving a truck pulling a trailer and a four-wheeler.  We were stopped for nearly 1/2 of hour.  There were three ambulances but hopefully no one was hurt seriously.  

When we returned to the campground, lots more campers had come in for the weekend.  Golf carts were everywhere.  There is a restaurant just outside the fence boundary of the campground that will send a golf cart to pick you up and take to the restaurant.  That's service!   Dads, moms, kids, and dogs all travel by cart.  I saw a couple taking their Siamese cat for a ride.  The campground has a golf cart parade up and down the streets of the park on Mardi Gras weekend.  

Peggy and I have been working hard to improve the looks of my blog.  We discovered that we had accidentally deleted the pictures from a file from which the blog retrieves pictures.  I apologize if you can no longer see the pictures of the older blogs.  Someday when I have time, I may replace some of them but don't hold me to that!

Prepare to park your car and drive a golf cart.

Special spots for cart drivers to use.

Don't own a golf cart?  Rent one.  These are lined up waiting for someone to rent.  I think you can rent them for $10 a day

Parked next to the camper.  All ready for a ride around the campground.

Cart being towed into park.  Campers also bring them on trailers attached to their campers/motor homes.

Even Batman has a golf cart here!

For Kids Eyes Only

This post is for my sweet grand kids:  Hunter...Katie...Aidan...Keegan

The campground (or resort) is very nice and has several things that kids would love.   Because of the rain and wind we stayed near the camper today so I walked around and took several pictures of some fun things you all might enjoy seeing.

The people who own the place has an English Bulldog.  There is a statue of a bulldog near one of the buildings.  I guess he is guarding the campground.  Because there is a large pond several ducks also call this place home.  I am posting a photo of the bulldog and ducks.

There is a small waterpark, a swimming pool, and a miniature golf game.  I am posting pictures of the water park.  It looks like a place you would all enjoy.

We are having fun.  I hope to get out tomorrow and find a postcard or two.

Love, Grandpa and Grandma Mulvany

This is a concrete statue of the camp mascot.  You will see the dog all around the campground.

Four of the several ducks who make Cajun Palms home.

Scenes from the water park.  It looks like a fun way to spend a hot Louisiana day.

A Rainy Day in Louisiana

According to the weatherman, there was a 100% chance of rain with the possibility of some severe storms. Thankfully, that hasn't happened as of 3:00 pm. We have had some rain and as of now, the wind has picked up considerably so it may yet be on the way.  Anyway, we made this day as one we will stay near to the camper.

One good thing about being "rain bound" is that I have spent some more training time with my computer expert Peggy, and she may have figured out some of the problems I have been having. Thanks, Peggy!

Pictures above and below:  from our drive yesterday at Lake Fausse.

As we are sitting here feeling the wind blow, we are watching the Weather Channel coverage of the massive snow and ice storm hitting the Midwest.   I leave town and it snows!!  I have been waiting all winter for a big snow storm!  Maybe next winter I can earn some money by promising people I won't leave town and by staying around, there will be no snow!  Carol and I really like this camp resort and it is reasonably priced.  It cost us $25 a day and we were told that you can stay for a month for $500. Cajun Palms is very nice and we both think we could be here a month.  Who knows, maybe we will be back next year!

Driving through Cajun Country

We began the day  with breakfast at the camper before hitting the road.  Our first stop was the Atchafalya Basin Visitor Center.  We were able to pick up a lot of brochures on the area and watched a short movie about the area.  We have passed by this

place several times in the semi coming and going to Houston but never noticed a large truck parking area.  Had we noticed, I'm sure we would have stopped before now.

We decided to drive a small local highway to Lake Fausse State Park.  The park has a very nice campground with electrics and water per site.  There were 3 hiking trails so we took the shortest one. It was 3/4th of a mile.  It was very pleasant. 

As we drove, some of the house owners had  posted signs with the names of their place.  Some were Playin Hooky, Bahamas Mama, Louisiana Woman and Mississippi Man, Never Home, and my favorite "Don't Stay, Don't Want to See You, Don't Care, Go Away."   I feel sure they don't want any visitors!

We also drove around Lake Martin.  The white heron were nesting and you could see white on the limbs of the bare trees which we finally figured out were the herons in their nests.  We were able to take a broadwalk trail into the swamp.  I have posted some pictures taken from the hike.  We enjoyed the day just driving through the countryside.  The weather was nice.

Some friends of Don, Peggy, and Carol came into the camp this afternoon.  They are parked across the street from us.  Tonight we are going to eat at a local restaurant so the ladies can stay out of the kitchen.

This is a pontoon bridge across a  canal.

These pictures are of our Lake Martin drive. 

Can you find the herons in their nests?

Two of our next door camper neighbors - Peggy and Niki

Skelton of a creature we found on our hike at Lake Fausse Point.

Two hikers I met on the trail.

Two for the price of one

There was not any time to journal yesterday so I will write about both days in this entry.  We got up at 6:30 yesterday morning. The temperature was 50 degrees but with the wind blowing, it felt more like 30.  Again, It was confirmed to me that I do not like cold weather camping.  We were finishing the final hookup when the camper across the street saw Carol's Air Force cap on his head and came over to share stories about their common Air Force service.  The neighbor had served from 1962-1966 which overlapped Carol's time by a year. He had even been stationed at Offutt AFB in some of that time.  He was quite a talker.  We finally got on the road about 9:00 am

We got through Memphis easily and headed down I-55 south.  It was overcast and we had a few sprinkles off and on but other than a brisk wind blowing from the south, we didn't have any trouble.  I like I-55 through Mississippi.  The road goes right through the heart of Mississippi between tall pine trees and red soil.  We passed an old motor home with this written with window chalk: "Thelma and Louise and their bucket list."  Two ladies were driving south.  I hope they don't end up like Thelma and Louise flying out to their death over the Grand Canyon.  At a gas station we met a young man who was from Michigan moving to Arizona.  He was driving a two-seated yellow BMW convertible.  We had seen him at the KOA tenting.  He had 2 huge Huskies in the passenger seat.  I told him that didn't leave much room for him but he said that they just curl up around each other.  

We made it to  Brookhaven, Mississippi where his twin sister and her daughter live with another daughter  Carla and her family about 2:00 pm.  We pulled our truck and camper into her daughter's drive way, opened the slides, hooked up electricity and then the visiting began in full force.  We had a great time catching up on their family.  Carla's son, Adam, and his family joined us for supper (which was delicious).   It was a regular gabfest not ending until nearly midnight.  The rain had set in so we went to bed listening to the rain hitting the top of the trailer.  I really like that sound!

The next morning the talk and fellowship began again until we had to leave around 10:00 am.  Today was a beautiful day,  sunshine, clear blue skies, no wind, and temperatures in the low 60's.  We drove through Baton Rouge with no problems.  There is an 18-mile long bridge that runs between Baton Rouge and Lafeyette.  It passes over the swamp and wetland area and is pretty. We made it to Cajun Palms Resort at 1:00 pm. We are in site 285.  Don and Peggy are in site 284.  This is a beautiful campground.  Campers are parked on concrete pads with enough room for a patio.  Green grassy space separate each of the pads.  The bathrooms/showers are large and clean.  There aren't too many campers here right now but Don and Peggy say that will change on the weekend when local families fill up the sites.  It has cooled down.  The weather forecast is calling for rain, rain, rain.  We hope it is wrong.  We will be here for 10 nights.

Carolyn and her two daughters, Carla and Alana.

We ate supper, walked Sandy and are going to relax the rest of the evening.  I might even get to bed a little earlier than last night.

The twins:   Carol and Carolyn

Brrrr to Ahhhhh

This morning at 8:00 a.m. (When we left) It was 16 degrees in the great state of Illinois.  We were up at 6:00 am to hook up and do some last minute packing.  It was at that point that I decided that leaving Illinois in the winter was very uncomfortable and that maybe we needed our heads examined.  It took two hours in the warm truck to warm up my feet and hands.  Fortunately I came to my senses as we headed south and everything warmed up!

When you cross this bridge, you leave the State of Illinois into Missouri.
Our vacation begins!

Carol and his brother Darrell.

It was a nice day to drive...sunny with beautiful blue skies.  It seemed like there was a lot of semi traffic but with an experienced semi driver behind the wheel of our truck, it was no problem.  We stopped at "Boomland" which is a well-known tourist/truck stop on I-57 for gas.  Gas was $3.49 a gallon which was a good savings from the $3.89 in Decatur.  We stopped at a KOA outside of West Memphis, Arkansas, camped in site #1.  It will be quick and easy to pull out of here tomorrow.

After we got set up, Carol's brother, Darrell, drove out to the KOA to visit with us.  He took us to his house.  He has a neat clock collection and his house is very nice as well.  We ate supper  and returned to the KOA about 8:00.  We really enjoyed spending time with Darrell.  Before he left, I had to get a picture of the brothers.  Tomorrow, we leave here and drive to Brookhaven, Mississippi, to visit with Carol's twin sister, Carolyn and her daughter Carla and some of her family.  We are hoping the traffic is very light as we travel through Memphis.  The forecast calls for rain.  At least the temperature won't be 16 when we pack up tomorrow!