Saturday, March 10, 2012

FMF Day 3 - Natchitoches, LA

(Nack-a-dish) (Seriously?)

First an update: Wow was dinner ever GOOD last night! As good as anything in NOLA, I bet. I had Crawfish Etoufee, then redfish with crab and crawfish topping (just mounded on there. O yum!), and a crab and squash casserole side. OMG! Gontran said he goes there a few times a week. How is it that he doesn't weight 700 pounds???? (because he doesn't eat the starchy parts, that's how!!)


The trip so far:
273 miles today/854 total


The big divide today - crossing the Mississippi. You know - there's "east of the Mississippi" and "west of the Mississippi". Well ... I'm "west" now!

I love the names of things here in Louisiana. Etoufee. Tchoupitoulas Street. Oauchita fertilizer company. Marie Laveau. A shout-out to my 3 breaux. And of course parishes, not counties. Love that!


Today's drive was again all interstate, but the state is hillier where I am now. The trees are about 1/3 into spring, so still some bareness but more shades of green than you can possibly imagine! You always hear about the fall colors, but the greens of spring just knock me out. And honestly the grass is so green it looks like somebody threw buckets of paint on it.

I passed a bunch of crawfish farms today. Here's a funny article about farming them here in Louisiana.

I was so glad to be driving over the Atchafalaya Water Basin again. It's really kind of a marvel! 20 miles long. To get an idea of what the drive is like, go to this link for a great aerial shot. (It's not my photo, so I'm just giving you the link.) I drove over this area last year on my way home and had to learn more about it. This year I stopped at the visitor's center to pick up a little info.  They do a movie (it runs every 4 minutes), but here are the characters that greet you and talk to you before you go into the movie.


Can you see the raccoon coming out of the tree stump? I didn't want to crop him because I wanted you to see the whole set-up. 

I also couldn't resist  this dude!

He's so ginormous that I cut off his feet.

Here's a link to the wiki entry if you want to know more about the basin.

And that was my drive today. Where will I land tomorrow?

Thanks for stopping by!

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