19 February

After the alarm went off and I put it onto snooze a few times, I finally arose. Toast, packing and then a shower and dressing completed my usual Motel6 routine. Then I was off to the John Lafitte Visitors’ Centre (again a National Park in the middle of town, but near the airport in practice) where I interrogated the ranger on duty about the place of the Cajuns. After some answers, I watched a film on the move from Arcadia (Nova Scotia) eventually down to Louisiana. Then there was a film on a Cajun settlement in the local swamp (the settlement has since disappeared, both in population and physical matter). The museum there had a lot of Cajun material, a display on the escape and eventual freedom of a black slave plus a selection of photos from a range of National Parks.
Then it was off to a set of buildings from Arcadia. The buildings were restored and are now maintained by a group of people from the local Retarded Society. Although there was an entry charge, it took a long time to walk through and see everything. The only disappointment was some of the historic items are what I used in my youth – and still have!
I eventually left there well after 12, when according to my carefully-planned schedule I should have been leaving by 11. My next scheduled stop was the Tabasco sauce factory. Looking over that was interesting, but tasting some of the sauce (less than 1 ml) had me running for a drink of water and then a drink of cold coke. It is definitely something I will NOT try again.
It was then off ot the jungle on Avery Island. This again mucked up my plans as I spent far too long there, marvelling at so much in such a small area. I saw my first alligator (no, I did not feed it by letting it each part of me) and saw why part was nicknamed “bird city”. The home of the family who owns the island looks over “bird city” and it must be a magnificent sight, especially in a morning glow.
I left there far too late to carry out my plan of exploring St Martinville and arrived in St Martinville after 4:30. Most things I wished to see were already shut so I settled for a look around. While I was taking a photo of a tree, a young boy asked if I wanted the family to move their car. I said no, and then ended up talking to them for over fifteen minutes (the mother with three children was waiting for the older girl to finish dancing lessons). They answered questions I had about the area and I answered questions they had about Australia. They were from Parks, just north. I went to head off towards Pensacola but by about 6 I thought I had better stop earlier. As I was busted flat in Baton Rouge, I headed for another Motel6 and got a seniors’ discount (didn’t know they had one, but a German tourist asked for it and got it, so I did too). After unpacking, I tried for wireless Internet (no signal around) and then went to get some tea before heading back and doing my usual computer work before getting ready for bed.