La La Lafayette

The swamp in the middle of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Campus.

Layfatte or as many say in the area. Laff-ayette was an interesting stop on the way home. We drove about 3 hours from Houston to Layfayette, the center of French--or Cajun Louisiana. The drive was easy, since it was on Saturday, the traffic was light. We did have some rain, which seems to be our nemisis on this summer's trips.
So, our map quest directions were not good, so we had to call to find our way to our relative's house. When we got there, we immediately got into a discussion of where to eat. This was one of the themes of the visit. We finally decided to go to a Cajun local spot, Don's where I ate a crab plate. There was crab in many presentations, gumbo, fried claws, stuffed, salad and au gratin. Most was tasty, but I think that there was a little more than I wanted to eat. The next morning we had another discussion of where to eat breakfast. The Hub City Diner was selected. This place was really busy and we had to wait. Now, Lafayette is a small city, but it has a lot of restaurants and people who like to eat in them. They had a "pelicans on parade" event recently (similar to Chicago's cows on parade a few years ago) and there was a big fiberglass pelican named "Pelvis" just inside the door. Elvis and the 1950's was the decorating theme here. I had a omelet, everyone had some beignets. Biscuits are big here, and they ran out of them! On to see the sights of this small, but interesting city.
We then went to the University--University of Louisisana at Lafayette, where our neice teaches, to see the swamp. This was pretty interesting. It is in the middle of the campus, and really is a swamp with cypress trees, Spanish moss, turtles, big and small fish, including Alligator gar, carp and several real living alligators. Lots of fun for young and old.



The alligators are small. Nobody knows what happens to them when they get larger.

Then we went to St John's Church, where we say the huge live oak tree. That was some tree.
In the afternoon we saw the Alexandre Mouton House, (on the National Register of Historic Places) who was the founder of Lafayette La. Finally, another discussion of dinner venues. We went to Randols, which is a Cajun restaurant and dance hall. The food was great. I had crab cakes, and they were good! The dancing started, which was Cajun music, and people started to dance. The single women sat on one side, the couples on the other. My little grand nephew had the best time of all--he danced, solo, all of the dances. He even forgot to eat! We left the next morning at 6, but not before having another meal out--this time we went for breakfast ad Edies, which features biscuits. They were really good. I had a cinammon biscuit, which was drenced with cinammon syrup. Lots of calories. My husband had a ham and cheese and a sausage. I wonder if McDonald's got the idea for their breakfast biscuits from Cajun Louisiana. I do recommend that if you are in Louisiana, you make a stop in Layfayette to eat.

The live oak next to St John's Church. I am with my grand niece and nephew. Just look at the size of the trunk!