Please let me sit and play…

Before you make me Etouffee!   Crawfish Etouffee is very popular in this neck of the woods.  I’m not crazy about it, but JB had left me a comment about Suire’s Grocery Store and Restaurant, so I decided to head there today for lunch.

What an interesting place this is!  Half of the building is a small grocery store, and the other half houses the eating place.  The menu items for this Cajun cooking restaurant can be found painted on the outside of the building along with caricatures of alligators and turtles.  The grocery side sells popular local items like Cajun pickled quail eggs.  Each of the tables on the eatery side has a checkers board on it.  I ordered my first shrimp Poboy, and sat at a table to wait for my name to be called.  For a place out in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn’t believe how busy it was.  Many working men, clad in rubber boots and covered with mud, either ate inside or just stopped by to pick up their lunch to go.  Today’s special was shrimp etouffee.  It must be good because it was selling like hot cakes!

 

It may have been unusual for a solo “northern” female to stop in for lunch because the lady taking the orders immediately wanted to know about me.  I told her that my friends, John and Brenda, had recommended this place to me as they had been here while they were traveling.  Her response to me was, “Are you one of those RV people?  I just recently heard about people living in their RVs and traveling around the country.  Do you do this alone?”  I told her I traveled with my dog.  :)  She was a little surprised.  The Poboy was excellent, and I enjoyed my lunch stop.

Before I got to Suire’s for lunch, I stopped in the town of Rayne, the Frog Capitol of the World!  I didn’t see any frogs; must be the wrong season, but I did see all the murals with a frog theme painted on the buildings.  The one pictured here is on the police station.  I also stopped to see St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Cemetery.  As you may know, people are buried above ground in this area of Louisiana.  You can click to enlarge to read the plaque about the skinless frog.

After lunch, I continued down the scenic byway I was driving down.  I can’t say that this scenic byway can compare with the byways of Idaho, but I have to remember that there aren’t any mountains in Louisiana.  :)  I did find a couple of roseate spoonbills and black-necked stilts feeding along the bayous.

This bird used to be called the Louisiana heron; how appropriate!  However, the powers that be in the bird world have decided that it should now be called the tri-colored heron.  Since I’m finally in Louisiana, I’m going to defy convention and call it a Louisiana heron while I’m in this state.  Just call me a wild and crazy gal!  :)

In my travels today, I drove past many flooded fields.  I had a real debate with myself whether these were rice fields or crawfish ponds.  When I got back to the repair place, I asked Helen Thibodaux about them.  She told me they are both.  During the growing season, they are planted with rice.  Then in the winter, they are used to raise crawfish.  Aha!  It made me feel good to have figured out both uses.  I just didn’t know the same fields were used both ways.

                                                                    THE END!!   

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

306,000 words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so today, I guess my photo trip was worth 306,000 words!  (that’s 306 pictures for those mathematically challenged  :))  But, not to worry, after an afternoon editing, I whittled it down to 59.  No, I’m not posting all 59 tonight either, but will choose a few to pepper my post with.  I had to save some for those rainy days, don’t you know.
As Emma and I headed down Sodhouse Lane to Oregon 205, I noticed something in the middle of the road that flew up into the rocks.  It turned out to be a rough-legged hawk.  What an auspicious beginning to a morning’s drive.  :)
To begin with, I was headed for the Narrows pullout where Malheur and Harney lakes meet.  It’s hard to consider them lakes as we normally think of them.  They are really two vast marshes that meet at a narrows.  There were quite a few black-necked stilts at the narrows.  The youngster is in the foreground, with the adult at the top.  The adult was really making a lot of noise!
Lots of white-faced ibis were flying over as well.  Gangly looking things, aren’t they?
I then back tracked about ten miles to Buena Vista Overlook to take the first half of the auto tour route in reverse order.  It was a nicely paved OR 205 to get there, and then a gravelly drive back to the rig.  You always see things in a different perspective when you reverse your normal route.  :)
What a nice ten point mule deer buck we saw as we drove the gravel road!  It looked like he was starting to rub off some of that velvet from his antlers.  I guess fall is on the way.  Be careful, buddy, it won’t be long before the hunters will be looking for you!
Another sign that summer is on the wane is the rusty color of the marsh grasses.  Just a short time ago they were a lush green.  What a striking contrast it provided…eye candy for sure. 
I’ll try not to overwhelm you with bird photos while I’m here, but I can’t promise.  This refuge is all about the birds, you know.  :)   These are two Northern shovelers.  Can you guess where they get their name?  They use that massive bill to strain plankton and seeds from the water.  I guess the one in the back wasn’t too happy about having her picture taken, and let me know about it.
There was also a young Ruddy duck on one of the ponds.  Those white dots on him are water droplets.  Ruddy’s are diving ducks, and this young one was already good at under water swimming.  If this is a male, next spring his body will be a very rusty red color with a great white patch on his cheek, and a blue bill!  I’ll save the other bird pictures for a later post, so please stay tuned.  :)

As we arrived back at the RV pads, I had to make a sudden swerve with the car.
This charming three foot long reptile was making it’s way across the road.
I don’t know what kind of snake this is, but I’m glad I didn’t run it over!  I’d much rather have snakes around the RV pads, than miserable rodents in the rig!  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy