The Beginning of the Grand Tour

Now you can just tell this is going to be a really great day. Carolyn is belted in and ready to roll!

Smiles all around.

Decisions....decisions.....across a floating bridge (definitely no RVs)....and we are off.

A quick stop at a famous local spot.

Too early for business but they are ready.

Second stop was Lake Fausse Pointe State Park. Unfortunately, this park was flooded last year and is only partially open.

Day use areas and boat launch facilities are in use.

Camping areas are being worked on but it may be a while.

The water is still a bit high in this area and major rain usually comes in May.

Further down the road, we stopped at this interesting place. It is kind of out in the middle of open areas. The tree lined alley must surely have led up to a plantation house but there is no sign of one now.

One can only imagine how beautiful this path looked decked out in gold and silver. Charles Durand must have planned this big day years in advance to have trees large enough to be impressive.

The trees are fantastic.

 

We drove up to the end of the alley...the way ahead was private property but no plantation house in sight.....just fields and a could old small houses.

Relaxing at the Butte!

Nothing quite like getting together with friends and just relaxing.

Great multi-level patio tucked away for privacy.

Yummy food and even healthy. Great on the barbeque or in the oven.

Chicken thighs and chicken sausage made with chunks of chicken rather than ground chicken......really good.

Oh, it was a great evening!

Breaux Bridge...You Don't Want to Miss It.

Saturday morning saw us heading out to Breaux Bridge for a little sight seeing.

It's a neat little town....well not actually so little...but we were mainly interested in the old downtown area not the rest of the town. There are lots of antique store to browse.

Distinctive architecture.is home to lots of shops.

This is definitely Cajun country.

Joie de Vivre Coffee and Culture Café seemed like a great place to have a bite to eat. We picked the right spot for sure. I missed out on beignets but there were other good choices.

 

In addition to some good food, we were treated to a great jam session. There must have been 20 musicians and they were all very good.

The lattes were good too.

The Acadians settled in this area in 1766 after they were forced out of Nova Scotia by the British. Breaux Bridge was founded in 1829.

Inside one of the antique shops.

Murals on one of the buildings.

This looked like an interesting place, popular too.

Hidden at the end of a tunnel of trees.

Stay tuned for the evening's activities with these too.

A Little Wine....A Little Dinner...A Lot of Fun

Most of us headed out from Lake Chicot State Park on Friday. Some headed home, others went on to other destinations. I followed Carolyn home. After she backed into her storage building, I backed in in front of her. All the comfort of home and fun times ahead.

Late Friday afternoon, we headed into Lafayette to meet Michele for a little wine tasting and dinner. I only got one photo at the first stop Ambassador. Fre wine tasting every Friday. Nice people. Good prices and choices.

Second stop was Philippe''s . Slightly more upscale.

They had some great cheeses to pair with the wine tastings.

Then we were off to dinner. My friends try to pick a different place every time they go. Bon Temps Grill was definitely a good choice. We arrived early which was good because they filled up and had people waiting.

The food was delicious.

Good thing we decided to split a serving of their very special bread pudding.....it was huge.

Lake Chicot GTG - On the Town

We didn't spend all our time at the park. One day we headed to the Non-Blonde Café in Ville Platte. The owner arrived just as we were going to take a picture and insisted on taking it for us. The rest of the group hadn't arrived yet.

As soon as we walked in, wait staff quickly put tables together for all of us.

The menu is extensive and we tested quite a bit of it. Everyone thought their food was good.

Another day, we went to the Old Schoolhouse Antique Mall in Washington.

In addition to many floors of antiques, the museum has a really cute café.

It would probably take several days to cover all the antiques at the Old Schoolhouse.

Some of us took a break from looking at antiques.

We also had lunch at Lea's Lunchroom in LeCompte. They had a huge round table that fit all of us. It even had a lazy susan in the middle. The pie was delicious. The ham was also great....the sides just so, so but that's just me. They have one main meal each day plus a couple of sandwiches and lots of different kinds of pie. Our waitress was great....handles the whole group very quickly.

Our final lunch out was at Café LaSalle in Ville Platte. It is obviously a local favorite and easy to see why. The food was great, the service fantastic, Our waitress went out of her way to take care of us.....even offering to come outside and take a picture of us in front of the restaurant. They have a buffet and a wide variety of choices on their menu. The owner also came over to introduce herself to us.

They had a lot of cute signs to read while you waited to pay your check.

 

Lots of great choices to eat with choices for any food preferences.