Lake Arthur to Lafayette

It was foggy when we woke up but promised to be a pleasant day for our drive. We were under weigh by 8:15 AM and got to our new home at Bayou Wilderness RV Resort just north of Lafayette. With the weather so nice we had an early lunch and decided to do a Swamp Tour. It's amazing how easy it is to get ahead of yourself.

I called up several providers on the computer and found a good one close by. He asked if we could make the 1:00 PM tour and we agreed, it being only 12:10 PM. He gave us directions and they sounded good so we gathered up all our stuff, cameras, binoculars, dogs, etc., and headed out.

A strange thing happened as we drove out the driveway from our RV, someone misplaced the road we should have been on and we got on a different road. Everything was fine until we realized that we must have missed our turn, so we turned around and back tracked. After another five miles going in the opposite direction on the same road, I realized we weren't where we were supposed to be. And I didn't bring the map.

We called the tour and apologized, but we hadn't a clue as to where we were and didn't even know if we could find our way home. He tried to help, but since we were lost we didn't have anything to give him that would get us on track. We agreed to come the next day at 11:00 AM for the tour and rang off.

Turning around once again, we headed back in the other direction, on the same road, looking for the road we thought we had turned off of. No luck. Of course we were looking for the wrong road - well actually we were looking for the right road but we just didn't have the right street name. Finally, we stopped at a sand and gravel operation and asked for directions to I-10. After getting directions, we continued our search for a way to get somewhere we knew. Eventually we reached I-10, but about 10 miles from where I expected to come out. I thought we had been to the west of our RV Camp only to find out we were actually 5 miles east and only about 5 miles from the location for the swamp tour. Oh well, at this point we decided to go into Lafayette and look around.

Founded in 1821 as Vermilionville (revealing strong French roots), the city of Lafayette straddles the Vermilion River – but even with a name change, modernity sees here a rich cultural blend of Cajun and Creole. Lafayette, Louisiana’s fourth-largest city, may very well have the highest concentration of dining hot-spots in the state, dishing out local specialties with the lively beat of Zydeco (a mix of R&B, African blues and Cajun dance) or Cajun classics carried along with the wind.

Our first stop was at St Johns Church correctly known as The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, one of the first built when early Lafayette was formed 185 years ago. Truly a beautiful brick structure with its flanking bell towers and stunning grace. The church is flanked by a large museum and a separate large house for the bishop. Behind the church is a large cemetery with many of Lafayette's early movers and shakers entombed here.

After leaving St Johns we went to the Alexandre Mouton Mansion and Museum. This was once the home of former governor and United States Senator Alexandre Mouton, who presided over the Secession Convention in Baton Rouge in 1861. Today it is home to the Lafayette Museum. The main house was built in the early 1800s, and the cupola, attic, and second floor were added in 1849. Inside, in addition to the antiques, paintings, Civil War relics and historical documents. The museum also houses a colorful collection of Mardi Gras costumes that were worn by Lafayette's krewe kings and queens. We were shown a brief historical video then allowed to tour the house at our leisure. Many of the furnishings are original and the home has been fully restored to its former glory.

Leaving the Mouton House we decided to stop at a small bookstore on our way home but mother nature had other ideas so we got home and took the rest of the day off.

To see all of today's photos click on this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Total distance for today's side trip, 15 lost miles plus 20 deliberate miles - heh, heh!