Lafayette

This past weekend I went to Lafayette to get together with a group of Navy friends. Over 40 years ago we were best friends. Now we are more like brothers. I loved Lafayette. Everywhere we went a Cajun group was playing. There is a mournful sound to their singing, not that I could understand the Cajun French. We went to dinner and the band was playing. We went to breakfast and the band was playing. We went on a swamp tour and when I drove up and over the levee on a gravel path we viewed a large body of water. This is called Atchafalaya an Indian name meaning long river. The tour was not for another 90 minutes. We sat on the porch listening to the Cajun band. Some of us drank bloody marys, or beers. I was the designated driver so I stuck with diet coke. Norris was our tour guide and he gave us statistics on the size of the swamp which is created by the overflow of drainage from 31 states and 2 provinces of Canada. He would lapse from English to French as we had two visitors from France. At one point he slowed and slapped the side of the boat and upped pop the snout of an alligator. Norris promptly tossed a chunk of chicken to the gator. It was a great time with perfect weather.

We ended the day back at the hosts home. We told sea stories from years ago that get better with passing years while the ribs were grilling. I will go back to Lafayette before I head home in the spring. I think of the basket of sweet potato biscuits that accompanied breakfast at Prejeans and the music and dancing at Mulachs. Best of all I was with the people that have become part of my family.