So I made it to the Cajun Palms in Lafayette, LA. Been curious to spend some time in Lafayette because I’m aware they are one of the 40 cities in the United States that has Gigabit Ethernet. Really fast internet is one of the things I wonder about with how I’d like my own private library. The Cajun Palms is a big resort with around 200 RV sites. They also have a big swimming pool.

I found out that they do a special camping weekend the two weeks before Halloween. Reservations were booked up completely. So I can’t stop here on my way back from New Orleans. I guess families come and camp at the Cajun Palms and then they have a big trick or treator campaign. Thought that was very interesting.

For Dinner I looked on Yelp to see what places I might have book marked close to here. I had Bon Temps Grill. Highly rated place but not sure how it came to be in my book marks. I think I had in my mind that it would be like Marlottes from True Blood. I didn’t find Sookie but the food was really good. I think Yelp is a good way to track places I’m wanting to go because it’ll list the bookmarks based upon how far they are currently from where I am.

I drove around the next morning looking for someplace for breakfast. Stopped at Poche’s but looked more to be lunch place. Although they have a great grocery there that I would die to have access to on a regular basis. Also, found Poche’s RV park that looked like it would be a fabulous place to stay. I’d love to come hang out at for a week and fish.

I then wandered into Lafayette to the tourist information center. Wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. Finally decided to go have lunch at the Blue Dog Cafe after wasting much of the morning.

I can’t resist crawfish etouffee over blackened catfish. From here I stopped at the Blue Dog gallery. I had thought the one in New Orleans had closed but I figured out that must have been when I went back shortly after Katrina. Found out it is still open. My uncle owns a couple of Blue Dogs so I always love checking them out.

Looking at where I was determined that it would only take 20 minutes to get down to the Tabasco plant on Avery Island. This would give me a couple of hours to look around which was enough time.

All of the bottles of Tabasco come from Avery Island. Although, not all of the peppers are grown here. The peppers are coming from various parts of the world now but they all come to Avery to be processed. Avery Island sits on top of a huge salt dome and it is primarily used to cover the pepper barrels as they are aging and in Tabasco itself. 

The following maps give you an idea of where all in the world you can buy Tabasco.

I bought a bottle of their family version of Tabasco that they only sell in the gift shop. Maybe I’m a sucker but I thought it tasted really good.

Edward Avery Mcilhenny also built the jungle gardens on the island.

One of the first bird sanctuaries in the United States.

Finally my friend Dale Flowers had seen that I’d checked into Lafayette on Facebook and recommend I go to Prejean’s for Dinner. Another fabulous meal. I think I might gain some weight in this city if I stayed here too long. Because there are no calories in Cajun food.

Next stop The Big Easy…