Son of a gun, we had big fun on the bayou

April 27-May 5, 2013
Betty’s RV Park
Abbeville, Louisiana



Our plans for our first Sunday here were something I have looked forward to for a year: taking our friends, Mike and BJ, to the locally famous Whiskey River Landing bar where they hold a weekly Zydeco dance from 4-8 p.m. As luck would have it, our favorite Zydeco band, Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie were playing, and friends from Bend, Oregon were going to stop over and join us on their inaugural VW Westfalia Van road trip to the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Another couple from the park, Jim and Donnalyn, were meeting us there so we were looking forward to “having some big fun on the bayou” as Whiskey River Landing is right on the banks of the Atchafalaya Basin.



For a $10 cover charge, you get four hours of non-stop live music. Geno has a few guest musicians relieve him and his band members during the dance, so there is never a lull in the music. The dance floor is huge and looks out to the bayou.





There is a long bar that parallels the dance floor, plus another whole separate bar with open seating looking out to the dance floor. The nice thing about this configuration is we were able to get a table near the back bar where it was not crowded at all making it possible to still visit if you are not on the dance floor. Another thing that makes this a fun place is the diversity of the crowd itself. Most are here to dance and range from tattooed twenty-somethings to zydeco music lovers well into their eighties. It’s hard not to have a great time in such a lively atmosphere.

And now for the much requested video of Vic and me dancing.

My friend Pam and her husband Scott were not able to spend much time with us here as they had their five-month old Jack Russell with them and it was too warm to leave him in their van. The bar actually allows dogs inside but the owner’s fierce Chihuahua happened to be visiting so it wasn’t a good option. Pam managed to come in and enjoy the music for a short while Scott was happy to hang out with Axl down on the bayou.



The big event of the Sunday dances at Whiskey River happens during the band’s last song: the tradition is for people to dance on the bar. I was amazed this actually took place last year so I was pretty confident Mike and BJ would be able to see this wild revelry. Our friend Donnalyn had big plans to get up on that bar. BJ and I said no way. You can see how good my resolve held out. Definitely a first for me, but Donnalyn said, “speak for yourself.”  A memorable evening for sure!

One might think Mondays are pretty quiet at Betty’s, but it turns out it is a perfect evening for crawfish feeds as the garbage comes on Tuesday morning.  I was pretty happy to hear about this routine as our friends, Pam and Scott, were coming to spend the night at Betty’s and they were able to partake in Betty’s famous happy hour with crawfish and shrimp on the menu.  Suffice it to say, it was another great evening with special friends.





The rest of the week, we definitely slowed down in our quest for live music and touring around. Betty arranged for a bus trip one night to the Cypress Bayou Casino about an hour away. About 16 of us from the park signed up for the trip which was a very good deal. $7 a person included the bus ride, a free buffet dinner, live Swamp Pub music with dancing, free cocktails, and $10 credit for gambling. Of course, the secret to this being a good deal is NOT to put any more money into their machines. We came out with a loss of $5 additional dollars. Not bad for a whole evening of fun.

Our next big Cajun adventure was going to the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge on Saturday. We heard about this festival last year when we were at Betty’s and made plans specifically to be here for it this year. Mike and BJ, our faithful companions, braved the crowds with us to spend a warm day in the sun near the Main Stage to see a Cajun and Zydeco dance contests, and listen to three different bands: Terry and the Zydeco Bad Boys, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie. One amazing feature of the Louisiana festivals is the big dance floors they have at outdoor venues; these Cajuns are serious about their dancin’. 



Here is a little flavor of the Cajun dance contest:

We were surprised to see the festival included a big carnival with rides alongside the two music stages and food booths with crawfish prepared just about every way you can think of.







We brought our folding chairs and were able to have a comfy spot to retreat to after dancing or walking around the festival grounds. Of course, people watching may have been the most fun activity here, especially in terms of the outfits.






Sunday was our friend Donnalyn’s birthday. We surprised her with a special breakfast on the patio complete with mimosas. Later that afternoon we gathered for hearty appetizers and cake to complete the celebration. Several of us talked about a return trip to Whiskey River Landing that night, but by week two we were just all talk. Besides, I couldn’t top dancing on the bar for the first time (and most likely the last).






Our final day at Betty’s was way more subdued but no less pleasant.  Mike, BJ, Vic and I drove out to Rip Van Winkle Gardens and the Jefferson House, about a twenty minute drive from the park. Vic and I had been to the gardens and café before, but did not tour the house last time. Joseph Jefferson, the primary owner of this former plantation, was best known for his adaptation of Washington Irving’s famous story, Rip Van Winkle. Jefferson performed the role over 4500 times around the world for over 40 years of his life. His former home is now a museum that doesn’t allow photos, but I can assure you it’s worth the $8 charge as each room is beautifully furnished in a combination of original and period pieces from the late 1800s that are quite elegant and unique. 






The Jefferson House and Gardens also have another intriguing story associated with their location on the top of a salt mine dome and at the shoreline of Lake Piegneur  In 1980, A Texaco gas company accidentally drilled into the salt mine causing the lake to be sucked down in a whirlpool, destroying over 65 acres of the gardens. The new owner of the Jefferson House had just built a new home for himself close to the lake. It was sucked into the lake along with four or five barges that all still reside at the bottom of the lake. Within thirty minutes, after the water filled the salt mines, a massive surge of water came in from Vermillion Bay filling in the destroyed acreage and tripling the size of the lake. This chimney is all that remains of the newly built home.



We missed the grand show of camellias at the gardens, but enjoyed a peaceful walk through the woods after a hearty lunch under the massive live oaks that grace the property.










One of the other highlights of going to the gardens is stopping to see the rookery full of egrets and roseate spoonbills near the entrance way. I posted photos of the spoonbills last year, but never was able to get a shot of one flying before. This photo sure put a smile on my face.



This time of year is mating season so the males are pinker than usual. I think of all the shorebirds we have seen in the south, the spoonbills are my favorite.



Well, wouldn’t you know when we returned, it was almost time for our last happy hour at Betty’s. Since it was Monday and some of the new campers had never tried crawfish, we had our last fling cracking open the red mud bugs. By now we were quite proficient in snapping off the claws, sucking their heads, and scooping out the tale in one smooth move. I also joined the seasoned crawfish eaters in wearing rubber gloves for easier peeling.





Departure day always seems to come too soon. I tried not to let the sadness of leaving creep into the pleasures of the day on Monday, but BJ and I had a few moments of tearing up Monday night. The extra challenge in saying goodbye this time is our plans to stay on the West Coast next winter seem to be taking hold. I am hoping our collective fun-seeking spirits will find a way to bring us together for another adventure sooner than we think.

Goodbyes to Miss Betty are never easy either. We have sure grown to love and admire her joie de vivre and ultra-friendly hospitality. The people you meet here start to feel like one big extended family. As I was sitting on the swing on her porch yesterday, I commented on how her place feels like a protected harbor in a storm. All the cares of the world seem to lie outside Betty’s when you’re communing with others at her table. This state of mind is part of the seduction of getting caught in Betty’s web, or as one camper we missed seeing this year, Marvin, explained, “the real magic is from the Jedi spell Miss Betty casts on you.”  You know you are out of the spell when you find yourself trucking down Interstate 10 to Houston, hoping to avoid costly tollbooths and gnarly traffic jams. The blessing ahead of us is plans to visit Vic’s college roommate Jim and his lovely wife Simora in Houston, whom Vic reconnected with last year after a forty year span of time slipped by. One of the best perks of this lifestyle is keeping those connections alive as we roll on down the highway.

Experiencing a different kind of Louisiana wildlife

April 22-24, 2013
Abbeville, Louisiana
Betty’s RV Park



My two previous posts focused on partying at Betty’s nightly happy hour, dancing at local festivals and bars, and enjoying Cajun cuisine. Earlier this week, we found some time to explore the natural surroundings in this area.

One of the first places we wanted to check out is a place called Intracoastal City, about ten miles from here. To be truthful, we expected it to be more of a port town, but instead it is mostly a commercial area for the area’s shrimp and oil industries. A man-made canal with locks connects the Vermilion River to the Gulf of Mexico, as part of the Intracoastal Waterway. We stopped at one of the first ports to check out the shrimp boats in the area. It was interesting to discover that most of the boats had Vietnamese names.  I remember seeing a 60 Minutes episode that showed how the shrimp industry in Texas is now dominated by Vietnamese immigrants. Looks like it is also true in Louisiana, at least judging by the names of these shrimp boats.





From here we traveled further down toward the Leland Bowman Locks where we saw lots of evidence of  barges, heliports, and tugs all in service of the offshore oil industry. I neglected to take a photo of one of the main docks which we found interesting as it was the first time we saw the name Halliburton on an American business. Perhaps the irony of this part of my post is the negative impact much of this drilling has had on wildlife.  It would be so sad to see this area after an oil spill or hurricane.  Perhaps that is why so many of the Cajuns embrace life fully as there has been much more hardship here than most have had to endure in terms of both natural and man-made disasters.

The next day we took about a twenty-minute ride to check out the Rip Van Winkle Gardens, so named because the man who built his estate here in 1870, Joseph Jefferson, was best known as an international actor who played the role of Rip Van Winkle over 4000 times.  He chose to build his estate on top of a large salt mine overlooking Lake Peigneur, giving himself one of the better views in the region.  Years after Jefferson’s death, the new owner turned the 25-acre estate into formal gardens and eventually donated it to become a public garden and historical site. After doing so, this owner built a visitor’s center, conservatory, and dream house on the property near the lake. Less than a year later, in 1980, a disaster occurred when a drilling rig pierced a salt cavern on the property causing a whirlpool that sucked most of the buildings into the flooded lake. Fortunately, no one died, but it took more than ten years to restore the gardens and the building and re-open the place to the public.

We were delighted to see these beautiful grounds, but we did not do as we were told (by other folks at Betty's) and go and pay $10 for the house tour and movie.  When we arrived, it was just too tempting to sit under these incredibly beautiful 350-year-old live oak trees and have lunch on the patio of the Jefferson Café. Vic ordered his third or fourth shrimp poor boy of the trip and I had my first authentic muffuletta sandwich with the classic olive salad and Sicilian sesame bread.








There are several Asian artifacts around the gardens as the new owner’s son is married to a woman from Thailand. The black circle hanging below the tree is a large antique temple gong—sure adds to the exotic beauty of the place. Check out the cat curled up on one of the chairs. There were lots of critters around the gardens who seemed to make themselves feel right at home. 







There are also temple bells on the grounds and a large Balinese carved gate with statues that is used for the many weddings that are held on the grounds. I found the symbolism of the gate explained in a brochure quite fascinating:  “The gate faces west so that the couple heads east toward the rising sun, the source of enlightenment. As they enter the gate, they enter their new life as a couple for life.Standing guardians on one side prevent past lives from following the couple. Seated guardians on the other side discourage a return to single life as marriage is a lifetime commitment. A small structure at the back symbolizes the hurdles one must overcome in life.” So fascinating, that I forgot to take a photo of the gate. . . .

My big distraction here was actually the discovery of a huge flock of roseate spoonbills near the entrance to the estate.  I kept hoping to see them in the wild in Florida and that only happened once in two years when we were kayaking in Sarasota Bay near Cortez.  I had to walk through quite a bit of muck to get close enough to take these photos and I stayed quite a while hoping to get an in-focus photo of one of these beauties in flight.  I did not succeed, but just seeing them in person was quite thrilling for me. I learned that April is prime mating season, which is why they are pinker and fluffier than usual. Okay, be prepared for too many photos as you have to experience the full monty.


















I think in life before full-timing (LBFT), I would have thought seeing this many pink birds meant I had too much to drink. I am happy to report I saw these amazing creatures after only a glass of strong unsweetened tea with lemon.  Coming to Louisiana has felt like hitting the jackpot—quite unexpectedly.  And, as a matter of fact, gotta go—we are on our way to the Cypress Bayou Casino as Betty’s guests for a special dinner and dancing event. And, yes we are still here—extended our stay twice already!