Deep South Tour - Fall 2011 - Day 11

We travelled on to Lafayette after the buffet breakfast. We arrived at the hotel, La Quinta North, which proved to be the noisiest hotel on our tour but in fairness we had no problem sleeping.
Having checked in we sent a text to Joe Montgomery, the US import in the year after Joe Barber, and he called back agreeing to meet up with us that evening.
During the afternoon we took a ride to the Acadian Centre where we learnt about the development of the Cajun population of the area. There were several houses of various periods transplanted into a small town and all of it right next to a creek which made for some excellent photos.
It was an interesting afternoon with several enthusiasts acting out roles in the houses:
There was a fiddler - creepy guy but our phone went and we were able to flee to take the call – thanks Joe.
There was a gardener – very interesting many of the local plants and vegetables originated in Spain.
There was a wood carver – no conversation and he had barely started on his next project so basically a man with a knife and a lump of wood.
Then there was a black lady doing basketwork – she was so amusing, she told us she came from a large family and decided early that she wasn’t having many kids, as she put it “I had two and that was enough but then another sneaked home and we quit at three!”
Julia and I tried to pull ourselves across the creek on the raft bridge; you are supposed to walk yourself along a fixed rope. We were exhausted when we were only six feet from the dock so we backed up and landed ourselves back where we started.
When we got back to the hotel we brewed up and slowly got organised for the evening. We were expecting to drive as Joe said his truck had too much stuff in it so we waited in front of the hotel with our car. Actually Joe and his wife, Marquita, turned up in her truck and she drove us to the restaurant. We ate at Copelands Restaurant and we enjoyed a really nice evening. Although Joe Barber seemed exactly the same as I remembered him Joe Montgomery had changed, he was much less a basketballer and much more a business man. They are a lovely couple and we found conversation easy. We had a photo-call outside the restaurant and they dropped us back at the hotel having made us promise to stay with them next time we were in the South.