Thanksgiving Odyssey Into The Louisiana Bayou (Part One)...

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The trip to the bayou of Lousiana, where my mother and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday at my uncle's place in the swamp, was a total MARVELOUS ADVENTURE!!!

Louisiana is a totally different state from all the other states of the USA. It has a magical, romantic feel to it--- and their customs, food, and language are quite unique. It is definitely the land of "laissez les bon temps roulez"!!

For example, you know you're getting near the swamp when you see restaurants totally devoted to the humble crawfish, although I probably shocked everybody there by ordering spicy boiled shrimp for lunch. My mother had crabcakes swimming in a dark roux laden with tiny crawfish and rice.

Finally, after several hours on the road, we approached the Ouachita River, which had flooded its banks several weeks ago, along with many homes, including my uncle's place. We would only be able to access his property by boat.

I'm not sure my uncle was thrilled with all the baggage he had to load onto the tiny boat---along with an entire Thanksgiving dinner. My mother and I had cooked everything for Thanksgiving Dinner ahead of time since my uncle's place is lacking in electricity due to the flooding. Everything that is, except for the fresh 15 lb turkey which we transported via a cooler filled with ice. (We would be able to re-heat things in an oven during the hours the generator was on, but the turkey would be deep-fried by my uncle and a friend of his.)

If you want to know what a "hard talking Cajun man" is, here he is..... my uncle!! Isn't he cool? After he was finished loading the boat, he made my mother and I put on life-jackets--- and then he took off down the Ouachita River at breakneck speed!! (See the mischevious smile on his face?)

To say the boat ride was fun and exhilerating is a complete understatement--- it was dang well RIP-ROARING EXCITING!!

There's Mother trying to spy her brother's place, nestled deep in the cypress tree groves and the murky river water....

And here are some other people's places we passed along the way....

And then, at last, we arrived at my uncle's place. Although his home is elevated on huge pylons, keeping it safe from the flood waters, all his chicken pens and everything else went under the flood water; thus, he had to re-locate all 80 of his roosters and chickens into temporary cages on his house's porches. (I'll show you more of those pictures later.) Also during the flood, he is boarding his yard dogs with a friend and parking his vehicle in town.

Here's Mother tying the boat to a stake. And I know you're wondering how we got to the house from there.....and it's called "waders". (That wasn't much fun because we were terrified of stumbling, but we made it.... albeit in somewhat undignified lurchings over underwater obstacles and screams of terror that a floating log was really an alligator.... ) (Oh yes, and much cussing....)

Once Mother and I made it safely to the house's 20-foot outside staircase, we ascended to the house and went directly to the back porch so that my uncle and his brother-in-law could unload the boat and pass everything up to us. My uncle only dropped one thing---my duffel bag! But fortunately my yarn wasn't soaked. (I didn't care about my clothes---just my knitting yarn!)

And the next picture is the most important picture of all.....

It's when my uncle and his brother-in-law carried in the cooler holding the guest of honor.... the TURKEY!!!

I wonder if the chickens were disturbed when they smelled the turkey cooking?.....

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