Louisiana and Back Again...

All right! I've finally got enough food cooked to keep Cierra happy for a couple of days. Time now to update the blog. So, earlier this month Grandpa Tabony and I babynapped Carter for a guys' road trip down to the great state of Louisiana, where my Dad was born and raised. Three generations of first born boys, two of them adults, one minivan. Who would survive?

Well, we all did, and we had lots of fun doing it. We only had one scary moment when the check engine light came on driving through Alabama. On the way down we stopped at Aunt Loni's house. Loni is Dad's youngest sister and Carter's youngest Great Aunt. But she didn't want to be called that, although she did admit that she was "great."

The next stop (after the Toyota dealership that assured us our vehicle was okay to drive) was the New Orleans area, where we saw the house and neighborhood where I spent the first few years of my life. Good thing we left while the getting was good. We drove south down the east side of the Mississip to Pointe al a Hache, where Dad was born and where Katrina hasn't left much worth looking at. The amount of effort that goes into protecting the land down there is just ridiculous. You could give every resident down there a million dollars just to get out and you'd still be saving money.... and once the levees are broken you'd actually be saving the environment too. Two tiny strips of land that are liveable on either side of the river. Wide enough for a road and houses and not much else, and protected by front and back levees. These levees keep the silt that is the lifeblood of the marshes in the riverbanks during floodtime, to be carried out and dumped into the depths of the Gulf instead of deposited where it renews the marsh.

Plaquemines Parish still operates a ferry across the river at Pointe a la Hache every hour, though at least half of the passengers on the trip we took were contractors employed either by the parish or by industry down there. Didn't really seem to be a lot of locals around to take the ferry anymore. Grandpa and Carter enjoyed some time together while we waited for the ferry to come over and pick us up.

Eventually we drove on, and our van was parked right next to the edge of the boat. I slid the door open and let Carter sit on my lap so he could look out over the water. He loved it! We spent that night with Dad's cousin Maryann, who really enjoyed watching Carter play with her grandkids' toys.

The next morning we visited the French Quarter and got some of that good New Orleans food!

Here's Carter at the restaurant. I didn't take any pictures while we were still eating because I was busy eating my giant po-boy.

Speaking of food, that night we dropped by Dad's friends the Bollines for a visit and a crab feast! Cheryl had a ball with Carter and presented him with a Little People playset that is still his favorite toy by far.

While staying with Dad's sister Nikki in Lafayette, LA we took a trip down to Avery Island where all the Tabasco sauce is bottled. It's a pretty interesting place, as it sits on top of a huge salt deposit which pokes out of the marshes. When you get to South Louisiana, you really don't expect to see hills anywhere, and yet, when you drive to Avery Island, there one is.

Several of Dad's siblings came in to memorialize Becky, Dad's sister who passed away suddenly in August. That's Douglas in back, then Sally in red. Nikki is on the other side of Dad. We all went out for dinner and fed Carter some alligator. He liked it!

There were some nice gardens on Avery Island for Carter to walk around in. Only problem... he kept looking up at the sky and he was obsessed with walking on these raised stones. So he fell down a lot.

Another shot from the same garden.

And here we are back in the French Quarter.

Here is Carter, walking the levee in our old neighborhood, right where I used to when I was his age. We pointed out a tug pushing a barge, much like the ones Dad used to drive right by us.


Meanwhile, back in North Carolina, the leaves were coming off the trees quickly. There was quite a mess by the time we were back, but that just meant Carter had an opportunity to crawl around in a big pile while Dad and I raked.

Plans came together quickly this past week to bring our family's Thanksgiving down here instead of having it at my parents' place this year. Cierra's work schedule was so busy that we would have spent more time driving up there than visiting with family. Since they had a little more time off we decided that they could come down to spend time with us!

We had a great time, and I created a real Thanksgiving feast from scratch, including pumpkin pies from a real pumpkin! Last year I cheated and got a pre-made feast from the grocery store, including a cooked bird. What a sense of accomplishment!

Unfortunately, Carter got sick at the same time, and he's probably given the cold to everyone in the family. So we continue to recover from that, but we're enjoying the time off from our busy schedule... and looking forward to being busy again come Christmas.

...and that catches you up on all the big happenings. Until next week!