Enough....with the food already!

We left Fontainbleau State Park today on our way to Galveston.

The North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain has some quaint little towns. Each one seems to have a weekend market with local crafts and food. Rip’s in Mandeville was the perfect spot for a late lunch. We shared an appetizer of breaded (and fried of course) crab claws and as an afterthought I asked for the onion rings as well. We've all heard the saying, "It'll take a lot of this to kill you". Well it won’t take a lot of this to kill you. But it's soooo good. I managed to eat 3 of the onion rings. Took the rest home.

We visited a unique attraction in Abita Springs, the “Mystery House”. This place was featured on American Pickers. Apparently the owner wouldn’t part with a single thing on the show. We paid $6 to walk through what is pretty much a junk yard. The only real entertainment was that we were accosted by the owner’s cat who followed us through the place, repeatedly jumping on my back from great heights while purring and meowing.  I’m pretty sure he wanted us to take him away with us.  It was bizarre.

Here is one of the displays. A  flying saucer that crashed into a trailer….. scary!

We were finally able to use up some of the firewood we have been hauling in the back of the Honda since Savannah. Strange as it sounds, most nights have just been too cold to have a campfire.

Tonight we are spending one night near Lafayette to break up the drive to Galveston and to load up on some local cuisine from the (apparently) world famous, Billy’s Boudin and Cracklin’.

We decided on a couple of boudin balls, a crawfish rollup and a scoop of seasoned cracklin’. That’s some gooood eatin’ y’all. (they use a lot of apostrophes here).  Oh, and we also got a stuffed chicken breast which we’ll have later this week and some plain and smoked boudin sausage.

Galveston will be our last chance for some beach time for a while, and it sounds like the weather is not going to co-operate. Stay tuned for a picture of yours truly wearing a toque and parka, using a  beach umbrella as a wind break, enjoying a frosty day in the deep south. 

Stay warm, stay hydrated.