Cajun Trip

Written by Melanie Bond of Michigan

Tues-Wed, April 15-16. Left Bay City at 12:10 p.m. Traveled by Indian Trails and Greyhound bus. Transferred buses in Chicago, Memphis and Baton Rouge. A 36-hour trip. Arrived in Lafayette at about 8 p.m. Round-trip fares were $154 for me and $77 for my hubby who came as my SSP. Not a bad deal when compared to skyrocketing airfares!

Thursday, April 17. Visited the ABL (Affiliated Blind of Louisiana), a blind-DB training center. Met with Marie Garden, a DB teacher who teaches independent living skills. Marie is Blaise Delahoussay's sister. Blaise's other sister, Philomena Wolf, happened to be there also. I met her during the DB Alaskan cruise. It was just like good ol' times!

In the afternoon, we visited Vermillion Village, an Acadian Historical and Cultural Center. We had a southern meal which included fried okras and mushy black-eyed muck. Yuck yuck! Others had gumbo and shrimp, I think. The bread pudding with rum was yum yum! After lunch, we toured the 23-acre village on the banks of the Vermillion River. Costumed employees shared Acadian history, culture and folklore. There were five original homes and 12 replicas of buildings such as stables, schoolhouse, church, etc. dating back to 1790-1880. It was great being able to touch a lot of the exhibits throughout the village. Harvey enjoyed examining the Acadian fishing boats in various stages of completion. The tour ended too soon at 4:30 p.m. which is when I met John Lee Clark for the first time. An impressive man! Others on this same tour included Tom Peters, guest of honor, Mark Gasaway, featured clown, and wonderful SSPs like Yenter Tu, Betty Dang and Jessica Bell. Last but not least, our very special host who made our Cajun experience possible, Dan Arabie.

For dinner, we went to a Seafood Buffet restaurant. Harvey and I couldn't believe our eyes when we watched Yenter eat crawfish. He made a big production out of it. There was a plate heaped high with crawfish and an empty bowl for shucking empty shells. He quickly and deftly broke the shell, pulled out the flesh, wiped off any gunk, popped it into his mouth while at the same time tossing the shell into the bowl. He made it look so easy as if he were cracking peanut shells and tossing them away. As shocking as that was for us Northerners, it was just as shocking to see our beloved clown eating alligator! Aaaack, I kid you not! Not only was alligator listed on the menu, fried frog legs was also available. It was quite, gulp, an experience!

Friday, April 18. We headed over to the VDL (Village du Lac), a deaf and DB community center and neighborhood where many deaf and DB folks live. Street signs were posted, warning drivers of Blind-Deaf Pedestrians and to not drive any faster than 5 miles per hour. We proceeded to the lounge area of the community/assisted living center and met with and talked with deaf and DB elderly folks. Most of us went around and talked to each elderly person asking how they were doing and if they were happy living there. Everyone loved being there and were content with the services they received and the opportunity to socialize with one another on a regular basis. Lemon and cinnamon cakes were provided as a mid-morning snack. For lunch, most of us ambled over to the cafeteria for shrimp and fettucini. Since Harvey and I do not eat seafood, we bought a bag of chips and a can of pop to get us by until dinner.

In the afternoon, we headed over to McGee's Landing in Henderson to take a boat tour through the Atchafalaya Basin aka Atchafalaya Swamp which is the biggest swamp in the U.S. It includes wetlands, bayous, marshes and a river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. It being springtime, the water level of the swamp was at least 10 feet higher than normal. At least 31 states drain into this swamp area. Most cypress? trees were submerged, leaving only the uppermost branches visible. Beard-like moss (Spanish moss?) hung from some of the branches of these trees. We enjoyed spectacular views of nature, wildlife such as egrets and herons, and the engineering wonder of the I-10 bridges that span 18.3 miles across the Atchafalaya Swamp. Our boat went underneath these bridges and in between the massive pillars that support the bridges. The pilot of our boat shared a lot of Cajun history and folklore which the hearing folks enjoyed. Had it not been for the Native Americans who lived in this swampy area, the expelled Acadians may not have learned how to survive in the swamp. The only one who spotted an alligator was my hubby who caught the eyes of a gator just before it slipped under the water. Inside the gift shop was a stuffed alligator. I couldn't resist reaching out to touch its teeth and its hide and was surprised to find how sharp those teeth were, LOL. Brrr! I also purchased the Evangeline book which is a story about the Expulsion of Acadians from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and parts of Maine.

We then headed over to Pat's Fisherman's Wharf for, gulp, more seafood. Fortunately, chicken and burgers were on the menu, LOL. Our clown ate catfish. He certainly has a stomach of steel! No matter where we ate, there was always seafood and lots of good conversation.

Saturday, April 19. At last, the day of the Cajun Picnic! Dan's father, Winston Arabie, helped boil 600 pounds of crawfish! Corn on the cob and baked potatoes were served along with heaping platters of crawfish. These platters were almost as big as sombrero hats! We thought everyone sitting at the same table would help themselves to the same platter. Wrong. Everyone got their own platters, LOL. Not wanting to eat crawfish, Harvey and I decided to walk two blocks to Taco Bell for lunch. At the door, we ran into Tonilyn Todd and her fiance Keith Wisner. Toni is the one who started Pip's Cause to raise funds for those DBies who need special equipment. They joined us for lunch. We enjoyed chatting with them for a couple hours before we returned to the Cajun picnic. By this time, everyone was seated and facing the front of the hall while a board meeting was in session. Several speakers were on the platform, including John Lee Clark, Tom Peters and Dan Arabie. We had just caught the end of John's speech when he started talking about my Black Turtle Lady poem. He then asked me to come up front to receive my $100 gift certificate for winning first place in his poetry contest. I was really surprised to be presented with the award in the presence of Cajuns but I couldn't have been more pleased! Tom Peters gave a passionate speech but I'll let Tom post his memoirs on the AADB-L soon, LOL.

Last but not least was our loveable clown who put on a skit with his stuffed dog "Sooty." He introduced himself as ILLY and told everyone that it meant "I Love Loving You." Sooty was a young puppy getting into all kinds of trouble. The clown was getting frustrated with his new puppy. In the end, he decided to walk away from his new puppy. Sad ending, hmm! But he was a major hit with the young kids. They kept him busy blowing up balloon animals and swords which were great for sword fights. Every time one popped, they'd go running right back to ILLY to make another balloon sword. They sure had lots of fun!

It had been a long day with the picnic lasting from about 9 a.m. to about 7 p.m. But our day wasn't over yet. Dan had another surprise planned for us. We all headed over to Dan's parents' mansion for a late dinner. They had built their home four years ago and live on an estate of 8 acres. We enjoyed eating roast, corn, rice and buttery lima beans which Harvey said was the best he'd ever eaten. That was followed by apple pie with a strong flavor of cinnamon -- just the way I like it! All too soon, our pleasant visit ended. Before turning in for the evening, we said our good-byes to everyone since we'd be leaving early in the morning.

The past four days had been filled with lots of fun activities, cameraderie and socialization. We all hung out at Dan's place every evening. It was great making new friends and seeing old faces.

Sun-Mon, April 20-21. We left Lafayette at 8:55 a.m. and arrived home on the 21st at around 8:00 p.m. only to find the bus station closed for the evening. Harvey tried calling for a ride home but no one answered. We decided to walk home when a swarm of young adults surrounded us and took our bags and roll-on suitcase. I didn't know what was happening! They didn't run away with our bags. Instead, they continued to walk beside us. It was a beautiful evening for a nice walk. They walked two miles with us until we reached our home. What a blessing that turned out to be!

And that's the end of my fast and furious story!

Cheers, Melly